Sharing my experience of a different food review – unique and enticing! – The restaurant! We were invited by Fairmont Jaipur to experience their newly opened Indo-Persian restaurant -Zarin. As it was a short and hectic trip, we didn't get chance to explore, Jaipur city.
First Impression:The restaurant looks great with its interior, the seating, cutlery - everything has royal touch. Executive Chef Manpreet Singh who is with Fairmont from last three years has done extensive research, before opening this place. As the name suggests, it has cuisine from Persia and some Indian dishes. Persian cuisine originated from Iran (our ancestors are from Iran too) and has influence of Uzbekistan, Greek and several other cuisines. Iranians were fighters so it was very obvious that their food should give them lot of strength. We tried multiple meat dishes including lamb and chicken. The Gusto food and My Take: Sheesh kebab – soft and succulent chicken kebabs prepared with rich olive oil, juicy tomatoes and hints of saffron.Mahi Zameen doz –The fish was cooked twice - first grilled and then baked with Persian spices -Flavorful, flaky and delicious.Tidbits: The original way of preparing this is where the fish is marinated with spices and potters would prepare special earthenware, based on the size of the fish. It takes whole night to cook as it is cooked by placing cow dung cake fire on top pf it. The fish is kept under the ground, and the heat from above, captures the moisture and gives the fish a delicious earthy taste!
Iranian Haleem - was excellent and has the texture and the flavor.Tidbits – Iranians cooked with turkey, wheat and slow cooked till we get paste like consistency. The spices blend slowly giving it a rich flavor. Haleem is a special dish prepared during Ramadan in Iran since its good for stomachThen came the dish of the day - Atta Raan, the royal cooked for more than two hours, A feisty leg of lamb, wrapped in sour dough. With loads of spices, marinated for almost six hours, first grilled then wraped in dough and cooked. It was fascinating to see when they cut it. Though after all the hard work, it didn’t work for me because I found spices were way undercooked and the meat was bland and undercooked.Sheermal and bakakhani along with saffron floured rice were good compliments to the main dish. Verdict:Fairmont was built as destination wedding place, and it worked for them as well. We tried food at both the restuarants - Zoya and Zarin. Zoya was high on presentation but lacked the basic flavor and it has been customized for local palate. Zarin on other hand has great dishes and some of them are just ok. If you are in Jaipur and want to try something different – Zarin is the place to be!
