The Sindhis are a lesson in enterprise, history and taste trails. A community that takes its flavours from the North West Frontier cuisine and caravans across Asia to learn and imbibe influences from the Gangetic plains, mountains and hinterlands of India, they have a dish for every season, and reason. And chances are that those flavourful and delicious morsels might not be found on any menu for stand-alone Sindhi restaurants are few. This restaurant, owned by Akshay Luthria who decided to celebrate his mom’s home-cooked delights is a find! A restaurant with home fires burning thanks to this rasoi with his mom Vandana Luthria’s cooking legacy, this new space is replete with traditional ingredients and flavours. At the Sindh Kitchen, the many-faceted cuisine gets its due, comfortably atop the Bloom Boutique Hotel in Malleshwaram. Infact, their popular Indiranagar Sindh Kitchen is also being revamped and will soon open doors at a new location.
As meals go, this particular meal took us into food coma literally. The rest has to be experienced. The menu is mostly from the Sindh in Pakistan, with North West Frontier influences of the Awadh and Mughal. A vegetarian fiesta, and a non vegetarian extravaganza, go there with ample tummy space. Spread far and wide, the community has imbibed a great variety of traditions and the Sindh Kitchen offers you delicacies from the Shikarpuri Sindhi rasoi (kitchen).
We started with a tangy Kaala khatta, which reminded us of our childhoods! Then came the most lightly fried palak patha chaat crunchy, with imli ki chutney, sev and finished off in a jiffy. The Dal pakwaan is a must-must have. A favourite of Akshay’s mother, it comes as a diy meal, with a nice crispy fried poori on which lie a dollop of wholesome channa dal, a sprinkling of onion and coriander. In fact, as the day earlier was thatri, when Sindhis eat cold food, this is their go-to dish, “It is a typical Sunday breakfast in every Sindhi house,” Akshay Luthria explains.
Next was a crispy coriander paneer (karare dhaniya ka paneer), made from paneer specially brought from Akshay’s factory in Gurgaon, with the welcome creaminess of buffalo milk deep fried. Brilliant! Then came a dish that all Sindhis love, a delicacy. The Sunheri soya Chaap was buttery, with a creamy marinade in a kick of masala. A mixture of wheat, barley and oats, wrapped in sheets of soya, and deep fried. Then it is dunked into water to take out the oil, and marinated in spiced masalas, and cooked in the tandoor, The juicy softness was perfect, what the Sindhis call mock meat! Infact with its 38 percent protein, it’s perfect for weight watchers, Akshay told us.
The Moong daani tikki too was unique, with a potato stuffing that we had with a simple pudina chutney. We liked the moong dal crunch and texture, and its golden crispness. Our next was the Lahori mutton sheekh, a tender mutton mince with an inherent cream texture, with pudina chutney, or as the Akshay’s father Vijay Luthria suggested, with a sour mango chutney. Sounds delectable. The owners, the enterprising Luthria family are old Bengalureans, who also have the oldest agarbathi factory, and export organic scented incense sticks. The enterprising Akshay, an IIM graduate who turned to food and wine, was behind a micro brewery in Delhi called Lemp Brew and Pub and Kitchen, an American lager beer company he brought to India, which incidentally was the first company to produce lager across the world, dating back to 1739.
“Authentic Sindhi food is not available anywhere, so my mom and I decided to open a place. Our earlier restaurant in Indiranagar (also in a Boutique hotel) was a huge hit for home deliveries too. My mother, Vandana’s recipes give the menu its rich legacy, infact, our home chefs have taught the chefs here,” explains Akshay who also helms a large catering business, Smashing Breads that serves a whole gamut of eclectic meals.
For mains, with no space left, but curiousity and anticipation of the dishes that Vandana Luthria learnt from her mother, we bit into the Photey gosht (elaichi mutton) it was spiced, a rich gravy, with parantha or satpura, and the succulent mutton mince balls that were perfect. There was a tinge of sweetness to the spiced curry we liked.
The Sindhi chicken curry was with a capsicum and onion base, and had a delicious simplicity. The famed Sindhi kadi here is a tur dal and besan mix, served with crispy chatpatta aloo tuk. It has drumsticks and okra, was light and flavourful. The tang, and the unmistakeable lentil infused gravy went perfectly with the ghee rice, and yes, this was also about when food coma became irrevocable! And the best was yet to come, all palak lovers, this one is for you — the Sunheri kofta dum makhan Palak, palak dumplings fried and cooked in a creamy palak gravy. Spectacular. Heavy, but totally worth it! There was dal bhukkara too, which was good.
We also sipped on a makai ka shorba lipsmacking. The Senior Luthria, a very knowledgable Bengalurean spoke of different sherbats made in a Sindhi household, and regaled us on the intricacies of agarbathis. The very interesting Mogra ka sherbet, where mogra is squeezed to make a drink sounded divine! And speaking of divine, what was divine was the “koki”, a parantha made with milk, stuffed with onions and chillies, and served with fresh creamy curd. We had the whole piece, despite being very full.
The Pomfret fried fish made with red Sindhi masala sourced from the North, was perfect and so was the merlin fry, crispy skin, and flakey.
Akshay’s mother Vandana who’s prowess in the kitchen is legendary, explained, “I love the dal pakwan, koki and kadi chawal, but we make it differently. There are two types of Sindhis, the Hyderabad ones and we are the Shikarpuri, we make the kadi with tur dal and a little basin. I learnt watching my mother, and I think the most cherished memory is learning the koki, because no one makes it like the one we serve here.”
For dessert, the hospitable Luthria family insisted we taste the Pragari, a Filo pastry filled with khoya and mava. It was good. Could have been crisper. They also offer a nice Sindhi thali and cater to a more eclectic range as well. A heart meal with a volley of flavours, the passion behind Sindh Kitchen will warm any foodies soul.
Sindh Kitchen, No 8, 4th floor - inside Bloom Boutique Hotel, Sampige road,
Malleshwaram, Bengaluru
Call 9008296655 / 9650616707
Meal for two Rs 1,000
