To start with, this home kitchen isn’t about fusion food, it’s all about two clear cut, delicious cuisines cooked by the same kitchen! Each cuisine is given the utmost respect and despite creative freedom for the chef/s, the food is authentic and delicious. I’m talking about Kitchen 108, two menus, one amazing meal, one menu from Andhra Pradesh and one from Punjab, based out of Delhi but delivering across Delhi NCR!
Home chefs Nataraju and Punita have had a long walk-in life together, the couple’s four-decade-long career in the tourism and hospitality industry made them travel a lot, gathering a plethora of culinary knowledge from around the world. Nataraju’s ancestry in Andhra Pradesh and Punita’s in pre-independence Lahore; his growing up years in Odisha, and hers in Delhi; creates a confluence of cultures and experiences that shapes the cuisine of Kitchen 108. Digging into their ancestral roots of the North and the South, the couple’s food is a blend of traditional recipes, freshly sourced ingredients, aromatic spices, and pure love.
The menu has small changes every week so even if you order regularly, you will have a new experience every time. They do focus on seasonal so the current menu from Punjab has staples like Sarson Ka Saag with either mutton or chicken, I suggest you go for the mutton, it’s perfectly cooked. You can start with their Kathal Ke Kebab and add a side of the slow-cooked Lobia and Moong Dal with Mirchi Parantha. My heart was set on the meal from Andhra, this is a fiery cuisine I love, I missed the Mulakkada Royyala Curry which is prawns cooked in coconut milk with drumsticks but I did get my hands on the Senaga Pappu Mamsam Kura which is mutton cooked with chana dal and I had that with a side of Kodi Vepudu, Andhra style chicken fry with green chillies and curry leaves, don’t expect it to be crispily fried, it’s more of a masala fry and it goes very well with just steamed rice.
If this meal sounds too hot for you, then cool it off with Bendakaya Perugu, they say it’s fried okra in a yoghurt gravy but it’s essentially an Okra Raita and we actually had it cold with a piping hot super spicy meal. They also serve rasam, tamarind rice, lemon rice and Devan’s Filter Coffee which I have kept for my next order. This kind of home-style cooking is what makes ordering in all the more interesting, it’s different, it’s relatively easy on the pocket and it’s delicious!