Want to eat good food but don’t want to head out to a restaurant? Home cooks to the rescue! Here are some of our favourite home cooks in Lucknow, all of who are known for their speciality dishes. In Part 1 of the series, we have:
TASTES OF BENGAL
Previously known as Randhuni, this is the place to order authentic, home-cooked Bengali food. After much encouragement from friends and family, Soma Bhanja started her dream home cooking venture more than a year ago and since then, her patronage has grown far and wide. She is known for making the most lip-smacking Bengali dishes like Chicken Rezala, Bhapa Chingri and Dhokar Dalna. But, we absolutely love her Mochar Ghonto – a preperation of banana flowers. She can easily cater to a party of 80 to 100 people, but would need a couple of day’s advance notice. You will have to make arrangements for picking up the order.
Contact: 73769 01679
KOLONEL’S KITCHEN
Viraj Mohan has been in and out of the kitchen since the last 20 years, but it wasn’t until last year that he decided to become a home cook. His speciality is North Indian cuisine – he does signature dishes of Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi and of course, Lucknow. Not only is his pre-set menu beautifully crafted, but he ensures that he uses only the freshest of ingredients – so much so he purchases his spices from the native places of the dishes. His stellar dish is the Jungli Maas – a dish popularized by the rajas and maharajas, which is essentially game meat prepared in the minimum of spices. For lunch, you need to place an order with him the previous evening before 6 pm, and for dinner, you can place an order on the same day by 2 p.m. Viraj undertakes big orders for parties as well, but just takes an off from work on Tuesdays. Apart from Laal Maas, also popular on his menu are Bhuna Gosht, Kali Mirch Chicken and Khatthe Meethe Baingan.
Contact: 91152 77773
