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By Bidisha Bagchi (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2006-10-08 16:40

Indian food, to some extent, is similar to Chinese food so far as its variety is concerned. Every region has its own specialty, and the appeal to the taste buds differs widely from region to region.

Therefore when we arrived in Shanghai,finding a proper Indian restaurant that specializes in regional delicacies was difficult.

The setting up of Bukhara-Indian grill and lounge on Hongmei Road was a breath of fresh air for us. Since quite a few of our Chinese friends on their visit to New Delhi, India, had expressed their preference for the North West frontier food, a spicier variety, we thought it would be the ideal to take them out to lunch and enjoy the same food here. Bukhara was the first and the right choice.

Named after an ancient Asian city that was located on the famous Silk Road, Bukhara is a three-storey building, each level having its own way of honouring its guests, an age old tradition in India.

The middle level serves as the restaurant while the other two are a bar and a large banquet hall. The decor is very simple;wrought iron figurines feature on all the window sills, the walls are decoratedwith simple yet pretty sketches of historical monuments. The seats are in groups of four, six or eight. The walnut colour furniture is a good combination with the pastel shaded tableware, but the entry of natural light is a bit restricted - it is ample only towards the windows.

Even though the plates and dishes were made of porcelain, the food was served in ethnic copperware, bringing traditionalism to its peak. The most interesting partwas of course the kitchen behind a glass barrier through which we could see how the food was prepared in the clay ovens.

It was time for us to order the food: kebabs, Biryani, rotis and curry. Since a major part of North West frontier cuisine comprises of these stalwarts, of course in different forms, an ideal starter was the Murgh malai tikka (60 yuan, US$7.5)or the Chicken malai tikka. Small cubes of boneless chicken, marinated with lemon juice, salt, yogurt, butter, cream, ginger,garlic, cardamoms, cumin,nutmeg and chillies are barbecued in a "tandoor," the clay oven. The "malai," or the cream, adds to the succulence of the dish. Accompanying this starter was the"Roomali Roti" (20 yuan, US$2.5) It is called so because it resembles a scarf or handkerchief (roomal). Shaped without rolling on a board and cooked on a convex iron griddle, there is no leavening in this simple, tender Indian flatbread of bread flour, oil, salt and water. The main accompaniment with this flat bread is the daal Bukhara (50 yuan, US$6) an exotic concoction of kidney beans, black lentils, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and rich creamy butter sauce cooked over a slow flame for almost a day. The thickness of the curry is ideal for the bread and also shares a good rapport with the simplest of rice.

Indians are rice eaters, and although the climatic condition of the North West frontier of India does not support cultivation of rice, Biryani, the mouthwatering saffron rice dish made with either mutton or chicken, has found its place in the hearts of many across the globe.Therefore the next item on our table was the mutton Biryani (55 yuan, US$7) accompanied by pickle, mint sauce, sliced cucumbers and onions.

By now, we realized that the food,though superb in taste, was a bit on the heavy side, but the Indians have a solution to that. On came a glass of Chhaas for everyone; the deliciously spiced buttermilk is ideal for digesting a moderately heavy lunch.We decided to end the meal with the traditional Indian dessert, gulab jamun, (30 yuan for 2 pc) spongy milky balls, deep fried till golden brown and served in sugar syrup with gold or silver leaf sprinkled on top of each serving. It was the right dish to end the much-acclaimed Indian lunch. Bukhara

Location: Hongqiao International Pearl City 3729, Hongmei Road
Tel: 021-64468800