Here's an honest confession — each time we crave comfort food, it's butter chicken and dal we reach for. What if we're served these exact dishes with a massive twist? Once Upon A Time (OUT) is doing just that in a rather right way. The eight-course menu is a sweet spread of dishes chosen from a la carte, and you've got three choices — Green Fables (shakaharis, go nuts!), Indian Epics, and Deccan Tales. Take your pick and petite portions of pretty-plated dishes start arriving but don't go by the size as the meal is really filling.
We kicked off the meal with Smoked Baingan Chaat and Roasted Pumpkin & Carrot Soup. Full of yogurt, chestnuts, and sunflower seeds, the chaat made way for the soup which is something we're going back for. The next to arrive is for all those mushroom lovers in the house — Khumbh Shikampuri — wild mushroom kebab served with tomato chutney. We chowed it down and moved on to Chicken (or paneer) Donut Makhni, where chicken or paneer is crisp fried in the shape of a donut and served along with makhni and foam on top, to resemble a cappuccino. Next, we tried Kamal Kakdi & Anjeer Kofta which legit reminded us of ghar ka khana, and then arrived the showstopper — Varqi Saag Paneer. This looks like lasagna where sheets of paneer are stuffed with palak, and when eaten with the chilly butter gravy, it's ambrosia.
We cannot quite leave a meal without a good dessert and we were offered an array of Rasgulla Tiramisu (must-have), Samosa Chai, which is a pala khova samosa with masala chai flavoured ice-cream, shahi tukda, Khubani Ka Meetha Crumble (Mysore pak crumble with vanilla ice-cream) and The Payasam Medley (a platter of tender coconut payasam, beetroot payasam, ada pradhaman). We bolted down our tiramisu and walked out in a food coma. At INR 1,000 for an eight-course meal, this isn't a damage to one's pocket too!