Andaaz Restaurant
About Andaaz Restaurant
2189 A Fort Road
Lahore, Pakistan
00000
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Lahore. Pakistan’s food capital. Not surprisingly, the question of ‘what should we do tonight’, more often than not ends up with a unanimous ‘khaane pe chalet hein’.
And that’s where this tale began.
I’m not usually the guy who throws a tantrum on where we go out for dinner. To me, it’s a mind-boggling experience, and a decision that only a few of my friends would support. So as usual, I gave up, and was informed we were going to a new place called Andaaz Restaurant, by the Badshahi Mosque.
Sounded like fun, it’s always nice going to that side of town. The place was really nice, and all of us had a pretty fine time. But when the food came, it was unlike any other desi food I’d had. It was desi , sure, but it wasn’t.
Curious, I asked the chef before leaving what the secret was. And he smiled and told me it was ‘Authentic Tandoori’ cuisine, an art that they specialized in.
Satisfactory as that answer may have been for most people, it wasn’t for me. I had to turn to the big guns; my mom, and Google.
It turns out that Tandoori is derived from the tandoor as we know it today, but actually goes centuries back into the past. Although the tandoor today is just a means of preparing naan and roti , in essence, it is an oven; a highly efficient one.
Owing to it’s round curvature on the inside, wood fire, and excellent clay insulation, the tandoor offers a chef very high temperatures, and very consistently.
Historically, food has been cooked in these tandoors. Yes, a tandoor to cook food. The meat is placed on extra long seekhs , about four to five feet long each, and is then placed inside the tandoor for a few minutes.
So high are the temperatures inside this historical marvel, that the food cooks very quickly, but only on the outside. Following this, the semi-cooked food is removed from the tandoor and allowed to cool outside.
During this cooling process, the heat travels from the outer surface of the meat, and radiates to the inner surface. And once the food begins to cool on the outside as well, it is then placed inside the tandoor again, and this process is repeated numerous times, until the food is evenly cooked.
Sounds simple, and at worst, time consuming. But it gets more difficult. Since the heat inside the tandoor is so high, the actual cooking time for the meat in one go, is very little. And this in turn affects how deeply the meat absorbs the flavor of it’s marinades.
Hence, the meat has to be marinated well in advance, and through various processes. For instance, it may be marinated with one spice for a few hours, and then washed, only to be marinated again, and again.
The result of all that effort? An absolute culinary delight. The meat and vegetables don’t lose on their natural flavor, yet you can taste the multitude of ingredients gone into the preparation.
And it makes one wonder. The result of our high-paced, I-want-it-now lifestyles is not very good. Speed cooking, meals in under fifteen minutes, as good as they may be, are just a compromise, with the flavors of the heavens, just burnt away in our hurry to be fed.
Until I can find myself a time machine that transports me a to more relaxed, calmer and patient era, I’ll stick to dining at Andaazz, the place that takes me back 400 years.
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Jun 5, 2009
A Journey for the Food Lover
Lahore. Pakistan’s food capital. Not surprisingly, the question of ‘what should we do tonight’, more often than not ends up with a unanimous ‘khaane pe chalet hein’.
And that’s where this tale began.
I’m not usually the guy who throws a tantrum on where we go out for dinner. To me, it’s a mind-boggling experience, and a decision that only a few of my friends would support. So as usual, I gave up, and was informed we were going to a new place called Andaaz Restaurant, by the Badshahi Mosque.
Sounded like fun, it’s always nice going to that side of town. The place was really nice, and all of us had a pretty fine time. But when the food came, it was unlike any other desi food I’d had. It was desi , sure, but it wasn’t.
Curious, I asked the chef before leaving what the secret was. And he smiled and told me it was ‘Authentic Tandoori’ cuisine, an art that they specialized in.
Satisfactory as that answer may have been for most people, it wasn’t for me. I had to turn to the big guns; my mom, and Google.
It turns out that Tandoori is derived from the tandoor as we know it today, but actually goes centuries back into the past. Although the tandoor today is just a means of preparing naan and roti , in essence, it is an oven; a highly efficient one.
Owing to it’s round curvature on the inside, wood fire, and excellent clay insulation, the tandoor offers a chef very high temperatures, and very consistently.
Historically, food has been cooked in these tandoors. Yes, a tandoor to cook food. The meat is placed on extra long seekhs , about four to five feet long each, and is then placed inside the tandoor for a few minutes.
So high are the temperatures inside this historical marvel, that the food cooks very quickly, but only on the outside. Following this, the semi-cooked food is removed from the tandoor and allowed to cool outside.
During this cooling process, the heat travels from the outer surface of the meat, and radiates to the inner surface. And once the food begins to cool on the outside as well, it is then placed inside the tandoor again, and this process is repeated numerous times, until the food is evenly cooked.
