Blogger’s Table | Varq, Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi … traditional Indian cuisine with a modern twist

“Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. ”
Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

I was happy to be back for a meet up with the Delhi Bloggers Table. It was a special meet at Varq, the award winning modern Indian gourmet fine dining restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. ‘Varq‘ refers to the beaten gold / silver edible leaf which adorns many a dessert and sometimes savoury dishes in the Indian subcontinent. On the same parallel, the restaurant Varq is said to be symbolic of preciousness, luxury and elegance, a harmonious blend of traditional and contemporary sophistication.

With the expectations sky high, we headed for Varq which was hosting a table for the Blogger’s Table. I’ve taken a small break from the group, but they were good enough toinvite me back that night {with open arms as they said}. The heart of our table, the very sweet, large hearted, bubbly, vivacious and fantastic Cookaroo was being given a farewell.

Sadly, she is following her better half who has been posted abroad. The wretched news was broken to us a short while ago, and has been difficult to digest. With time whizzing by, no opportunity to catch a few last moments with her can be missed. A table at Varq was reason enough to make the day special! Also special because we had Nachiketa back from a stint at the Le Cordon Blue, UK, one of the Top Culinary Schools of the world.

About Varq … Grand Master Chef Hemant Oberoi has taken Indian food to a different dimension with new techniques, innovative presentations and usage of organic produce and spices. He has reinvented Indian food with unusual creations and pairings thus creating an exclusive gourmet dining experience.
Varq has recently been recognized among the 101 Best Restaurants in Asia by The Daily Mail and has been voted among the Foodie top 100 restaurants announced by Glam Media. Varq has featured in the top 50 restaurants in the Eleventh annual listing of The S. Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants Asia List.

The ambiance is stunning. Art work by celebrated Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon adorn the walls of this limited cover restaurant. The work done almost 35 years ago was restored some time back and adds amazing dimension to the interiors. Varq also has a Private Dining Room where we were hosted. That has some stunning art work as well!

Chef Oberoi is said to have taken Indian food to a different dimension with new techniques, innovative presentations and usage of organic produce and spices. Reinventing Indian food with unusual creations and pairings, Varq retains the Indian traditional way of cooking while using exotic ingredients like sea bass, sand crab, black cod, morels and Iranian berries.

We were greeted with an interesting array of coolers from Pineapple Basil to Orange Tamarind. The Orange Tamarind was fantastic and many of us enjoyed refills of this interesting pairing. So refreshing and so different. Just right for the season!

A special chefs menu had been put together for the table and began with an ‘Indian chaat’ styled amuse bouche. Gone in the blink of an eye, it gently teased the palette with undertones of lime, ginger, mango, chaat masala.

The first course followed … the Varqui Crab or Varqui Khumb {mushrooms}. I opted for the latter. It was an interesting pairing of a finely chopped mushroom stir fry with curry powder, ginger, garlic etc layered with crisp filo pastry. The first bite made me think ‘over spiced’. It eventually grew on me. I still think it was a little over spiced. Too much curry powder maybe? A great idea though.

Time for the Haleem aur Kebab or Palak Patta Chaat. Both were absolute winners. I savoured both. The galouti kebab was perfectly done, the haleem better than even the one we enjoyed at Dum Affairs, and the chicken gandheri delightful! ‘Gandheri’ is sugarcane in hindi. The chef had innovatively wrapped the chicken kebabs around sticks of slivered sugarcane, and served them in shot glasses. The surprise element was the fingerlicking good raw mango chutney at the bottom. The pairing was spot on, and left us chewing on the sugarcane stick and wiping the chutney clean!

The Palak Patta Chaat was a winner too. Once again the chefs creativity shone through. Little batter fried balls of spinach and chickpea flour were tossed in a delicious sweet and sour chutney. Served between 2 crisp fried spinach leaves, the one on top with a garnish of shiny trademark ‘varq’. Delectable! The polished clean platters were testimony to its deliciousness!!

Soup or broth time and offered a choice of Lobster Rassa or Kala Chane ki Cappuccino. I chose the latter. The soup didn’t go down well with me, maybe because I’m not a kala chana/ horse gram person. The humble horse gram had been given an interesting dimension, a makeover of sorts, topped with a ‘cappuccino’ cream. Sid and Sushmita did enjoy the ‘cappuccino’.

The meal was interspersed with specially hand picked brewed teas. Halfway down came the show stopper palette cleanser, a ginger lime sorbet. The  Japanese ginger was quite overwhelming, not quite soothing to the palette. Nothing to beat the tamarind sorbet at Blue Ginger. That was the best ever!

Already quite stuffed, we marched onto the main course. Sounded like an interesting choice – Sea Bass on Spiced Potato Dauphinoise or a Kali Mirch Murgh {chicken breast with a creamy black pepper curry}. The chicken was really disappointing, very very average. The vegetarian Jaituni Malai Paneer {Olive Cottage Cheese} was equally so. It’s difficult to go wrong with cottage cheese. This one was all wrong. The Sea Bass on the other hand stood out. Fish done perfectly in a piquant creamy rich raw mango and coconut curry sauce, what a great dish this turned out to be! Everyone who opted for it really enjoyed it.

Did I forget the ‘Martabaan ka Meat’ and the ‘Martabaan Chole’? Disappointing again and maybe best left forgotten. The mutton was just average with no discernable pickling spices. The chole too sour and over spiced. The ‘Martabaan’ or earthen jar concept again won my heart, but sadly the dish a let down. The pizza style mozzarella tomato kulcha {flatbread} served alongside was excellent though! Cooling sides like a yogurt preparation, and salads were noticeably missing.

It was time for the dessert platter which came beautifully and innovatively plated. The chefs passion shown through. So much care, so much talent. The sampler offered a trio of Apple Kheer, Jalebi and Khaas Malpua. What I really loved was the apple kheer with ‘chena’ at the base of the glass.  It was excellent … the balance of flavours, the fruit, the cream, the very idea! It more than made up for the courses I didn’t enjoy.

This happy yet sad, energetic, excessively boisterous and very chatty table finally bid the good hosts adieu. Thank you Bhavna, Deepali and Nafisa for playing the perfect hosts. We really did have a wonderful time and you were very gracious. Thank you too Chef Oberoi and your team for all the attention to detail, the effort you made to connect with each of us, and the time you spent with us on the busy night.

Thank you Taj Mahal Hotel for hosting the table. Any shortcomings were more than made up by the ever attentive staff, always there, delighted when we enjoyed something, anxious when we didn’t. They are what makes Taj what it is!

Note: I found the menu was slightly over spiced and not easy on the palette as a whole. Maybe not for summer. The chef might consider adding some traditional coolants like a raita or a lassi, maybe a salad? While a few dishes really did stand out and were excellent, the menu altogether did fall short of a restaurant as celebrated as Varq. I did come back somewhat disappointed.

The others at the table that night were Sid, Charis, Sangeeta, Sushmita, Rekha, Mukta, Parul, Nachiketa, Ruchira & Himanshu. It was wonderful meeting up after such a long time. Ruchira you will be missed {to put it mildly}. Virtual meetings are never good enough. Come back soon! Only you could have thought of individual gifts for everyone, the quiz, the handwritten cards, the works! Thank you for the stunning platter. I can’t wait to use it.