Indian food is just so diverse and beautiful that you can’t really choose a favourite cuisine amongst the so many different ones we have from South Indian to North eastern to North Indian. I must say though that I am quite partial towards Rajasthani food.
The colours, the taste, the spices, the flavours, the method of cooking all really leave me in awe. I recently visited Jaipur and actually stepped into traditional Kitchens to see how they get that lovely flavour.
Coming to Arogo, it’s a startup food pop up by Niyati Singh Rathore who is both a law student and a wonderful cook. She brought traditional and authentic Marwari flavours into her food.
She’d done up her house which is at Andheri in lovely lights, with low seats and traditional music which added to the charm of the event.
The food was absolutely amazing! This is what I had –
1) Masala Chaas –
Have you ever had Rajasthani Masala Chaas? If not please do. It’s the best kind of Chaas I’ve had in India. Creamy curd blended with cool water and spiced with roasted cumin seeds, curry leaves, mint leaves and fresh coriander. It refreshes and energises. A wonderful start to a lovely meal. I love the way it was served in clay glasses just making it better.
2) Mirchi Wada –
Long Bhavnagari Chillies stuffed with a spicy potato and ajwain mixture rolled in Bengal gram flour and deep fried to a crispy golden brown. I loved the spice of the chillies and the well made stuffing inside. It had the perfect amount of crispness to it and some really authentic flavours.
3) Daal Baati Churma –
Daal Baati Churma is one of my favourite things to eat in Rajasthani cuisine. Baatis are round biscuits made of flour, ajwain, salt and lots of ghee either baked or fried. You’re supposed to break them, put daal and Churma over them and then add some more ghee on top.
Now I liked the Baatis at Arogo but the Daal wasn’t really a traditional daal. Traditionally it’s made f Moong and Toor daal but at Arogo it had more of toor daal killing the flavour. It would have been a good daal to have with something else but not with Baatis. Also Ghee wasn’t served on top which was a bit disappointing.
Coming to the Churma, it was on its own a star. Broken flour balls roasted with ghee and sugar topped with some beautiful rose petals and broken cashew nuts made me feel so good. It was almost orgasmic.
4) Dum Aloo –
By far one of the best Dum Aloo’s I’ve had was the one at Arogo. Large, well cooked pieces of stuffed potato slow cooked in a royal red creamy curry with lots of spices and great texture. Though the consistency of the gravy was a bit thin, I absolutely loved the taste. And with warm rotis I had a blast eating this.
5) Gatte ki sabji –
I’m very particular about Gatte ki sabji tasting good because I don’t like it at most places but I was really impressed by the one here. It was as good as the one I had in Jaipur. Small Bengal gram flour balls cooked in warm water mixed into a lovely gravy made of curd, besan and spices. She’d also added a tinge of mint to it making it all the more good. Fully recommended.
I had a lovely experience overall. Very good work for a first pop up. Fully recommended.
Taste – 4/5
Service – 2.5/5
Ambience – 3/5
Value for money – 3/5
Overall rating – 4/5
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