22 October,2010 07:22 AM IST | | Amrita Bose
A new eatery brings the flavours of Nagaland and the taste of the world's hottest chilli to our city and we are not complaining even with our eyes streaming and mouths on fire
The Naga Kitchen
Food: interesting
Service: fast
Ambience: pretty
At: The Naga Kitchen, 26, AVS Arcade, opposite Adidas Showroom, next to Nandhini Hotel, Kamanahalli Main Road
Call: 4173 2012u00a0
Meal for two: Rs 500
When the world's hottest chilli, the Bhut Jholokia (as it is known in Assam) or the Raja Mirchi known in Nagaland, debuts in our city as part of cuisine from Nagaland, it is time to brave a fiery culinary experience. The Naga Kitchen, a new eatery solely dedicated to food from Nagaland, ought to bring a smile on the faces of those who love the fieriness of chillies, fermented and unusual flavours of the North East. While, most city foodies have had to do mostly with the occasional North Eastern food festivals organised once in a while in Bangalore, a restaurant dedicated only to Naga dishes can only be good news.
Located on the terrace of a nondescript building, one look at the restaurant will make your trudging all the way to Kamanahalli, braving slow moving traffic worthwhile. Bamboo fencing, blue fairy lights, rough wooden Naga furniture and floor, cane chairs and some memorabilia such as swords and wall hangings make up the neat and pretty interiors of the Naga Kitchen. As soon as you enter, a waft of pungent bamboo shoot will hit your nostrils. Bamboo shoot is used a lot in Naga cuisine to flavour vegetable and meat dishes.
Meat, usually pork and fish are either smoked or fermented. Vegetables and greens are mostly had boiled and bland. The menu is simple enough here with options like starters and mains with a large chunk devoted to pork and smoked pork dishes along with chicken and fish.
We started off with a Naga Chicken Fry (Rs 120), stir fried chicken with onions, capsicums, tomatoes and red chillies. The chicken fry however paled in comparison to the Smoked Pork with Bamboo Shoot (Rs 130) and the Smoked Pork with Akhuni (Rs 140), both signature Naga dishes. The chicken was succulent and had the bite of fresh red chillies, but the two pork dishes literally knocked us out with the sheer force of its flavours.
The pork with bamboo shoot was chunks of fatty pork tossed in ginger, bamboo shoot and fresh red chillies. The dish had obviously been stewing in its own fat for quite soemtime. When we bit into the pork, the heat from the chillies hit our tongue along with the juiciness of the pork. The fat cubed separately was charred on the outside but melted in our mouths.
However, from our previous experience with Naga food, we could have done with the heat being turned on a little more. The smoked pork tossed with akhuni (a paste made out of fermented soybean, ginger, garlic, salt and raja mirchis) had a slightly wild and smoky taste with the roasted fermented beans adding that pungent aroma and slight rawness to the meat. Though akhuni is an acquired taste because of its rather ripe smell, we would recommend you try it at The Naga Kitchen because it is slightly toned down here on the pungency meter.u00a0u00a0
These dishes are best had moped up with lots of steamed rice. We also ordered a Mix Veg Boiled (Rs 65), steamed bland veggies like cabbage, carrots, beans, raw papaya and potatoes flavoured with bamboo shoot that acted as a fire extinguisher. A must-try here is the Dry Fish Chutney (Rs 55), dried fish combined with fresh herbs and loads of green chillies. If you are the brave kind you can order the stand alone Raja Mirchi Chutney too.
By now, the heat from the consumption of so many chillies had nearly cured us of our sinuses and even with our mouths on fire we didn't feel like having ice cream that is offered here as dessert. We wanted to savour the combination of simples spices, chillies and meat flavours which is what Naga cuisine is all about, all the way back
The Naga Kitchen didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.
