In a NUtshell

Worth a drive from gurgaon to eat at this pop up – beautiful, thin, flavourful gravies that we fondly remember with joy. Not every dish was perfect but the overall joy of eating the food was immense.

Address & other details: radisson blu

Meal for 2: ₹4000

Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian

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I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

We decided to drive all the way from gurgaon to Faridabad for a buffet dinner after reading great reviews of this pop up in a social media post by Maryyam Reshi.

As mentioned above, the drive was totally worth it.

We called the restaurant a day before & they confidently said ‘oh 2 people only , you need no reservation’. When we reached, there seemed to be lack of space. We were made to sit in a table & when we came back after getting our buffet plate in hand, we were shifted to the other end if the dining hall. Extremely dumb & silly.

The people roaming around did not seem enthusiastic about the pop up. Either they were bored or tired. They seemed to believe in hasi-na (no smiles) philosophy. The only exception was the guy who was manning the live counter for kabargah!!!

We absolutely loved the dinner though we did not like everything. The ones we liked were way good to forget the ones that we did not like as much.

We have been eating kashmiri pandit food at matamaal restaurant & have loved it. We loved a few thin & less oily but hugely flavourful gravies at the pop up better than the ones at matamaal. However the mutton roganjosh of matamaal beat this one hands down.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

Nadru monj was thinly sliced lotus stem, deep fried till crisp & red. The taste was very good but since it was fried & kept on the buffet, the crispness went. Directionally perfect but ended up on the plate in a sad way. Wrong planning by restaurant to have such a dish on the buffet. Rate it 2.5/5

Kabargah was goat ribs cooked to perfection in the kitchen & later finished with ghee on a tawa in the live counter next to dining area. Outstanding it was. The flavours of meat, the little bits of goat fat melting in the mouth, the soft & perfect texture of the meat – falling off the bones, yet retaining its shape, all added to the magic. Rate it 4.95/5

Walnut chutney (orange) was lovely. Grainy. Full of flavours. Rate it 4.5/5

Mooli ki chutney (White – in pic above) was outstanding. Cud not get over it – the mooli flavours were captured beautifully. Rate it 4.75/5

Nadru yakhni – the nadru was a little too fibrous but the mildly sour yakhni gravy was wonderfully delicious and well balanced. Rate the nadru 2.5/5. Rate the gravy 4.5/5. Rating if the dish averages out to 3.5/5

Chokk wangan was a curry with small brinjals. The taste of the gravy was a tad too sour. A bit more salt would have balanced it better. However the last few times we have had this dish, it was not too different. Rate it 3/5

Kashmiri dum aloo was extremely delicious-way different from anything we have been served before as Kashmiri dum aloo. The thin yet very flavourful gravy just killed it. The soft & nice, round aloo was excellent. Rate it 4.75/5

Chaman paneer was lightly spiced and had a lovely gravy again. The paneer pieces were very soft & nice as well. Rate it 4.5/5

Murg yakhni had again a nice and flavourful thin gravy. Rate it 4.25/5

Mujh gaad Fish curry with radish was superb again. loved the radish flavour in the fish gravy & also munching on the radish pieces. The fish pieces did not make an impact. Rate it 4.5/5

Mutton roganjosh in general is one of the most bastardised terms in Indian restaurant food. Randomly any mutton curry is called by that name. The Muslim version of this dish is cooked with onion & garlic & the pandit version is cooked with asafoetida (hing) & saunf (fennel seeds).

The mutton roganjosh at this pop up was good but very different from the Kashmiri pandit roganjosh that we have previously had at Matamaal. We have surely liked the Matamaal version more & hence we were biased against this version. Rate the roganjosh 3.75/5

Overall rating of good at this pop up averages out to 4.1/5

Look forward to attending more pop ups by the lady.