Dates: 16 March 2018
Venue: Ambience Mall, Gurgaon

Zambar has been one of our most favourite South Indian food places since its inception about 8 years ago at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon. We have visited this place many many times in this period and have tried a host of their varieties – be it Sadhya to Southern spices to their Goan festival.

They recently have a new menu and we tried that last week. And this perhaps was our best experience.

For one, we loved the seasoning and the tempering of spices in the new items. While Kerala is the spice capital of India, many of the flavours are acquired tastes. They tend to confused our untrained palettes up north. But the fare they have on the new menu is a mix of both. While retaining the core flavours of the spices in the dishes, these have been moderated and tempered to suit our Delhi taste buds. Hence, the dinner was no adventure but a wholesome experience. We recommend the starters Kafir Lime Rasam and Srilankan Kothu Roti which is a dish comprising pounded paratha mixed with spices and chopped vegetables. Vetrimurugan’s Mutton Sukka, Chicken Ghee Roast and Achamma’s Lamb Curry are also worth the shots since these perfectly reflect the balance in spices that we just discussed.

Incidentally, Vetrimurugan and Achamma are the good chefs here and the aforesaid dishes in their name lived up to the expectation.

But the high point of our dinner was the Ragi Egg Appam. This was the regular appam with an egg poach on the centre. The egg on the appam gave it a very contemporary almost continental taste. This appam tasted great with the spicy curries. But then we loved it on its own too. This, folks, is a must try.

What you can pass is the Chettinad Fried Fish Finger. The semolina coating was thick and its taste overpowered the taste of the fish bits inside. Not worth the calories we thought.

For dessert we had Coconut Jaggery Pudding. This mildly sweet but beautifully steamed piece of milk pudding came with grated coconut and jaggery serving for extra sweetness. The light dessert was very apt after the grand meal.

We are impressed.

The new menu at Zambar reflects a true fusion approach where the chore elements of Kerala cuisine were used to create twists suiting contemporary and universal tastes. They have revamped the place as well and we missed the ketuvallam (Kerala style house boat) they earlier had inside the restaurant. Nonetheless, the new decor has opened up the space and they now have antique old furniture like the wood swing bench and planter’s chairs as sitting arrangements. All this gives the decor a traditional feel with the colonial angle.

We are not sure if we could aptly describe the newness at Zambar. Do try it for yourselves and let us know. All said and done, Zambar is still as much of a Fun-Do place to try coastal or southern cuisine in Delhi NCR.