Eating Out at Javitri – a new Indian Restaurant in Manhattan
Chef Dhandu Ram – and MF Husain too!
Getting the urge for an Indian feast, redolent with magical spices like back home? The good news for New Yorkers is that there is a brand new Indian restaurant on the Upper East Side, Javitri. Javitri is the Hindi name for mace, a spice which originated in Indonesia, but is one of the great Ayurvedic spices used in Indian cooking.Javitri is a delicious way to taste traditional food from the well-loved Chef Dhandu Ram who originally cooked the famous butter chicken and black daal in the Bukhara at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel in New Delhi. A longtime New Yorker now, he has had a hand in many of the noted restaurants in New York, and his touch is what gives that blissful, satisfied feeling after a meal. I recall eating his wonderous daal at Tulsi, the Michelin starred restaurant in 2011, where he was the co-chef with Chef Hemant Mathur. I wrote then, “Dhandu Ram’s Dal is the traditional house dal. Most restaurants serve this urad dal cooked in the regular way but Dhandu Ram likes to cook it for thirteen hours, slowly simmering and evolving it into a creamy texture. Talk about patience! We should all be as mellow as this dal.”
Meeting Chef Dhandu Ram
I had the opportunity of exploring the kitchen and interviewing Chef Dhandu Ram. He’s a down-to-earth man with no chef airs and a world of solid experience. He said he’d do the interview right in the kitchen as he cooked up a fresh dish and showed me how he did it. Knowing I was vegetarian, he said he would do an Alu Gobhi. With a sure hand, he handled the fire, the ingredients in the frypan and a lively conversation which took him from India to New York to Dubai, always cooking and creating. At the end of it, his aromatic Punjabi Alu Gobhi was ready and sizzling and he put it in a container for me to take home and taste.
The décor of Javitri is subdued and elegant with seating for about a hundred and a well-stocked cozy bar. It also has an iconic Indian Master artist on its walls – there are at least seven prints of masterworks by M.F. Husain on the walls including Ganesha, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and the artist’s famous horses. Husain was a frequent visitor to New York, and I can almost imagine him sitting at one of the tables with his signature paintbrush/walking stick, spinning a good yarn. He would have loved to eat the foods so reminiscent of Old Delhi!
I got a chance to try the food right after Javitri opened, and friends who live in the neighborhood invited us for dinner there. This savvy couple like to try all of New York’s new restaurants so it was a good opportunity to see what people really thought about the food. We were a party of six and included meat eaters, vegetarians, finicky eaters and seafood lovers. The fact that we all found something to love says a lot about the cuisine. The food was uncomplicated good food made with a deft hand, using complicated spices which gave one that complex delicious, stick-to-the-ribs sensation of satisfaction and a nice after-glow of well-being .
The Food
The highlights are the dishes from the fire pit – Pudina Jhinga – jumbo tiger prawns with a mint chili marinade; Murgh Malai Kebabs, Hari Mirch Chicken Tikka. There’s also Ajwaini Tandoori Salmon and Sigdiwalla Amritsari Murg. And of course, Dhanduram’s Lamb Chops which are his signature dish.
For the vegetarians there is Subzi Tandoor which is grilled seasonal veggies and king oyster mushrooms, not often found in Indian fare. The Javitri Malai Paneer has a yogurt marinade and toasted mace or javitri on it. The Executive pre-fixe lunch is quite a feast for $30 since it includes an appetizer, main course along with daal, bread and rice and also a cardamon kulfi.
One of the delights is the eye-catching Jumbo Family naan – a delicious elongated naan ( with garlic or without) which comes hot and blistering from the tandoor oven and can be shared with family and friends. Torn by hand and dipped into the creamy Bukhara daal or the comforting red gravy of butter chicken, it gives a new meaning to ‘breaking bread with friends.’ It can serve four.
See the Jumbo Family Naan in Action!
Indeed, Mughlai dishes are some of the highlights of Javitri including the Old Delhi butter chicken, the black daal and lamb chops. I was the sole vegetarian in my group of meat-eaters and they waxed poetic over the kababs which were soft and flavorful, almost melting in the mouth. The biryanis were all superb and eye-catching too, presented in clay matkas As Amarjit Saggu, Director Operations, explained, one of the must-haves is the lamb shank biryani, since, its cooked in spices and is on the bone, so you have the taste of sucking the marrow out of the bones. For vegetarians, there’s the wonderful jackfruit biryani which Chef Dhandu Ram had popularized in New York over the years. The menu also includes Jodhpuri Dal, Dal Bukhara, Tandoori Broccoli, Pindi Chana. Some specialties are Rajasthani Kadhi Pakoda, Paneer Pasanda and Palak Methi Sabzi. Patiala Chicken Masala and Kashmir Dum ki Nalli – lamb shank and Jungli Maas and Green Mango Shrimp.
Desserts
Desserts include some unusual offerings such as Masala Chai Tiramisu, Coconut Kheer, classic mithai – as well as the usual comfort desserts – pista kulfi, warm gulab jamun, rasmalai and gajar halwa, as well as ice-creams with desi flavors – Alphonso Mango, Tender Coconut and Meetha Paan. This is truly an Indian evening where a dish or drink will bring back happy memories of home and eating out.
Drinks
There is a nice touch of India to the drinks and Rahul Mukerji, the mixologist, says all the syrups and tonics are made in-house from scratch, be it garam masala syrup or a tamarind syrup, green chili syrup, or even saffron syrup. “We want to showcase the heritage of India in our beautiful mixology program: so for example, we have on a Calcutta gin and tonic, – it’s your standard gin and tonic with Ford’s Gin but we have added our own homemade garam masala syrup to give it a bit of a kick. Our Tequila Twist incorporates Jose Cuervo tequila, a little bit of mango lassi, a little bit of our house made green chili syrup and ginger ale – and we top it with our special chat masala! Mixology has become such a big thing nowadays; the culinary twists and all these cocktails are becoming so huge.” So, at Javitri, you can expect the unexpected, be it rose chili powder in a cocktail or chili salt to put on the rim of glass for a Margarita!
In their well-stocked bar, they have the liquor from many countries but also from India. “The bar is built so that everybody finds what they want. It’s not just a mixology bar but it’s also a classic bar where people from all over Manhattan or any part of New York can come and find what they are looking for.”
The Upper East Side sorely needed an Indian restaurant and the neighborhood is excited to be able to get good Indian food on demand. “People are liking the food and the service and, in my opinion, the best form of advertising is word of mouth!” says Saggu.
About two weeks later I attended a opening party at Javitri where some of Manhattan’s well-known Indian-Americans as well as Western guests were invited. There was an avalanche of appetizers and entrees, and the verdict from the eaters was unanimous. Chef Dhandu Ram’s reputation for classic, good food had followed him here and so would the diners in the future who wanted a soul-satisfying traditional Indian meal, with a New York innovative twist.
www.javitrinyc.com
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