Kebab aur Sharab — Restaurant in New York

Absolutely loved Kebab Aur Sharab (the second and third words mean AND ALCOHOL), even though I have no interest in the latter part).

I was dining here with a fellow Indian who has a refined palate, excellent taste and an apartment around the corner. When he told me he dines here almost weekly, I knew it must be really really really good.

I came hungry, saving my calories for the kebabs I’d been dreaming about all day. They have a busy and full bar, but I can’t tell you anything about it or the wine list. I was in India (including Delhi, Bhopal and Kerala) just the previous week, but I was ready for a great Indian meal.

I let my pal order because he knew what he liked and also because I would have been paralyzed by the choices on the menu. I would have wanted to order every kebab and all else on it (including a Kerala fish curry that I hadn’t expected to see).

We ordered lamb chops that appeared on a fancy skewer worthy of a Brazilian steakhouse. They were delicious with just the right mixture of tanginess and other spices.

We also ordered the Aslam butter chicken, which melts in your mouth and wasn’t as buttery as the name suggests.

We also order a dal and raita and something you don’t see at many (or any?) restaurants in NYC: roomali roti (the word means HANDKERCHIEF and the roti is impossibly thin like one).

I was so busy chomping it all down that we didn’t get to chat as much as I’d like, so that means I’ll have to come back soon.

Owner Salil Mehta from Delhi (he also owns Kanyakumari, the wonderful South Indian newcomer I’ve reviewed on its page) came by to say hi. He really knows how to put on a concept that works and will connect with the most complicated and competitive restaurant scene in the world.

He recommended the pineapple cake which looks like ice cream and tastes heavenly.

The decor, by the way, is especially worth noting, as is care with which every plate, every piece of furniture and wall decoration is chosen.

BTW, sitting next to us was a family of four vegetarians who ordered neither meat kebabs nor alcohol, but seemed to be having a great time!

Congrats to Salil and team for a restaurant experience that lives up to its...

Taste of India!

After a tiring(but successful) day of cricket, had been to New York with the family over the weekend. For dinner We were highly recommended this place. When we reached there, Nisha our server welcomed us and walked us through the well concepted, planned and designed restuarant. As we walked towards our seats, the colorful vibe, ambience and peppy bollywood music created a very pleasant experience. we gave her a hint of our meal preference and from there on she assumed complete responsbility of our menu She guided us to our seats and recommended a few appetizers to start off the evening along with a Pan based non alcoholic drink. Was a bit skeptical at first but the first taste spun off all the flavors trapped inside this liquid Pan Decoction. Reminisced the paanwalla of our nukkads in mumbai!!! For our apps, We were then recommended Aslam's chicken, dori kekbab and sardarjis fish tikka(my wife's favorite). While my wife and kids devoured the fish tikka, the juicy, savory and succulent chicken clubbed with the light gravy simply nelted in my mouth. We had to meet the Chef and Chef Dipesh was a very warm , humble and above all fom our very own Dadar-Mumbai. He belted out his rendition of Prawns with Idli rasam. The hint of Rasam blended with Idli took me down south through the streets of chennai. A must try if you stop by. The GM(Ganesh) who oversaw the proceedings introduced himself and walked us through our curiosity around the history behind these dishes and how they orginated. He seemed very friendly, knowledgleable and knew his trade extremely well. For our main course, we went with the traditional butter chicken, kerala fish curry, dal makhani, mushroom pulao and rumali rotis(this was the first place that seemed to have this). Every dish was cooked to perfection and we could not stop relishing every bite. Our dessert included saffron pancake(the dry ice effects amazed all the hungry eyes there) and a chocolate decadent. The soft, buttery and delicate taste of the sweetmeat nailed our sugar cravings to the core. Cant remember the last time we really enjoyed our meal so much and cant wait to go back there...

The decor is charming, staff are nice enough but the food is decidedly not. A shame because I was excited about having a new Indian place uptown!

Diving right into the food:

Aslam’s butter chicken tikka kebab: 1/5. this was the weakest part of the meal, which is surprising given the name of the restaurant. The chicken didn’t show any textural charring that is typical of kebabs prepared in the tandoor. The chicken was flavorless, lacked texture like it was steamed and was served in a bowl with a cup of grease.

Dal makhani: 4/5. It was good and is solely responsible for the two stars.

Paneer makhani: 1/5. nothing to write home about and came with a measly 4-5 tiny pieces of paneer. For $26, there wasn’t sufficient paneer to feed one person.

Garlic naan: 3/5. Could have been less dry.

Roomali roti: 1/5. It was hard to eat and made my jaw hurt because of how dry it was. It didn’t have the quintessential soft pliability that roomali rotis should have.

Basmati rice: 2/5. Wasn’t long grain and fragrant. Wasn’t fully cooked and much of the rice was broken.

The finger bowl at the end of the meal was a bowl of cold water with a lime wedge. In winter. If you’re not going to serve warm water, just don’t do a finger bowl. I’d be happy to go to the bathroom and wash my hands with warm water. Cold water did nothing except made me feel cold.

The pulse candy with the bill was appreciated!

The table next to us ordered the wagyu seekh kebabs and was disappointed to receive chunks of meat to be cooked table side. Chunks of meat = tikka and minced meat = seekh. This was similar to our chicken tikka kebab experience where what showed up didn’t align with our expectations. The restaurant needs to change the names of dishes on the menu to fairly depict what will be served to manage expectations of customers that know Indian food.

We explicitly ordered classic punjabi dishes and if a Punjabi restaurant fails to deliver on the basics, it’s problematic. I hope they’ll work on nailing down the basics and will also fix the menu to better reflect...