June 06, 2014
Dana Choga’s Kitchen
By Anubhav Sapra
The weather has become really harsh these days, with the temperature reaching 46 degrees, breaking the record of 16 years. The rise in temperature and the sudden weather changes have become the cause of an onslaught of seasonal diseases. Last weekend, I was down with viral fever and severe body pain and my doctor advised me to be on antibiotic medication for 5 days. The taste buds stop sensing food when one is on medication but this is precisely the time when one yearns for spicy food. After recovering from the fever, I decided to satiate my dead taste buds by visiting Dana Choga’s recently opened 9th outlet in Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh.
The original Dana Choga was a fine dining restaurant established in 1994 by Deepak and AmitaChandhok. Inspired by its success, Dana Choga’s Kitchen was founded in November 2012 by their son Anukul Chandhok at Sohna Road, Gurgaon. They aspire to open 100 outlets in the next 5 years to serve the major cities, and be recognized as the face of North Indian cuisine across the country. The interesting part about DCK is their promise to deliver food at your doorsteps within 45 minutes, and if not delivered, the food is free! An even more fascinating aspect about this outlet is its slew of catchy slogans that adorn its interiors. Here are a few of them – ‘Soya Achari Tikka – So ya, we make the best tikka in town’, ‘Murg Reshmi Kebab – Meat that melts in your tongue, no haddi in this kebab’, ‘Matar Mushroom – Jannat ke khumb, Rest in peas!’
I started my food journey with DCK’s recommended starters, Murgh Reshmi Kebab and Soya Achari Tikka. The much-acclaimed Murgh Reshmi Kebabs were not up to the mark.The outer layer of egg overpowered the taste of the Chicken. Nevertheless, the Soya Achari tikkas were absolutely delicious. I then tried a non-veg kebab platter- Murgh Tandoori, Murgh Seekh Kebab and Murgh Malai Tikka. The Murgh Seekh Kebab is worth trying- it has a nice texture, is flavorful, tender and juicy. In curries, I had Chicken Chatkara, Rogan Josh, Rara Gosht and Punjabi Chicken Curry. Chicken Chatkara had a nice tangy flavor. Rara Gosht reminded me of Gullu meat wala in MalkaGanj, where the gravy is made with minced mutton. It went well with Rampuri Parantha- a type of parantha made with chilli flakes. I ended my food journey on a sweet note with Desi Fudge which is Rabri with dates balls and choco chips, an interesting dessert indeed. To quench your thirst in this scorching heat, DCK has interesting drinks on offer- Mango Magic- Aam Panna and Refreshing Java- a Jamun( blackberry) based drink.
Good news for the foodies of North Delhi, they are opening another outlet in Kingsway Camp on 20th June. I hope my foodie friend Subhash, who is a kebab freak and lives in Kingsway Camp, is reading this blog.
