Indian snacks at home

DaRC and Ro Ro are flying off in a few days, getting out of this city prison for a few months. We wanted to catch up before they left town, and after having Chef DaRC cook us dinner the last couple of times, Sankala and I decided to play host this time. Not wanting to embarrass herself in front of Chef DaRC, Sankala announced that she would not be working the kitchen today. So that meant figuring out where to get takeout from... something that we do seldom.

I threw out a few options, and much to my surprise Ro Ro chose Chaat. I was a little hesitant at first, because I'd have to traverse the harbor for it - and the extended travel time would definitely impact how the food tastes. But I agreed to the suggestion and looked for the takeout options... and only found 3 dishes listed on the "Rosewood at Home" page.

So I pinged PR8, who very kindly offered to help me order from the restaurant's regular menu. I was thinking about asking him to make sure that we didn't get any extra items this time, but stopped myself. After all, who the fuck do I think I am? Why should any restaurant give me free food?!

Well... Turns out the kitchen did pack a few extras, including 2 orders of naan... which kinda ruined my plans of not having any leftovers - not to mention my hope of minimizing the use of disposable containers.

Tandoori beef cheek: hung yoghurt, Kashmiri chilli, cinnamon - these were tender for sure, but not quite moist enough. Nice and flavorful with a little bit of heat.

Old Delhi butter chicken: spiced tomato sauce, fenugreek - wonderful flavors, with more acidity coming from the tomatoes. The chunks of chicken, though, were rather on the dry side.

Salem fish curry: Chilean seabass, curry leaf, coconut - one of the extras. More heat here. The Patagonian toothfish was pretty tender, though.

Railway lamb curry - another extra. Pretty nice.

Adraki gobhi aloo: cauliflower, potato, ginger - we needed some veg and I just love cauliflower.

Palak paneer: spinach, fresh paneer cheese, garlic - very, very good. I think I'll just get this every time.

Lamb dum biryani: aged basmati rice, saffron - sadly this just isn't the same when it's not served at the restaurant. The ingredients are still tasty, but when the paratha crust on top is missing, I'll deduct quite a few points. Nice lemon flavors, though.

Prawn pulao: aged basmati rice, saffron - a recommendation from PR8. This was OK.

I wanted to polish off a few bottles as this would be the last time we drink together for a few months.

Chartogne-Taillet Les Barre, dégorgement juin 2020 - very nice and smooth. Loved how rounded it was on the palate.

2000 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - huge nose of petrol, white flowers, very fragrant. Slight hint of bitter lemon. Drinking nicely with some maturity on it. Some honey showed up 30 minutes after opening, and this just got better over the course of the evening. Sooo alluring.

2004 Ponsot Chapelle Chambertin - served 1 hour after decanting. Slightly warm at first, with a slight hint of sharpness on the nose. Some black fruits here but definitely leather and smoke, a little green and stemmy. Could it have been slightly corked? About 2 hours after decanting this showed more sweetness, but still green.

2006 Kongsgaard Syrah - pop and poured. Sooooo ripe, soooo jammy, sooo sharp and alcoholic. Like alcoholic Ribena. Lots of overripe honeydew melon. So sweet on the palate.

A pretty fun evening. Can't complain too much when the food is not served on premise, but taste-wise most everything was fine.  Thankful to the kitchen for all the extras we got.