Khansama: Khan-sama-yal karar - The Royal Indian Master Chef

It made for a good tongue twister or a brain twitcher to recollect it right - was it Khamasa, or is it kasa-musa, or did it sound like khan-mann-sa, ................................what is it?

its Khan-sama 

(tip: to recollect it, remember the khans singing "jo hai sama kal ho na ho" or the "sama hai suhana suhana). The royal mughal chefs/cooks were called Khansama


Ambience: Brilliant!!! gives you a feel that you are in a kingly place. Nice wallposters of kings, court happenings, donning the wall, on one sidewall were the rifles, shield and stuffed tiger and deer nicely done up on the wall.

The royal huntsmen and their game on the walls kind of theme

 

Also, in the background was playing the flute renditions of some famous old Hindi songs -  chingari koi badke, meri bheegi si...

The Khan-crown, the Khan-cutlery and the Khan-goblet for water (how i wished it was filled with some soma or sura ;))

The regular click session with one of the CFGian explaining something to the Vegans- who were shifted to one corner and I never gotto see them or what they ate. 


Food: There was a set spread planned for the evening starting from soup to dessert and you could order anything from the menu kind of a choice given. We decided to leave it to the Chefs

Everyone eagerly awaiting for food to arrive at the table. First to arrive was the soup

 

@Khansama: Corn-Sambar to me but they call it  "Bhune makkai ka shorba". tasted so good and I tried something like this for the first time in my life. First impression made!!!

 Two chutneys and a pickle - each one a different and unique in taste..  would be real good to try it with pappads if they serve

Dhuanar murgh Tikka:  A mini tandoor with coals inside and smoke outside ;) - It freaked the buzz out of the fire alarm and they eventually had to shut it down I guess. With our photographers taking their sweet time clicking, it made the chicken pieces and the whole restaurant smokey!!! . The smokey taste kind of overpowered the otherwise well-cooked dish

Parcha paneer : was probably served like a folded-panner thingie and wow! - this is what  opened the gates to my taste buds for the next dishes to come
 

Assorted meat platter - Bhuna mutton kebab, chicken kebab, prawns and fish tikka. Each tikka tasted so unique in taste with the masalas well coated and cooked with a right balance of spice. Prefecto! the khans scored full marks already. 

Murgh Zartari and Sunehri Qaliayaan with salad and assorted breads (naan, paratha and roti). I had it with butter naan and they were so smooth and soft and didn't get chewy

Sunehri Qaliyaan - the dish is true to its name.. the meat pieces were like kaliyaan - tender flower buds, juicy, and the gravy was with the right amount of spice. I keep writing "juicy" so many times coz I am watering in my mouth recollecting the taste

 

Finger bowl or a basin ;) - Not just their portions, even the finger bowl was big

 Desserts: Lassi - first we ordered only one, everyone tasted and liked it so much that we ordered more and each one shared one, what fun ;)

 Chikki kulfi - peanut candy added to the kulfi is another interesting twist to the usual kulfi. This kept reminding me of BR's almond praline a lot. Check it out

 Baked Anjeer (fig) halwa and Gulgand Rasmalai - The halwa with ghee so profound and topped with pistachio slivers this dessert is my fav here. The rasmalai wasn't that sweet -  didn't quite appeal to me ;(

Don't try to find the six differences... (the moghuls loved capturing us and I did the same to them. little sadistic pleasures in life ha ha ha)

 The wimble-done moment

Khant-read in bad light                                                                                          The Khaa-ja-haan ;)

 
Address:  Khansama, 2nd floor 15, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai-600034 (Opp. Willi Kryptos)


Verdict: Royal ambiance, friendly service, a little expensive but justified for the portions, quality and taste. A dinner for two would easily come to 1.5 - 2K 
Rating: 4.5/5 overall

Kasamse!... Khansama is the best north-indian (Moghul Fare) and it lives up to their tag line - The Royal Indian Master Chef...