Nirvana's Surprise: Great Food

I never intended to eat at Nirvana. Although I love Indian food, I avoided this place because it was said to be a singles scene, a bar hang-out where liquor profits ruled, not food.

Even worse was its cutesy kinky image. The drinks include a Kama Sutra cocktail. The menu lists appetizers as "Foreplay."  Entrees are grouped under "Loss of Innocence," and the bar is furnished with exotic square beds.

Not promising. But I went anyway the other night. And what a shock. The people in there weren't hipsters on the prowl but regular souls--one guy even wore a Hawaiian shirt.

Still more startling. the food was the best I've had since New Delhi, not the same hohum tandoori meats and curries cloned throughout Los Angeles.

I say New Delhi because Chef Ramanuj Sahai is from that city and cooked for seven years  at the legendary Bukhara restaurant in the Maurya Hotel there. 

And so right here in Beverly Hills, you can eat Bukhara's famous tandoor-roasted leg of lamb and the slow-cooked dal that is as renowned as the lamb.

I really appreciate this, because I missed the lamb when I ate at Bukhara, which specializes in northwest frontier food.  The person I was lunching with ordered tandoori prawns and spicy chicken seekh kebabs instead.

Nirvana's sikandri raan is so tender the meat virtually falls off the bone. Even more important, at least to me, it is marinated overnight with Old Monk, a dark Indian rum that I bring back from every trip for my summer rum sours.

Bukhara's dal cooks gently for 20 hours over a warm tandoor oven, or so they told me. At Nirvana, the same long slow cooking produces a lush creaminess that might make you want to push away the rest of your food and eat just this, with rice. The restaurant uses urid dal (black-skinned lentils) for this dish.

Chef Sahai is a dedicated food sleuth and once worked two months at a restaurant in Lucknow just to get the secret of its iconic lamb kebab. The galouti kebab at Nirvana combines finely ground lamb with rosewater, cardamom and other spices. The meat is moist and the flavor subtle. A stolen pleasure to savor.

New Delhi style butter chicken--strips of meat in a tomato and butter sauce--is very good. Baingan ka bharta (eggplant), a standard  at every Indian restaurant, is well-presented. And crisp fried whole okra avoids the unpleasant texture associated with this vegetable.  

Appetizers worth noting include slightly crusty mushrooms filled with paneer cheese and tandoori aloo--tandoor-grilled potatoes stuffed with nuts and raisins.

Basil and rosemary naans sound interesting, but the restaurant is especially proud of its light, crispy whole wheat paratha. I've never had one like it. 

Desserts are headlined "Sensuous Pleasures--Sins Committed and Quickly Forgotten." The best is mango Napoleon, sliced fresh mango layered with soft cream and filo pastry, the top layer finished off with crackly sugar. I would forgive myself quickly if I had two of those.

Nirvana is open only for dinner. A long open-air courtyard with a fire blazing at the back would be ideal for warm nights. The inner dining room is dark and quiet.

Owner Deep Sethi told me that the "Slumdog Millionaire" post-Oscar party took place at Nirvana. Those people knew where to go, but I certainly didn't. The restaurant opened about five years ago. I'm sorry it took me so long to get there.

Nirvana, 8689 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Tel: (310) 657-5040. Open from 5 to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday; from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

 

Comments

[Madurai hotels]

nice posting

[New Delhi Hotels]

Thanks for sharing this valuable comment. I also booked a hotel via India Delhi Hotel. As soon as I paid the amount, I got the confirmation of my hotel reservation.

[Barbara]

Thanks for the tip, all the way from Delhi. Wish I were there.

[Budget Hotel in Delhi India]

the manor Delhi is also a good hotel - my stay was very nice. Especially the service was good. Food was just perfect - Manor is one of the best luxury budget Hotels in South Delhi, India.