Travel Your Own: Bukhara – World’s Best Indian Restaurant

Delhi / India ?

A luxury collection hotel located in New Delhi, ITC Maurya prides itself with specialty cuisines that have attracted epicureans from across the globe.

The internationally acclaimed Bukhara is ITC Maurya’s most reputable specialty restaurant. It’s known that conference groups having meetings in other cities of India would fly all the way to Delhi for a day just to dine at Bukhara. Even the former US president Bill Clinton was so enamored with the food that he preferred to eat at Bukhara than having dinner hosted by a former US Ambassador!

Highly rated as one of the best restaurants in Asia, 2010 – 2011 by The Miele Guide, Bukhara is often acknowledged as the top restaurant in India and among the top 50 best restaurants in the world. So, if you are in Delhi, it’s DEFINITELY worth the trip to Bukhara for the rustic flavours of the North-West Frontier cuisine at ITC Maurya.

And this is the Bukhara’s Presidential Platter: “a selection of delicacies as preferred by Bill Clinton during the US President’s visit to India in 2000“.

As the kitchen is part of the restaurant, the chefs can be seen busily preparing the dishes, cooking naans and pre-marinated skewers of meat over charcoal fire in clay tandoors. It may look simple but this style of cooking requires great culinary expertise that is acquired only through years of hands on practice. Food quality specs are strictly followed by the chefs to maintain the consistency of excellent Bukhara cuisine.

Naan, the flattened bread dough, is thrown against the hot wall of the tandoor oven to be cooked shortly.

The Presidential Platter looks huge so we ordered the other platter that was commended by the current US President Barack Obama! You can see his handwriting and signature on the wooden menu block.

Top right: a photo with the Executive Chef of Bukhara at the kitchen.

Here it is … the platter that the US President Barack Obama had during his visit in India last year. Forget about the fork and knife. Use your fingers to pick the tender meat and indulge in tandoori goodness. The highlight of this platter is the baby lamb leg.

Usually I don’t fancy lamb meat ‘cos of the gaminess. But this tandoori lamb had no gamey taste at all; the meat retained its moistness and natural sweetness. Once we started eating, we couldn’t stop and finish the whole baby lamb leg in a short while even though we weren’t hungry! The tenderness of the meat melts in the mouth, and the flavour of the tandoori lamb still lingers in my olfactory memory. Very impressed!

Tantalizing Tandoori lamb meat.

Another not-to-be-missed at Bukhara is its namesake dish – Dal Bukhara. A concoction of black lentils, tomatoes, ginger and garlic are simmered over on slow coal fires overnight to bring out the flavours of rich culinary heritage of the North West Frontier province. Dip your naan into the Dal Bukhara and taste it with images of endless rugged hill ranges of the North West Frontier flashing across…