In a nutshell:
Meeting & eating outstanding home cooked marwadi food with strangers at the Chef’s home, stories of good food, customs & culture – a memorable Sunday spent
Address & other details:
Instagram – Jeeman by Surbhi Bhandari
Facebook – 365 kitchen tales
Meal for 2: ₹4800
Cuisine type : vegetarian only
Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.
YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives 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 got to know about this monthly pop up at Mrs. Surabhi Bhandari’s (refer to her as S going forward) home at Suncity Gurgaon through Instagram. We realized on the day of the pop up that we are getting old – we don’t remember to see Instagram stories but end up seeing posts & reels. Since S posted few times in reel/ posts & regularly on stories, we missed out on the fact that the pop up has been happening every month. We thought it happens once a quarter or so.
This is how it works. A guest sees a story by S. connects on Instagram. Pre-books his/her seat by making full payment. Gets a confirmation from S. Shows up on the day of the event.
S lives in an apartment with a large dining & drawing room. Seats were laid out on the floor for an authentic traditional experience. They also had options to seat some guests on tables & chairs. If a guest has a challenge sitting on the floor, he/ she has to mention sitting on the table.
The whole family welcomed us as we arrived. We were offered a hand wash in the traditional way. Chandan paste tilak was applied on our forehead & also on our wrist.
We met S’s husband, nephew & niece. The family members told us stories of food, customs, culture throughout our stay & they themselves served us all the food & drinks just in the same way they would serve food to a relative or a close friend.
The afternoon was not just about outstanding food but also about real great stories, nuances & patiently answering all our questions.
We got to know that ‘Jeeman’ means ‘to eat’. The usage can also be ‘unke bete ki shadi ka jeeman’ (a meal celebrating an occasion).
We were given a small printed menu card & that helped us plan our intake well.
All food was served in traditional serve-ware.
The food was very tasty but light. It was miles ahead of any marwadi food we have had at any restaurant or commercial establishment.
Never had any marwadi food remotely as good as this.
We also realized that since Rajasthan is a dry place, the cuisine in general & hence the entire meal had limited Indian origin fresh vegetables (like gourds, pumpkin, okra etc). Alphanso Mango is also not grown in Rajasthan but it made its way to the cuisine I guess after train services from Maharashtra were started about a century & half back.
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
As we got seated, we were served Summer cooler Kesar kairi pani. Kesar was a nice twist.
Kairi (raw mango) flavours ruled the drink. It was a Low intensity light drink. Very good to taste. Very apt on a summer afternoon. Rate it 4/5
What we learnt during this lunch experience is that in a marwadi home, the meal starts with something sweet. In some very traditional families, guests are served different kinds of sweets till he/she asks for savoury. Serving savoury without asking makes some guests feel offended, we heard.
The first dish that we were served was Doodh ka meetha kheech. It was a sweet dish, served warm. The base of the dish was wheat cooked with milk. The kheech was low in sweet & we loved that. We enjoyed the texture in every bite. The mango on top was a bonus. The Mango was an add-on joy. It did not make or break the dish.
We learnt that this dish is specially made on Akshay tritiya.
Rate it 4.5/5
Kacche kele ke kofte sounded like a curry to us but we were pleasantly surprised to see a dry deep fried kofta. It was served hot.
The koftas were perfectly seasoned.
The tinge of sour in the koftas gave a lovely twist. Fresh Anar pomegranate gave a juiciness texture & freshness. More elements in the mix added to the texture. Rate it 4.75/5
The next dish was Paan patta chaat. S informed us that this was her innovation.
When the chaat arrived, we realized the surprise elements – We do not imagine a pan patta, vada, dahi & gulkand together. The Dahi base gave it a chaat feeling. So did the tiny Dahi vada. Paan & gulakand gave a known flavour in an unexpected company. The final dish came out very unusual & very good. The proportions of everything seemed balanced. Rate it 4.25/5
Chakki ki subzi was so so much better than the ones we have had at restaurants in Jodhpur.
The chakki (balls made by washing atta repeatedly) were soft & fluffy, Melt in the mouth. I would call them Insanely good. The gravy was perfect to taste. Rate this dish 4.95/5
Badi phali ki subzi came next. Absolutely bowled over by the texture the crumbling badis. Loved the subtle taste of this dish & the interplay of textures in every bite. Rate it 4.75/5
Pyaz ka achar was made with raw mustard oil & methi. The Crunch was very enjoyable. So was the interplay of flavours. Rate it 4.5/5
Aam ke chilkey ki subzi (curry of mango skin) was a first time for us. The west now talks about sustainable responsible food, zero wastage etc.
That has been followed here for centuries & millennia. This dish is a shining example of that.
Heard about this dish earlier but had it for the first time. Unique, enjoyable & good. Rate it 3.5/5
Thandi jwar ki raab (a drink made from jawar & dahi) had Unbelievable extraordinary extremely enjoyable smokiness. Rate it 4.95/5
The Phulkas were super soft, perfectly fluffed & tiny in size – that avoided wastage.
Moong daal ki poori was very new for us. The moong daal could be seen on the roti. Very interesting, very good to taste. Rate it 4/5
Roti ki papad was simply outstanding. We learnt that roti ki papad was traditionally made in the mornings to use up leftover roti from previous night. Nowadays it’s a delicacy. The papad was crisp, perfectly seasoned, chatapata. Rate it 4.5/5
We had Kesar Rabdi aam for dessert. It was low on sweet & high on intensity of taste & texture. Fresh mangoes added to the magic. While mango alleviated the dish the main rockstar in the dish was the home-made slow-cooked Rabdi. Rate it 4.75/5
Overall rating of food at Jeeman by Surbhi Bhandari averages out to 4.45/5
Look forward to attending one of their open-air jeemans during winters at their farmhouse near Gurgaon.