Zaika Restaurant Review
This past week, we dined at a vegetarian-friendly restaurant called Zaika in Central London. As we walked in, the decor instantly created a Rajasthani Palace ambience with its high ceilings, beautiful drapes, carvings and antique figures. I instantly began dreaming of the feast to come, but beforehand I very much enjoyed their Espresso Martini. Let me say it is one of the best I have had! 🙂
We began our feast with a simple daal (lentil) coconut micro-soup. It was presented so beautifully in a shot-sized soup cup with a bite-size bhajia on top: it was just simply heart warming! Soon afterwards, we nibbled on a selection of starters; my favourites were the grilled goats cheese and Aloo (potato) chaat…. so delicious with a delicate spice note. Though I have had these dishes before at other restaurants, Zaika incorporated different lentils, fruits, and vegetables to make your taste buds tickle and the ingredients came together so well.
As we moved on to our mains, one dish that really had that ‘wow’ factor was the biryani: it was served in traditional style with a pastry cover. As we cracked the pastry open with a tap of our spoon, ooooh that steam and wonderful aroma of the various spices oozed out. While enjoying all intricate flavours, I wondered where did this dish originate. However, I had to wait until a later time to satisfy my curiosity and I continued indulging in yet more of the delicious biryani, cheese naan, paneer curry, and raita.
To finish off the night on a sweet note, we tried a selection of desserts. I was quiet impressed with rosewater and vanilla crème brûlée. Delish! The essence of rose-water was well-balanced and definitely took it back to a traditional Indian dessert.
Overall, the dining experience at Zaika was excellent: not only because the food was great, but the staff service was impeccable and we were among great group of people! It is definitely somewhere that we are going to come back to!
Biryani
Now going back to my curiosity about biryani. While having a chat with my father-in-law, he mentioned that biryani did not even originate in India. Apparently, it originated in Persia and might have taken many centuries to arrive in India. The actual name refers to the cooking style of “fried before cooking”. There are so many variations of biryani that exists today, but they are generally cooked in two different ways.
In one, both the meat/vegetables and rice are cooked separately and then layered and baked. Here you can cover the dish with filo or puff pastry to retain the moisture.
In another, the meat/vegetables is marinated in a mixture of spices for a few hours and then mixed with the biryani rice cooked over low heat.
I have eaten biryani cooked with both techniques and appreciate both: the taste and texture are similar but you can’t beat the pie-style pastry top! Now actually cooking it….it’s a bit of work, but definitely on my to-do list! 🙂
VegDelights 