Sounds simple, and at worst, time consuming. But it gets more difficult. Since the heat inside the tandoor is so high, the actual cooking time for the meat in one go, is very little. And this in turn affects how deeply the meat absorbs the flavor of it’s marinades.
Hence, the meat has to be marinated well in advance, and through various processes. For instance, it may be marinated with one spice for a few hours, and then washed, only to be marinated again, and again.
The result of all that effort? An absolute culinary delight. The meat and vegetables don’t lose on their natural flavor, yet you can taste the multitude of ingredients gone into the preparation.
And it makes one wonder. The result of our high-paced, I-want-it-now lifestyles is not very good. Speed cooking, meals in under fifteen minutes, as good as they may be, are just a compromise, with the flavors of the heavens, just burnt away in our hurry to be fed.
Until I can find myself a time machine that transports me a to more relaxed, calmer and patient era, I’ll stick to dining at Andaazz, the place that takes me back 400 years.
Lahore. Pakistan’s food capital. Not surprisingly, the question of ‘what should we do tonight’, more often than not ends up with a unanimous ‘khaane pe chalet hein’.
And that’s where this tale began.
I’m not usually the guy who throws a tantrum on where we go out for dinner. To me, it’s a mind-boggling experience, and a decision that only a few of my friends would support. So as usual, I gave up, and was informed we were going to a new place called Andaaz Restaurant, by the Badshahi Mosque.
Sounded like fun, it’s always nice going to that side of town. The place was really nice, and all of us had a pretty fine time. But when the food came, it was unlike any other desi food I’d had. It was desi , sure, but it wasn’t.
Curious, I asked the chef before leaving what the secret was. And he smiled and told me it was ‘Authentic Tandoori’ cuisine, an art that they specialized in.
Satisfactory as that answer may have been for most people, it wasn’t for me. I had to turn to the big guns; my mom, and Google.
It turns out that Tandoori is derived from the tandoor as we know it today, but actually goes centuries back into the past. Although the tandoor today is just a means of preparing naan and roti , in essence, it is an oven; a highly efficient one.
Owing to it’s round curvature on the inside, wood fire, and excellent clay insulation, the tandoor offers a chef very high temperatures, and very consistently.
Historically, food has been cooked in these tandoors. Yes, a tandoor to cook food. The meat is placed on extra long seekhs , about four to five feet long each, and is then placed inside the tandoor for a few minutes.
So high are the temperatures inside this historical marvel, that the food cooks very quickly, but only on the outside. Following this, the semi-cooked food is removed from the tandoor and allowed to cool outside.
During this cooling process, the heat travels from the outer surface of the meat, and radiates to the inner surface. And once the food begins to cool on the outside as well, it is then placed inside the tandoor again, and this process is repeated numerous times, until the food is evenly cooked.
Sounds simple, and at worst, time consuming. But it gets more difficult. Since the heat inside the tandoor is so high, the actual cooking time for the meat in one go, is very little. And this in turn affects how deeply the meat absorbs the flavor of it’s marinades.
Hence, the meat has to be marinated well in advance, and through various processes. For instance, it may be marinated with one spice for a few hours, and then washed, only to be marinated again, and again.
The result of all that effort? An absolute culinary delight. The meat and vegetables don’t lose on their natural flavor, yet you can taste the multitude of ingredients gone into the preparation.
And it makes one wonder. The result of our high-paced, I-want-it-now lifestyles is not very good. Speed cooking, meals in under fifteen minutes, as good as they may be, are just a compromise, with the flavors of the heavens, just burnt away in our hurry to be fed.
Until I can find myself a time machine that transports me a to more relaxed, calmer and patient era, I’ll stick to dining at Andaazz, the place that takes me back 400 years.
Jun 5, 2009
A Journey for the Food Lover
Lahore. Pakistan’s food capital. Not surprisingly, the question of ‘what should we do tonight’, more often than not ends up with a unanimous ‘khaane pe chalet hein’.
And that’s where this tale began.
I’m not usually the guy who throws a tantrum on where we go out for dinner. To me, it’s a mind-boggling experience, and a decision that only a few of my friends would support. So as usual, I gave up, and was informed we were going to a new place called Andaaz Restaurant, by the Badshahi Mosque.
Sounded like fun, it’s always nice going to that side of town. The place was really nice, and all of us had a pretty fine time. But when the food came, it was unlike any other desi food I’d had. It was desi , sure, but it wasn’t.
Curious, I asked the chef before leaving what the secret was. And he smiled and told me it was ‘Authentic Tandoori’ cuisine, an art that they specialized in.
