Moti Mahal-London, England

Moti Mahal has several branches and the most famous one is in New Delhi. We (the sophisti-kids) went to the one in Covent Garden. The menu had a picture of The Grand Trunk Road which is the route that goes through Kabul, Islamabad, Illahabad, etc. – basically the whole Indus valley (Mr. Deshler, you’d be proud that I know that!). Food gets traded through the route so everyone has an abundant supply. It was built by emperor Sher Shah Suri (we have fun trying to say his name ten times fast – it is quite a tongue twister!) in the 16th century AD. Here is a picture of the Grand Trunk Road route:

The map serves as the themes for the menu, highlighting specialties from the various regions along the route.  We ordered the Kebab tasting menu, as well as a few special dishes including  grilled paneer, chicken makhani, and katli.  We’ll discuss all of these dishes later on.  Without further ado, here are the pictures of the menu:

Before we get to the food, first things first – DRINKS!  We ordered four typically Indian drinks – Lassi, Melon Water, Thandai, and Nimbu Pani. Karsen had the Lassi which was sweet and creamy and topped with raspberries. Lassi is a traditional yogurt-based drink popular on the Indian subcontinent. There are two types of lassi- sweet and sour. We ALWAYS prefer the sweet. Because the dairy products in London tend to be very fresh, the Lassi was much better than that in the U.S.   But our favorite was the melon water.  Anya “won” the Melon Water through the time-honored tradition of  rock, paper, scissors.  Since Karsen was upset about not getting the melon water, Anya gave him the watermelon that garnished the drink.   Papa had the thandai, which is a lovely North Indian almond and/or pistachio drink.  Moti Mahal’s thandai has both kinds of nuts and is topped with spices. This particular thandai also has dried fruit. The nimbu pani (lemonade) was sweet and sour (just the way we like it) and topped with mint.  Mommy said it was delish and reminded her of a mojito.  Here are the drinks:

Here is a picture of Karsen savoring the lassi.

The first thing we had was the salad – this was provided gratis. It was very simple and according to Papa, a traditional homemade Punjabi salad. It comes with fresh vegetables, lemon, black salt, and a masala mix.  First, Papa cut the vegetables, squeezed lemon juice, and sprinkled black salt and masala on the salad.  The vegetables were so fresh that even Chef Giovanni (from Andreoli) would like them.  Here is a picture of the salad:

The second thing to arrive was the paneer. Paneer is fresh cheese common in South Asian cuisine. This paneer was grilled and spiced with fennel. It reminds us of the outside of cooked tofu but the inside is quite different.  It was grilled perfectly and made Papa quite nostalgic (this was one of Karsen’s spelling words).

The next dish we had was the chicken makhani, also known as butter chicken.  As expected, the sauce was excellent and buttery (as the name suggests).  It was perfectly spiced and was Anya’s favorite. Here is a picture of the chicken makhani:

(P.S Karsen insists on informing everyone that the sauce is actually ORANGE not YELLOW.  The picture turned out this way because Papa took a picture using the flash).

Next, Katli, an eggplant dish arrived.  This was quite different from any other eggplant dish that we have ever had. Two eggplant steaks arrived stuffed with a pine nut filling.   It was garnished with two tasty chutneys – one was a tomato chutney and the other was sweet and tangy.   This dish was mommy’s favorite.  Here is a picture of it:

Another delicacy was the kebabs.  This plate shows the chicken tikka and the seekh kebab.  Both of these dishes are cooked in a tandoor – a  clay oven.  The chicken tikka is marinated in spices and grilled.  The seekh kebab is made of minced lamb and spices.  Both were ‘surprisingly well done.’  They were so soft that even Karsen liked it (Karsen does not like to chew a lot and therefore dislikes most chewy steaks). Here is a picture of the kebab:

We were invited to the kitchen and were offered a tour either before or after dessert. Our mouths were watering at the sight of our desserts so we chose after. We ordered malai kulfi and thandai falooda.  The malai kulfi can be described as an Indian ice cream on a stick.  Kulfis often come in a pistachio or mango flavor.  This one was MILK flavored.  The thandai falouda had a similar flavor to Papa’s thandai drink but came frozen and with falouda.  Falouda is a vermicelli noodle – this was our first dessert with noodles!

Here is a picture of the desserts:

The first is a picture of kulfi and the second thandai falouda.

Both of us preferred the Malai Kulfi and decided that if we returned to Moti Mahal, we would order TWO orders of Malai Kulfi instead of the Thandai Falouda.

Afterwards, we were escorted into the kitchen.  We met Chef Anirudh Arora who is a very talented classical Indian chef. He showed us what a typical Indian kitchen looks like and explained the different sections of his kitchen. There was a curry section, salad section, bread section, etc.  Here is a picture of the kebabs and the tandoor in his kitchen:

And another picture of the chef with us:

Overall, this was a terrific first meal to have in London!  We really enjoyed the food and would like to extend a special thank you to Chef Anirudh Arora!

Out of five happy faces, we rate this place:

😀 😀 😀 😀 1/2