Just as the literary festival of Lahore opened at Alhamra, I decided to take a few ‘special’ guests for lunch at this new eatery in the Avari Hotel named ‘Lakhnawi’, for they specialise in the exquisite cuisine of Oudh and Lucknow, definitely a first for Lahore.

My guests had come to the festival from as far away as Australia, and it made sense to do my best, No Sir, very best, to pamper them. My research told me that the planning and plotting for this new eatery had been undertaken by one of the finest consultant chefs who has worked in the finest Indian hotels, including the Taj of Mumbai. I must be honest that as a ‘pucca’ Punjabi food critic I had my doubts. But having read a lot about the remarkable feats of chefs of Lucknow and Oudh in literature, I was confident that this would be a unique experience.

The polite staff showed us to a relaxing comfortable table. Immediately at hand was a waiter with an exquisitely shaped water jug to wash our hands, a rose petal-filled water receiver and a white towel. Then followed a set of amazing chutneys – tamarind, mint and an Oudh special – with ‘missi roti’ made with onions and green chillies. Excellent to say the least.

The starters over we were served a Kaakari Kebab, a smoked beef ‘seekh kebab’ which tasted of ‘eelachi’ and rose water. It was smooth and the marination, most probably with papaya, of the smoked beef resulted in a kebab that actually melted in the mouth. Next came the ‘Barrah Kebab’, which was a piece of lamb chops but marinated in mustard oil. I had heard of this from my grandmother, but never tasted it. Oh, it was amazing.

This course over we had a most interesting dish called ‘Maahi Koftay’, a fish ‘kofta’ dish cooked in a light onion paste (not browned) with a ‘saunf’ and cumin loaded ‘masaala’. It was light and though most would think they had used yogurt, but this was not the case. Amazing cuisine was coming forth.

With genuine ‘murgh pulao’ cooked in ‘desi ghee and full of saffron, we had a vegetarian dish called ‘Qasr-i-Pukhtan’, or in simple English cottage cheese in a tomato curry with ‘saunf’. It was good, but the only chink in the formidable armour was that the tomato seemed undercooked, though the gravy was perfect. Maybe we overcook our ‘masalla’ and hence the comment.

With all this we had excellent ‘khameeri roti’ and a super thin ‘chapatti’ with a whiff of butter. A lunch could not have been better. For sweet they present an amazing ‘shahi tukra’, and what better ending could have been possible.

Let me mark this ‘eating out’ experience on the Michelin Scale of one to nine. For food quality a massive eight out of nine, for taste another eight, for presentation again a well-deserved eight, for service eight, for ambience seven, for quality of crockery and cutlery seven, for prices, well, six for it is not cheap, and for the variety available in this specific cuisine another seven. This adds up to an average of 7.4 out of nine, which is probably the highest I have ever marked in this column.

An amazing addition to Lahore’s cuisine scene, and an eatery that will surely attract those who understand good food and enjoy the ambience and the food in equal measure. Highly recommended.

GASSED OUT: The famous Rahman Restaurant of Old Anarkali Bazaar, the only place where on a Tuesday one can enjoy ‘fish masalla’, has closed shop.

This shocking move is because officially they are not provided piped gas for some odd reason for most of the day. Yes, there is a gas shortage, but not having ‘fish masalla’ on a Tuesday just does not sound right. Hope some interested person helps out. – AMSHE