Phungga Restaurant — Restaurant in Meghalaya

Special North East Non Vegetarian Thali -Rs.500

Phunga Manipuri Restaurant, Laitumkhrah, Shillong

Manipuri & North East Thalis

$$$

17.05.24

Today after a hectic morning attending to a friend who had a motor mishap, I met Isaac to go & eat at Phunga. This is my first time eating here. I went last year & they said that it has closed shop. So when we heard that it was open, it was a small relief for me. Isaac though has eaten here countless times.

There was an outdoor as well as an indoor seating space. We decided to eat in the verandah as it was a warm day. Inside there were two more rooms to sit down & eat. These rooms were nothing short of a Musuem with knick knacks from various places finding space in these rooms.

Anyway I took a look at the menu & it had thalis from Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram & Meghalaya. It also had a Special North East Non Vegetarian Thali which I expected would have a bit of something from the various states. I ordered one while Isaac got himself a Manipuri Pork Thali.

I was of the impression that service was slow. So I was surprised when my thali came in 15 mins. It looked good. It had good quality rice, 2pcs pork curry, 2pcs Chicken curry, fish curry, Dal, Uttee, Eromba, Singju, Aloo sabji, Brinjal fry & Kasundi. Dishes were predominantly Manipuri.

The veg items were good, especially the Uttee & Kasundi. The pork & chicken curry were decent but flavors were tempered down. The fish curry cooked in tomatoes was my pick though the fish had a peculiar smell. So personally for me, everything was good but then there was no particular item that wowed me over. And for 500 bucks, a sweet dish & a papad would have been nice.

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When I first came to this restaurant, I only went because of my wife. She is meitei and she was craving for manipuri food. She told me that the restaurant wasn’t that good 2 years ago when she was working in the area. But It was the only restaurant that had manipuri food so we came here.

My wife was shocked that the foods were so delicious unlike the food she ate couple years ago. She said it tasted like a home meal. She loved the kangsoi, eromba, sinju and the chicken curry. She was so happy. I didn’t eat because I am new to manipuri food and to be honest, I don’t like it that much.

On out 3rd visit of this restaurant, I decided to try out the pork curry. And it was damn good. It was spicy but the taste was amazing. It tasted like Si krom(Southern Thai style of pork curry)from Thailand.

We have discovered that couple month ago the main chef has been changed to a new chef, Mr. Gyaneshwor. The chef was humble and kind. Most importantly, his food is damnnn good!

I have married to a meitei wife but I wasn’t big fan of manipuri food(I am Korean) But I can eat Chef Gyaneshwor’s food all day long. No kidding :)

When we come back to Shillong next time, we will definitely come everyday.

Thanks for the great...

I wanted to have food at this restaurant after good reviews on TripAdvisor.We ordered the Manipuri Veg thali It was great with very fresh ingredients used and also light on the stomach.However, the dessert that was mentioned on the menu wasn't served.Not that I complained but I realised it only later after having a relook at their menu.But the main thing why I am mentioning this is because we had take away food too.Manipuri khichdi ,sticky rice and Garo style khaap chicken.The khichdi was not all seasoned It was perfectly bland and without any curry it tasted a bit awful.Since we were experimenting with the Garo chicken, won't complain about the excessive fishy taste to it.The sticky rice too could have been better.I am sure this restaurant can do better.Will review it again if I get an opportunity to...