Dana Choga is a North Indian fine dining restaurant started way back in 1994 by Deepak and Amita Chandhok. After enjoying immense popularity for 18 years, it kind of fizzled out and needed to strike back. Then in 2012, their son Anukul took over and launched Dana Choga’s Kitchen (DCK), a setup committed to quick service and prompt delivery. The promise is that food will be home delivered within 45 minutes or else it’s free.
In the last two years, DCK have managed to open 12 outlets in Delhi-NCR. Inspired by the story, I went to review one of their outlets in Noida’s Sector 50 market. The market is emerging as a food hub with a huge number of restaurants. The restaurant is nicely located on the ground floor and even has a seating arrangement in the basement. The interiors are simple and have a casual feel.
It is a place where people can just walk in wearing shorts and enjoy a meal with friends. The menu selected is also crisp, offering their handpicked dishes. Well, I ordered all the six variants of the non-vegetarian kabab which were on offer. My order came in time and I enjoyed the service as the staff at the Noida outlet is very courteous and hospitable. Tastewise, I had high expectations but found it to be just average.
Murgh tikka, murgh tandoori, murgh seekh or the Afghani murgh — all these lacked in flavours and the aroma of masalas that North Indian starters possess. The Afghani murgh was mildly spiced just the way it should be but was loaded with cream to the extent that it became pasty and got over glazed. Even the vegetarian variant, soya achari tikka, hardly had any achari flavour.
In the main course, sarson ka saag with missi roti tempted me to try my first tryst with the master dish for the season. The undercooked saag should have been cooked for another 15 minutes to get a viscous texture. Chicken chatkara, one of the popular dishes, was nothing but a spicy curry with chicken in it. The murgh kabab in which they mix tandoori tikkas with the curry went well with the Rampuri parantha — their own invention which has nothing to do with the cuisine of the princely estate.
Gulab jamun was the only dessert available and was made to perfection.
Meal for two: Rs.700 plus taxes
