This was my second visit to XII Zodiac which is housed in
the Fern Residency and this time I had the opportunity to feast on some amazing
Gujarati food that is actually quite rare to find in the city. To be very frank,
before this Gujarati food tasting happened to me I had only tasted Gujarati
snacks like Dhokla and Khakhra, but never had an opportunity to have an entire
Gujarati meal.
Also as a matter of fact, I was pretty skeptical about this Gujarati
dinner thing since I thought it will be an entirely vegetarian affair which I
so deadly try to avoid on a Saturday night! :) But I was more than pleasantly
surprised when I discovered the Gujarati food items Fern has come up with that
has more to it and it’s actually extremely interesting, well planned out and in
the end quite soul-satisfying. It might actually require you to come down to
Fern and taste these Gujarati dishes to believe what I am trying to say here! I
can assure you this will only leave you enthralled and in disbelief that
sitting in Kolkata you can get such amazing cuisine that is really not readily
available in the city.
XII Zodiac which we know by now is Kolkata’s first Sun-sign
based restaurant has attracted loads of eyeballs for its elegant interiors
and rightly priced flavorful food. Coming to the location, this is located at
Noa Para, Rajarhat quite close to the busy Chinar Park crossing beside the
Pipal Tree Hotel. Just as a piece of information - there is car parking space
available inside the hotel premises for XII Zodiac restaurant guests, so you
need not worry about that.
The interiors of Fern Residency as well as XII Zodiac have
always impressed me. It is not gaudy and the overall finish simply exudes class
and warmth. The solid white top table, glass and wooden finished walls, lovely
blue couches, everything sets a right note that ultimately comes together to
create the symphony that helps you settle down real fast. The hanging spherical
glass lights over the tables are charismatic as well and create a mystic
dramatic environment which is more than captivating. But anyway, the plus point
is very evident – this light is perfect for clicking food pics, for sure :)
Coming to the food, loads of Gujarati delicacies are brought
together to build one entire elaborate menu that starts with appetizers and
goes up to desserts. In fact here at XII Zodiac you will be served a
pre-appetizer that is called amouse bouche, it comprises of various food
specimens that signifies air, fire, water and earth, like for air we have
specimen of sandwich, for water we have water melon juice, etc. Anyway coming
back to the items I had tried with my Panchphoron fellow foodies, here they
are:
:: STARTERS ::
a) Dhokla: We started off with the most common and most
popular Gujarati dish. Dhokla is basically made of a fermented batter derived
from rice and split chickpeas that results in a fluffy cake to be tasted with
tangy tamarind chutney. Here the dhoklas were cylindrical and tasted really
good.
b) Farali Pattice Vadodara: Talking about the presentation,
all these dishes were very nicely presented and this was no exception. Farali
Pattice is actually quite similar to the North Indian Aloo tikki, it has
got the fresh grated coconut and fresh coriander leaves in it and it is stuffed
with peanuts, cashews and raisins. It was a lovely starter for sure.
c) Khandvi: These looked basically like aloo tikki to me and
it has a yellowish tinge to it. These are tightly rolled bite-sized pieces, and
are primarily made of gram flour and curd. It tasted nice though it was not
that soft or bouncy.
d) Sev Khamani: Sev Khamni is basically is grated khaman that
is served with sev and other spices. It is prepared in bhelpuri style with
chopped onion, tomatoes, nuts, etc in there. This is worth a try.
e) Masala Khakhra: Khakhra as we know is a famous Gujarati
snacks is made from whole wheat flour, salt, oil and water. The dough is rolled out and cooked on a tava
with pressure applied till crisp. In the end the result was fabulous and very
authentic for sure. The crispiness to the khakhra was just right, you just
can’t miss this.
f) Chakli: It is typically made from flours of rice, Bengal
gram and black gram, there is nothing noteworthy to mention about chaklis here,
but they are nicely prepared anyway and with this item we come to an end to the
starters section.
::: MAIN COURSE :::
a) Lauki Thepla: This tandoori roti looking yellowish item looked
pretty run of the mill but tasted really nice. They were made out of spiced
bottle gourd and whole wheat flat bread.
b) Undhiyu Methi Muthia: These were kinda shaped like
elongated veggie balls which were actually made from chickpea flour and
fenugreek leaves. Tasted good if not great.
c) Kadhi Bharucha: These are the fried chickpea pakoris in a
beautiful seasoned pool of chickpea gravy. Tasted really nice!
d) Dal Dhokli: Well I simply loved this dal, it was bit
sweet and soothing in taste. This is a Gujarati dish made by boiling thick
wheat flour noodles in a pigeon pea stew. Worth a try!
e) Lehsuni Batata: Again I loved this dish since I love
preparations primary made with potatoes. This was basically a full spicy baby
potato very well cooked with garlic flavored curry.
f) Trevti dal: This was a tangy and mildly spiced dal made
with three types of lentils, it tasted good and went good with the Lauki
Thepla.
g) Gujarati Masala Bhaat: As the name goes it is a flavored
fried rice dish made with vegetables and spices, it has fried ladies fingers by
the side and raita, papad and salad to go with. It was nice and was the only
rice dish but I felt it lacked some flavor and was touch low on saltiness.
h) Koru Kukra nu saak: This was the only chicken dish on the
menu. The famous Chicken preparation that Gujaratis relish with the flavor of
garlic and curry leaves. Tasted really nice and it’s surely worth a try, it is
bit spicy, but not too much.
i) Sourashtra Fish Curry: This was the best non-veg item for
sure. The fish in there was fresh and boneless. The fish curry was prepared
very well with the flavor of coconut. Must try!
::: DESSERT :::
a) Mohan Thal: These are Gujarati sweet dishes made out of
gram flour, milk, sugar, ghee, almonds and pista. Somewhat looked like circular
Bengali sandesh, but was not that overtly sweet.
b) Gujarati Karanjias: It’s
a kind of a fried Gujia stuffed with coconut, mawa, rasin, cashu and soaked in
sugar syrup, nice to taste!
c) Shrikhand: This is
familiar to many actually. It is an Indian sweet dish made of strained yogurt
and generally flavored with saffron, cardamom or diced fruits. Here the stuff
was prepared really well, hopefully it will suit your palate as well.
d) Basundi: It is a kind of rabri garnished with pesta,
almonds and kesar. It’s served in a small bowl and it tasted very nice, I
specially liked it for not being too sweet.
That concludes the Gujarati menu which was tasted here at
XII Zodiac. The service was pretty good and prompt, though I guess the servers
should be bit more informed. Hopefully people will get to know about this place
and I guess if they keep on working hard with sincerity that day is not so far
away, I wish the team the very best and surely this place has got all the
potential according to me. Way to go!
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