Mistress of spices

A mighty mix of regular and rare spices revive the charm of royal cooking at Mint Leaf

It's not just dialect and dressing style that changes with every mile in India, but the cooking, too. Nevertheless, one thing remains the same: the curries. Whether it's your friendly neighbourhood dhaba or the most flamboyant five-star round the block, what they do with that much-defining paste is what irks most gourmands. It is no surprise then, that the only difference between your paneer do-pyaza and kadahi paneer is that of the size of the onion chunks. What is surprising is when this does not happen. Like at Mint Leaf.


Bhatti ka murgh

Spice root
Their menu is a brief on hearty northern fare, and rarely used spices, like mugga, a mild honey with a cinnamon-like aroma but caramel like taste. They use it in bhatti ka murgh, a tasty alternative to the age-old favourite, tandoori chicken. What makes this Avadhi number truly tender is the use of extremely young chickens. "That's because even near the bones, their meat is extremely soft," explains owner and chef Raminder Malhotra.u00a0u00a0 Even the vegetarian hara bharra kebab didn't let us down. The shammi, too, fell off our forks before reaching the lip, just to give you an idea of the softness. And all this without excess of butter or ghee. "We're able to retain softness of the ingredients because we make them fresh instead of microwaving before serving. Even the spinach, which is used to create the pocketed- and-stuffed roasted pista and pomegranate seeds, is bought the same day," adds the chef, who has worked with Dumpukht at ITC Maurya. The magic is recreated even in their mains, like in pepper chicken Chettinad (non veg) and paneer banjara harra pyaaz. While the non-vegetarian preparation, which has its roots in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu, is chicken blended in saunf, cinnamon, pepper, cloves and coriander, the paneer item uses a lot of cumin, coriander, pepper and red chillies, to be stir-fried with paneer and spring onions. However, the same detailing does not extend to their desserts and liqueurs. Most of the cocktails, too, especially mojito and long island iced tea, are sweeter than they ought to be, and the choice of cutlery isn't correct either. Their phirni and gulab jamun are also far from authentic.

Light house
When good ol' Indian homemade food can't do without spices, how can you expect an eatery to omit the obvious? But of course, every good restaurant, like this one, makes sure mildness strikes a good balance with spice, without any one condiment standing out like a sore thumb.u00a0 So no, you won't need a fire extinguisher at any point.u00a0

At LG-11 /12, Center Point, A-Block, Sushant Lok I, Gurgaon.
Call: 9810003382.
Timings: Noon to 12am
Price: Rs 400.