In a NUtshell

We could not stop ordering more items on the menu after eating each dish, till we were done with everything that was on offer. Fabulous Dogri food – what a way to get introduced to a new cuisine.

Address & other details: mirai Maia

Instagram- mirai Maia

Meal for 2: ₹300 onwards

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 had never had Dogri food – never been to Jammu for a holiday & I don’t know of any Dogri food restaurants in delhi NCR. while roaming around in the weekly artisanal market by handpicked by PC at two horizon center, we noticed a food stall mentioning Dogri food.

We ordered one dish in the beginning. Loved it. Ordered one more ….. & so on, till we tried everything in the menu – after which we somehow managed to roll out of the place!!!

The stall had been set up by home chef Monika kapoor sarkhel & her husband avijit sarkhel. This was a new venture by them. They run a fine travel company by the name vanasafaris – they do curated tours, specialising in nature & culture. They had arranged a fabulous trip for us to Sundarbans – click here to read.

The menu was written on a green board with chalk.

Some of the items had been cooked at home & were being reheated here using an electric stove. The rest were partially made at home & were being finished here.

The dishes on offer had the popular dishes as well as some revived dishes.

Loved the food. A great introduction to a new cuisine. We also went back & had some new items on another day.

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

Day 1

We tried Kalari kulcha. This was a cheese called kalari, eaten with kulcha. The Kulcha was not like a kulcha that you find in Amritsar. It was instead something like a very good bread.

Kalari is a Local cheese of Jammu region, which shepherds used to make from goat milk. Nowadays it’s made from Buffalo milk. This cheese is available in winters when the shepherds descend from the high altitude.

The kalari kulcha combination was fabulous. It was served hot – the super flavorful molten cheese was just too good & unique as well.

Rate this 4.75/5

We also had the Rajma, ambhal, khameera thali.

Ambhal was a new dish for us & we just could bot have enough of it. It was pumpkin cooked with imli (sour), gur (sweet), methi (fenugreek, for flavour). It reminded me of a fab bhopla curry that we had in mumbai. Pumpkin is an Indian origin vegetable & it’s not that celebrated except in certain parts of the country. In very few places of India, special dishes are made from pumpkin.

Loved the balance of taste, the texture & the overall taste. Excellent. Rate it 4.75/5

The rajma was very good too. It had Perfect balance. Rate it 4.25/5

Rating of the thali averages out to 4.5/5

Mutton khatta is traditionally eaten with a bread called gheur or with rice. Here they had served it with rice.

The meat was cooked with anardana (dried pomegranate seeds, as a souring agent) & gur (sweetener). The tanginess of the gravy was really very enjoyable.

The meat is Smoked using a process called dhungar – with burning charcoal.

Loved this dish. Different. Excellent. Rate it 4.5/5

Panjiri – this version had I guess 80-85% dry fruits & rest everything else. Flavours of good ghee, perfect sweetness, perfectly crisp dry fruits. This was new to us. Again, brilliant it was. Rate it 4.75/5

Besan laddoo – Those hand made, home made, laddos were insane. They attacked the brain & numbed reasoning. They were so good that brain usually forgets when to stop eating…… logical part of brain is shadowed by emotional part of brain …… 1, 2, 3 ,……more …..still can’t stop!!!! Rate it 4.95/5

Day 2

We were looking for new items on the menu. We found Tingri matar, Nadru kofta thali that came with Khameeri roti.

Tingri is oyster mushrooms. This curry was cooked with mushrooms & young green peas. The spices were enjoyable. The curry was very good to taste. However, the flavors of the mushrooms were overshadowed by that of the spices. The mushrooms had an enjoyable texture. The fish overall was like a tasty home curry, regularly eaten. Rate the curry 4/5.

Nadru kofta was a new dish for us. Nadru is lotus stem. The koftas had almond in the middle. The koftas were excellent to taste & had a lumpy & nice texture. It was a ‘Rich’ curry, which I guess is made when there are special guests at home. The gravy was again interesting- it was daanedaar, full of dry fruits & great to taste. Rate the dish 4.25/5

Since we packet this food, we were given the gravy & koftas separately, with instructions of how to heat them together.

Khameeri roti was just too good. It had a strong fermented feel to it & the taste was somewhat similar to a sourdough bread (salt & sour). The texture was of course different. I munched almost half of it just like that. Rate it 4.5/5

Rating of this thali averages out to 4.25/5

Overall rating of food by mirai maia averages out to 4.6/5

Look forward to tasting more Dogra dishes going forward.