In the city's ever-growing landscape of Indian restaurants, Zarf carves a space for itself by serving up some fine dining Indian food. Zarf is inside the Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center and we are told that the menu is 'carefully curated' so that there's something for everyone. On our preview night, Chef Hardeep Singh, the CDP played host and took us through what's in store. He said that the entire menu has been crafted keeping in mind not just how diverse the Indian culinary scene is but the guests who want a bit of everything but not the usual. So, enter dishes from undivided Punjab, mountain spinach and Kashmiri morels, moilee and Kerala red rice. It's got a distinctly North Indian menu but there are elements of South, which explains why it's called Zarf -The Indian Kitchen.
Chef Hardeep started us with Avocado Puri, an amuse-bouche featuring avocado ragda and pomegranate. Then came Lasooni Prawns, Zarf Murgh Tikka, Dahi Kebab 2.0, and Lahori Tandoori Chargha along with Zarf's 7 Types of House Chutneys. The chef told us that the Chargha is a Lahori dish that's popular here where they marinate the chicken with Zarf special spices and roast it away, just like how they would in Lahore. A favourite of the night. The Zarf Murgh Tikka was tender and had such a rich and smokey flavour to it with the gold lead adding a touch of finesse to the staple that tikka is. The Dahi Kebab weren't our favourite (we don't like yoghurt all that much) but boy did we finish them off with an excellent green apple jam that was served on the side.
Before the mains, the chef brought us the Himalayan Pink Salt Salmon Tikka because we enjoyed the hemp chutney and the mango chutney from the house chutneys, and this was the chef's way of making us have more of the hemp chutney. It was perfect. For mains, we had one of the other chefs prepare the Dal-E-Zarf at the tableside while Kathal Kofta and Kunna Murgh were served with Khameeri Roti. We honestly were stuffed nicely and happily to a point where we wanted to book ourselves a room at the hotel and sleep it off. But boy, chef had other plans and he got us Gadbad Kulfi, a trio of kulfi with seasonal fruit. It was a good way to end the night.
Will we be back for more? Yes, especially with our parents since they will enjoy the whole experience too.
Location: Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center, Whitefield
Timings: 12:30 PM to 3 PM and 7 PM to 11 PM
Cost For Two: INR 3,000