Satisfactory as that answer may have been for most people, it wasn’t for me. I had to turn to the big guns; my mom, and Google.
It turns out that Tandoori is derived from the tandoor as we know it today, but actually goes centuries back into the past. Although the tandoor today is just a means of preparing naan and roti , in essence, it is an oven; a highly efficient one.
Owing to it’s round curvature on the inside, wood fire, and excellent clay insulation, the tandoor offers a chef very high temperatures, and very consistently.
Historically, food has been cooked in these tandoors. Yes, a tandoor to cook food. The meat is placed on extra long seekhs , about four to five feet long each, and is then placed inside the tandoor for a few minutes.
So high are the temperatures inside this historical marvel, that the food cooks very quickly, but only on the outside. Following this, the semi-cooked food is removed from the tandoor and allowed to cool outside.
During this cooling process, the heat travels from the outer surface of the meat, and radiates to the inner surface. And once the food begins to cool on the outside as well, it is then placed inside the tandoor again, and this process is repeated numerous times, until the food is evenly cooked.
Sounds simple, and at worst, time consuming. But it gets more difficult. Since the heat inside the tandoor is so high, the actual cooking time for the meat in one go, is very little. And this in turn affects how deeply the meat absorbs the flavor of it’s marinades.
Hence, the meat has to be marinated well in advance, and through various processes. For instance, it may be marinated with one spice for a few hours, and then washed, only to be marinated again, and again.
The result of all that effort? An absolute culinary delight. The meat and vegetables don’t lose on their natural flavor, yet you can taste the multitude of ingredients gone into the preparation.
And it makes one wonder. The result of our high-paced, I-want-it-now lifestyles is not very good. Speed cooking, meals in under fifteen minutes, as good as they may be, are just a compromise, with the flavors of the heavens, just burnt away in our hurry to be fed.
Until I can find myself a time machine that transports me a to more relaxed, calmer and patient era, I’ll stick to dining at Andaazz, the place that takes me back 400 years.
Lahore. Pakistan’s food capital. Not surprisingly, the question of ‘what should we do tonight’, more often than not ends up with a unanimous ‘khaane pe chalet hein’.
And that’s where this tale began.
I’m not usually the guy who throws a tantrum on where we go out for dinner. To me, it’s a mind-boggling experience, and a decision that only a few of my friends would support. So as usual, I gave up, and was informed we were going to a new place called Andaaz Restaurant, by the Badshahi Mosque.
Sounded like fun, it’s always nice going to that side of town. The place was really nice, and all of us had a pretty fine time. But when the food came, it was unlike any other desi food I’d had. It was desi , sure, but it wasn’t.
Curious, I asked the chef before leaving what the secret was. And he smiled and told me it was ‘Authentic Tandoori’ cuisine, an art that they specialized in.
Satisfactory as that answer may have been for most people, it wasn’t for me. I had to turn to the big guns; my mom, and Google.
It turns out that Tandoori is derived from the tandoor as we know it today, but actually goes centuries back into the past. Although the tandoor today is just a means of preparing naan and roti , in essence, it is an oven; a highly efficient one.
Owing to it’s round curvature on the inside, wood fire, and excellent clay insulation, the tandoor offers a chef very high temperatures, and very consistently.
Historically, food has been cooked in these tandoors. Yes, a tandoor to cook food. The meat is placed on extra long seekhs , about four to five feet long each, and is then placed inside the tandoor for a few minutes.
So high are the temperatures inside this historical marvel, that the food cooks very quickly, but only on the outside. Following this, the semi-cooked food is removed from the tandoor and allowed to cool outside.
During this cooling process, the heat travels from the outer surface of the meat, and radiates to the inner surface. And once the food begins to cool on the outside as well, it is then placed inside the tandoor again, and this process is repeated numerous times, until the food is evenly cooked.
Sounds simple, and at worst, time consuming. But it gets more difficult. Since the heat inside the tandoor is so high, the actual cooking time for the meat in one go, is very little. And this in turn affects how deeply the meat absorbs the flavor of it’s marinades.
Hence, the meat has to be marinated well in advance, and through various processes. For instance, it may be marinated with one spice for a few hours, and then washed, only to be marinated again, and again.
The result of all that effort? An absolute culinary delight. The meat and vegetables don’t lose on their natural flavor, yet you can taste the multitude of ingredients gone into the preparation.
And it makes one wonder. The result of our high-paced, I-want-it-now lifestyles is not very good. Speed cooking, meals in under fifteen minutes, as good as they may be, are just a compromise, with the flavors of the heavens, just burnt away in our hurry to be fed.
Until I can find myself a time machine that transports me a to more relaxed, calmer and patient era, I’ll stick to dining at Andaazz, the place that takes me back 400 years.
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