Aurum — Restaurant in Los Altos

An excellent restaurant. Don't go there expecting the standard chicken tikka masala or tandoori chicken - this is not your usual, strip mall Indian restaurant. The place has a high-end, exclusive feel to it - it is a small place so would recommend reserving a table so you don't have to wait. Due to the name, you see a lot of gold accents in many places, the room, plates, cutlery, etc. Also, the menu seems to change every so often, the maitre'd told us the menu was changing the next day (7/15)

Wine selection - it isn't very deep but was decent with selection from different parts of the world and Napa of course. That said, the champagne selections could use a review by the sommelier. We got the blancs de blanc but I was underwhelmed. Recommend replacing that with something else.

For appetizers we got the Raj Kachori and grilled paneer. The kachori was excellent, the tamarind and mint chutney were excellent and elevated the dish to another level. The paneer I believe is custom made (I believe) was grilled to perfection with some the same tandoori spices. Crusty on the outside and soft inside. Well done.

Entrees: we got the lamb, lobster and a mushroom dish. The lamb itself was well cooked (not overdone) but the sauce was divine, you don't often taste those sauces in the US. Looking at the menu right now, seems like this dish was taken out but I'm sure the chef has created something equally divine! My fellow diner loved the mushroom dish was plated on a bed of yellow coconut, cooked to perfection. The lobster - unfortunately this fellow dinner is a super tough reviewer :) - she thought was decent but the lobster itself was average (not your Maine lobster or something special) and it was bit overcooked and the sauce was average - didn't seem to have the speciality sauces of the other 2 dishes.

The breads - got the lachha paratha (off the menu now), goat cheese naan, garlic naan - all very good. I personally didn't like goat cheese naan but my fellow diners loved it.

We didn't have room for dessert ... but since we were celebrating something they gave us a complementary sticky pudding. Was pretty good, very much appreciate their graciousness!

Overall I think it is a great place, exclusive and brings in Indian spices/tastes that you most likely haven't tasted in the US....

Excellent experience! Had reservations and were seated promptly. Service was attentive and very friendly ( they managed to entertain a kid in our party and were nice enough to get us some kid friendly tableware). It was a busy night and our drinks and food was served timely. Highlight was the food! It was appealing to the eye and taste buds! I was expecting a bit bland based on some review but surprisingly everything was full of flavors and rightly spiced. We ordered pretty much all the appetizers, smokey jhalmuri and cauliflower bezule were awesome. Paneer kebab was ok, not great. Chicken, sea bass, prawns and lamb chops were on point! Succulent, well seasoned and rightly done. Between 4 of us, we were almost full with the appetizers so ordered mains family style, went ahead with paneer spinach lasagna, chicken biryani and allepey manga fish curry based on our server's recommendation and the dishes exceeded our expectations! Paneer was familiar as I had the same before at August One Five, it was more towards a tikka sauce base and went well with the naan. Biryani was aromatic and not dry at all, good sized portion with a side of raita. Fish curry had a nice sour mango base and I think fish was sea bass and not salmon or king fish - it was a nice spin on the traditional kerala curry. It could be even better with a ginger and curry leaf tempering but still a good dish for someone who's not familiar with the coastal cuisine. It would be nice for the mains to come with a portion of rice/bread. We ate till our hearts were full! Had no rooms for desserts but we still got chocolate rasmalai and toffee pudding. Dark chocolate balanced the sweetness and creaminess of rasmalai perfectly and the toffee pudding was slightly on the sweeter side because of the toffee caramel but it was a perfect combination with the banana cake. All in all it was a great dining experience and we look forward to coming back again for a special occassion. We regret canceling Aurum and going to Rooh last time as that turned out to be a total dissapointment. Aurum is a very close second to Ettan for a fine-dining indian food experience in the Bay Area when you don't want to go...

We visited Aurum on a Friday afternoon and we fell in love with the food and the ambiance!

I am not sure why the rating is 4.2/5 as of writing this review. I am surprised reading reviews and seeing people bash this place.

What we ordered? We ordered two Office Lunches comprising of the following items:

Appetizers: Gilroy - Chicken Kebab & Kasoori - Methi Paneer Entree: Ivas - Apricot Kofta & Two Good - Mushroom Butter Chicken Dessert - Heaven Can Wait - Toffee Pudding & Out of Way - Tapioca Kheer

Feedback on each of these:

Appetizers were delicious, you can see from the pictures that the presentation is top-notch. I can attest that the appetizers were really good and cooked to perfection.

Apricot Kofta with Crispy Peas was to die for, we've never tasted any kofta gravy like this before. It was very well balanced and the kofta's killed it. Moving on to Butter Chicken, the chicken was nicely done and the gravy was good. I've tasted better gravy before but the one thing that surprised me was the hint of tamarind in the gravy. I was missing the tanginess that is usually brought about by a healthy sum of tomatoes used in the gravy. Nothing wrong with it, simply stating my experience and opinion.

Desserts surprised us, I was expecting the Toffee Pudding to knock it out of the park and it kinda did but the undisputed king was the Tapioca Kheer. The amount of pistachios in it was marvelous and I have no other words to describe it.

Service: We liked the service, it was snappy and they were observing us to make sure we don't sit idle, without food for too long. Since it was a three course meal, they did it properly with each course arriving on time and made us wanting more.

Ambiance: It is an intimate setup, atleast that's what I feel. It was a quiet Friday afternoon, we could talk to each other without the usual noise that surrounds one at such restaurants. It's nothing crazy like Eaton or Rooh but that's what separates Aurum from them! Each place has its own vibe and story, comparing them with others just kills it.

All in all, full 5...