A new restaurant overlooking the magnificent Qutub Minar is serving up a combination of modern and classical flavours with great panache. Chef Sujan Sarkar's Rooh is soulful, to say the least. Perched on the first floor of Mehrauli's Ambawatta complex, with gorgeous views of the 12th century Minaret, Rooh serves modern Indian food with a clear focus on presentation, wickedly playing with your mind in every course.
At Rooh, the tasting menu is fairly large and innovative. The kitchen team, led by Chef Priyam Chatterjee, does a wonderful job of keeping the flavour-tempo up from the beginning till the end. The tasting menu has some memorable dishes; I particular liked the Melon Rasam with sea buckthorn and tender coconut. It's served cold and the flavours are spot on. The Mehrauli Goat Curd, served with a fermented parantha and tomato relish is a reinforcement of the team's belief in sourcing local produce and then showcasing it in a spectacularly global way. It's delicious and I would go back just for this. The Duck Shami, Stone Bass with Alleppey Curry and Chicken Roulade (served with a decadent lababdar curry) are good too. The Pork Vindaloo Floss Doughnut is innovative. 'Meat Floss' or 'meat wool' has a candy-floss type texture and is eaten on top of breads, both as a sweet and as a savour snack across South East Asian countries. At Rooh, the pork-floss tastes of Goan Vindaloo curry and works really well. The Mango Yolk - a dessert that looks like an egg yolk and tastes of mango and tender coconut - is playful and brings you closer to the end of the meal with a smile.
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Mehrauli Goat Curd
Melon Rasam
Chicken Roulade
Mango yolk dessert
Besan Barfi Opera
Passion Explosion
Rooh has a talented young team at the bar too. While the Tasting Menu comes with the option of wines paired for each course - the cocktail menu has a few signature drinks designed around the flavour principles of Ayurveda. The Turmeric Collins made by young Izler Thomas was outstanding, as was the coffee-based Kaapi Martini.
With Rooh, Chef Sarkar has managed to bring to India yet another successful International restaurant of his. Earlier last year, his New York-based outlet got its India debut at central Delhi's Khan Market. Chef Harpal Singh holds fort there and what a fabulous job he is doing keeping the food great. Now, with Rooh, Chef Sarkar's hopes to carry forward his philosophy of sourcing local, respecting ingredients and keeping flavours clean.
About the Author:
Tanu Ganguly is a Content Specialist with over 18 years of experience in producing, directing and anchoring a variety of content for TV and digital. She worked with NDTV from 2000 till Jan 2019, and her last assignment with NDTV saw her heading the editorial and creative team at NDTV Food. During this phase, she introduced a series of successful changes in content strategy and style to maintain and bolster NDTV Food's leadership position in the food-content space in India. Tanu now runs Mishry.com - a review platform she founded in Jan 2019 exclusively for kitchen related products. Mishry.com is based in Gurgaon and aims to make shopping for cooking and dining needs better.