Nan negotiable: Bukhara’s new tapas menu

Since it opened 20 years ago, Bukhara has been the go-to dining venue for locals and out-of-towners seeking top-end Indian cuisine. I, however, have a major problem with the restaurant: I always end up ordering the same dish for fear of missing out on my two favourites – butter chicken and lamb rogan josh – which means I never get to sample anything else on the extensive menu.

Which was why I nearly fell off my seat with excitement, when my email Inbox pinged with a press release announcing Bukhara’s exciting new tapas menu for two! The owner, Indian-born physicist Dr Sabi Sabharwal, and his South African wife Elana, decided to celebrate the restaurant’s two decades in existence by launching a tasting menu that gives diners the opportunity to taste some new and unusual dishes on offer.

THE MENU

The eight-course menu has a little bit of everything – fish, chicken, beef, lamb and vegetarian dishes prepared in a variety of ways, from tandoor and singri (which use open flames and coals) to dum (which involves slow-cooking in sealed pots to create fragrant and flavoursome curries). And, of course, Bukhara’s addictively moreish garlic nan bread accompanies the curry courses, so leave enough room to mop up the last bits of sauce from the bottom of your bowl.

There are five different tapas menus, which the chef changes daily so that regulars get to try out the full array of what Bukhara has to offer. On the night we ate there, our menu consisted of:

• pappdi chat: a street-food snack of a nacho-like crispy cracker served with chickpeas, potatoes, yoghurt, tamarind and mint dressing
• palak tikki: spinach-and-paneer (homemade cheese) patties cooked on the tawa (flat-top grill)
• tawa maachi: marinated aromatic spiced fish cooked on the tawa
• chicken haryali kabab: boneless chicken marinated with mint and coriander, cooked in the tandoor
• lamb seekh kabab: spicy minced lamb cooked on skewers in the tandoor
• murg masala: chicken curry in thick tomato and onion gravy
• meat beli ram: lamb curry cooked with roasted black cumin
• aloo puri: puffed-up fried bread with spicy potatoes
• jeera pulao: basmati rice cooked with cumin and onion

If, like me, you’re a novice when it comes to Indian cuisine, or you simply want to branch out and try some new flavours, the tapas sharing menu allows you to expand your repertoire without ordering (and being lumped with) a full portion of something that you’re not partial to. Go hungry!

Date 1 May – 30 November 2016
Cost R595 (two people)
Contact 021 424 0000, capetown@bukhara.com
Location Bukhara