Zambar — Restaurant in Gurugram District

Ambience Mall is has innumerable Indian dining options, high end to affordable, it’s a difficult choice to decide which one to visit.It was a Saturday evening, we were confused but finally decided to try out Zambar.

Ambience :

The décor and ambience at ZAMBAR iinstantly takes you along the coastlines of the South.

Seven artificial windows on the walls depict a view of the 5 states from which the menu is inspired.

Pictures of yesteryears south superstars can be found all over the place and the furniture too is in sync with the theme ; deck chairs of Goa, wooden Karnataka style cravings and swing sets as in Chennai.

Coming to the food :

The standard dishes like idli-dosa is missing from the ZAMBAR menu, instead you will find lesser-known yet delectable dishes for vegetarians and carnivores.

ZAMBAR culinary expertise spans across five states of India Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra and Goa with home style cooking techniques.

On the interaction with manager, we were enlightened to know that the food preparation at ZAMBAR is basically inspired by following 5 masalas :

Karnataka - Ghee Roast Massala

Andhra - Igru Masala

Kerala_Vegetable Stew Masala

Tamil Nadu - Chettinadu Massala

Goa- Coconut Masala

All the dishes are prepared using:above masalas

We ordered the following dishes.

Lobster Masala

Gunpowder Prawns

King Fish Reichado

Sea Food Platter

Prawn Masala

Achamas Lamb Curry

Appam

Malabar Parotta

Coconut Jaggery Pudding

Gun Powder Prawns : Gunpowder is a fiery spice blend that often graces the breakfast tables of many South Indian regions. It is usually mixed with ghee/clarified butter as a condiment to dosas and Idlis. One thing I learnt from this preparation was that Prawns can absorb a lot of heat, inspite of a lot of gunpowder used, the final dish wasn’t too spicy

King Fish Reichado :The recheado masala paste has a long list of ingredients. Each of them plays a vital role in bringing out the robust, spicy and lively flavors of Goan food. This dish did look spectacular and tasted brilliant

Lobster Masala : What better than a lobster nicely prepared with the chettinad masala.

Chettinad Masala is a spicy Masala Powder made by roasting and grinding various India spices and belongs to the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu. A treat for the taste buds.

Achammas Lamb Curry with rice. : Homestyle mutton curry simmered in coconut milk with south Indian Flavours. Went well with the Appam and Malabar Paratha.

Coconut Jaggery Pudding : Had it for the first time and honestly I feel it should rank right up there with creme caramel, creme brulee and other types of egg-based...

[UPDATE] In case anyone reads the response and thinks they contacted me to remediation the issue, they didn't. I dropped the mail on the same day and haven't heard anything back, so you can imagine the service.

Zambhar, Ambience has amazing food and I've eaten their quite a few times after work for comfort meals.

However, I made the mistake of going there with my father for a Sunday lunch, and this thread is about that experience.

We arrived as per our reservation, only to have the receptionist - Ritu tell us that she did not have our reservation. When I insisted that I made one, and showed her the confirmation, she said, they had all tables occupied, but she'll make sure that she prioritizes us as we were the only ones their with a reservation and everyone else was walk in.

She told me it'll be a maximum of 10 minutes, and we could go walk around the mall, and she'll call us.

When we still didn't receive a call after 20 minutes, I came back, only to find that she had refilled 3 tables, all with walk- ins. Upon asking she said, if you're not waiting at the door, you won't get a table.

When I asked, what about the reservation? Ritu told me, that they overbooked themselves heavily on all platforms, so online reservations don't mean anything them. When I saw her telling another slightly elderly lady the same story when she asked about her numberin the queue, my suspicion got confirmed that the only way to get a table was to huddle like animals in front of the restaurant. No civility, no queues, just good old fashioned barbaric madness, because the restaurant can't honor reservation, or the queue register.

Tbh, I wouldn't be so disappointed had she been honest the first time around, but because she mucked around for the first 25 minutes, I decided that I didn't want to interact with such unprofessional staff. I understand people having a busy day, but this was just being rude on another level.

There have been evenings when I've dined alone at Zambhar just to support because I like their food, but now since they're doing so well that they couldn't care less about CX, I think I'll go to Carnatic...

Go here for an absolutely stunning authentic south indian cuisine served in an offbeat ambience.

We visited the place twice a month, once for the authentic south indian cuisine they offer (along with a really fun menu) and the second time for the Marathwada Mejwani food festival where they offered the highlights of the Marathwada cuisine.

We visited the place for an early afternoon lunch when the place was quiet and vacant.

We ordered 🌟 Chettinad Kozhambu - It's the malabar kottu parantha with the texture absolutely on point.

🌟 Appam with asparagus water chestnut kurma - First of all, the appam on its own tasted delicious. Over that the topping of kurma was such an innovative flavour that packed a bunch of flavours. Lip-smacking and totally recommended.

🌟 Andhra Prawn masala - This was for our non-veg tamil friend. The prawns were fresh and the curry with authentic masala tasted exquisite.

🌟 Veg Chettinad Korma - The korma was filled with flavours upto the brim and also carried a spicy kick. It's much spicier than other and could easily bring tears for those who're not used to spicy food.

During the Marathwada Mejwani, we ordered 🌟 a veg and non-veg thali having patal bhaji (palak curry), pithla (besan curry but not kadhi), bharli wangi (aubergines stuffed with peanuts), koshimbir (veg raita but much thicker in texture), etc. The sabudana vada was delightful and suprisingly had very less oil.

🌟 Ukadiche Modak - If one hasn't tried steamed modak, he/she MUST. These will be one of the most delicate dessert one might have (provided the chef made them right). They have a beautiful balance between the warm and soft steamed texture and the light hint of sweetness you get from a jaggery coconut concoction.

And the chutneys provided along with the mains, during both visits,...