During our recent visit to Welcome Heritage’s Bal Samand Lake Palace in Jodhpur, I had the good opportunity to dine at their hugely popular open-air restaurant Kebab Korner. The lawn area where chipmunks, peacocks and other creatures frequent during daytime gets converted into a cosy, romantic candle-lit restaurant by night. Seated on a durrie along the periphery, a folk artist plays Raavanhastha – a traditional musical instrument – enough to enhance the dreamy ambiance.
Not so much of a kebab fan, we were a bit hesitant to dine here but on the insistence of the friendly restaurant manager Jitender Shekhawat, we decided to give it a try. And lo! We were glad to have followed his advice else would have missed out on such a delightful dinner we have ever had!
Near the kebab live station is the make-shift bar with thatched roof, built around a tree lending it a feel of being close to nature and with exotic cocktails and mocktails like Mango Mojitho and Martini coming from there along with snacky crisps and nuts, it was a pleasant start to our evening.
Jitender made sure we had their Sizzling Kebab Platter of seekh, paneer, dahi and aloo kebabs on a bed of greens to the accompaniment of mint chutney. While the inside of dahi kebab was melt-in-the-mouth, aloo was open kebab of tasty spiced-up filling and paneer was fresh and soft to our liking.
Veg pulao, sarson ka saag and makhni dal made up our main course. Saag was rich and delicious with a dollop of cream and full marks to makhni dal for its velvety texture and aftertaste.
Both pulao and dal were served with burning embers from below to keep it hot till we finished our plate. The cool airy atmosphere and piping hot food complemented each other.
Sweet finale came in the form of cool kulfi falooda garnished with pistas and hot, luscious gulab jamuns topped with silver varak.
Yes, foodies are guaranteed to go crazy digging into the yummy delights at Kebab Korner at WH Bal Samand Lake Palace in Jodhpur!
