Be ready to be accorded a genteel welcome. Feel free to make yourself comfortable as Lata plays in the background. Do not get too dazed by the fine tableware. Extend your hands to be cleansed with rose water emptying into a vessel brimming with the finest spring flowers.
Help yourself to a Missi Roti: gram flour flatbread prepared in a tandoor. Complement the starter with papaya relish: a pickle to shame all others. Tamarind and mint remain on offer too. Desist a little though to keep ample room for the exceptions to follow.
Play pick and mix with the tandoori specialties. Indulge in a Barrah Kabab to experience tender mutton with a hint of saffron, prominent among a variety of other exotic spices. Feast on the Sangam – invoking the fabled confluence of the sacred Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati – to savour a mutton-chicken blend gently flavoured with exquisite spices. End the menage-a-trois with a Kakori Kabab: smoked beef flavoured with rose, clove and cardamom before being chargrilled.
Follow the same formula with the bread. Do not, by any means however, overlook the wafer-thin Varqi Paratha and the Ba-Khumaash semolina naan garnished with poppy, sesame and onion seeds.
Do not be deceived by the deceptive green of the Murgh Malaai. The yoghurt, cream and Peshawari spices render the boneless chicken-chilli preparation easy on the palette. Excuse the Kundan Qaliya.
Skip the carbonated beverages to refresh your senses with a glass of Jaam-e-Jum: milk sherbet infused with rose, cardamom, saffron and almonds. Conclude with a helping of Labb-e-Maashooq, almond kulfi as soft as Dacca muslin. Depart after having your hands bathed in rosewater once again.
Quick Take: Manna from heaven.