Venue: Select Citywalk, Saket
Date: 29 March 2017

For today’s Delhiites Navratri fasts are about anything but starving. Evidence are the innumerable number of vrat mixtures, chips, sweets, Navratra deals and a hoard of restaurants creating fancy Navratri menu. For foodies, more the merrier.

Though we weren’t fasting, we managed to gorge on some delicious Navratri cuisine for the love of vrat ka khana. We were invited to try out vrat thali at Punjab Grill. This outlet of Punjab Grill is located on the third floor of Select Citywalk Mall in Saket. The ambiance of typical Indian fine dining – dim lights / walls decorated with copper utensils / Indian style ceramic pickle jars (martbaan) coupled with smell of Indian food made our mouths salivate.

The Navratri dinner started with thick sweet lassi that was specially made for Navratri. Out of curiosity we also tried their Dhania patta mojito which was very refreshing. After some wait they served us our Navratri thali which was a sight for sore eyes. This elaborate dinner was served in gold plated thali, bowls and glass. The thali comprised of Kacche kele (plantain) ki tikki for starters with a host of main course items like Dahi wale aloo, sukhi arbi (colocasia), khatta meetha kaddoo, khoya paneer, Aloo singhara dahi vada, samak pulao and rajgira ki poori. Apart from the sabudana paapad eveything was well cooked and delicious. We loved the pumpkin dish which tasted divine with the poori. The dishes were mild on spices but high on taste and quality.

The Navratri special desserts included makhane ki kheer and kesari rasmalai. Makhane ki kheer was very thick like rabri and we preferred rasmalai way better.

Navratri food is inherently heavy on stomach and despite the fact that we loved every single bite of this platter we resisted going overboard. The platter is priced at a reasonable Rs.525 (+tax) and if you want to try satvik food with style this season, Punjab Grill’s navratri thali is worth the indulgence.