Specialty restaurants are mushrooming in the city – the latest being Khana Khazana, which serves authentic Awadhi cuisine. Awadhi cuisine from Lucknow – influenced by the kitchens of the Mughals – is now yours to savour. Famous for its Dum style of cooking (cooking over slow fire), the cuisine is rich not only in variety but also in its generous use of ingredients and spices – cashews, curd, spices, paneer, cardamom and saffron.
Elaborate menu
The menu at Khana Khazana is elaborate and weighs heavily on kebabs, kurmas, biryanis, kulchas, roomali rotis and warqi parathas. Situated at St. George Towers, opposite Holy Angels Convent, Vanchiyoor, it's hard to miss with its bright yellow and orange coloured décor.
As starters, you can choose Chicken banjara kebab (marinated in mint chutney) or the Chicken Koliwada fry. The latter is a dish from Koliwada, Maharashtra. A dry and spicy dish, Chicken Koliwada fry has succulent pieces of chicken dipped in besan, marinated in curd and spices and deep fried. If you want to get a little adventurous, you can either try the Chicken kali Mary (all peppered up) or the Chicken Sholay kebab (fiery, and marinated in tandoor paste).
If you are really hungry or out with your family, you can order the chicken platter, wherein you get a variety of eight to 10 kebabs.
Now cutting to the main course, you have an assortment of biriyanis to choose from – North Indian style, Hyderabadi or Lucknowi.
The chef insisted that I try the Lucknowi biryiani, claiming it was different from any other biriyani one gets in the city. It certainly is richer than the others – full of dry fruits and sprinkled with scrambled egg. It is a meal in itself.
If you are the mix-and-match type, then try Chicken Patiala (gravy-based with onion and tomato paste and served wrapped in an omelette). You can team this with a nourishing Missi roti. This healthy roti is made of pomegranate, chopped onions, besan paste, green chilli, mint and coriander leaves.
Vegetarians can take heart since there is a well thought out menu to entice them. In addition to paneer and the ubiquitous cauliflower, there are several vegetarian dishes.
Try the Tomato stuffed mushroom curry (mushrooms chopped, fried and sautéed in gravy and then stuffed in tomatoes) or the Baby corn mushroom masala (that is rich in cashew nut). These can be teamed with either Onion kulcha or Cheese naan.
Khana Khazana does catering and home delivery too. So anytime you want to order and eat from the comforts of home, you can dial 9995911177. They also have a branch at Technopark.
