From the tasty Tava to your table

From the tasty Tava to your table
Ruth Dhanaraj | TNN


There is a school of thought which believes that fancy French food is just a big sham; something like the cuisine equivalent of the Emperor’s new cl o t h e s. Needless to say, that school has a lot of students and they are all not just in Europe.
Much closer home, we have the Malabar, Mughlai, Andhra, North and South Karnataka, to say nothing of the coastal range. It may be stating the obvious, but all these styles of cooking can be tasted in either their authentic or this-is-what-we-think-it-is forms. All you have to do is take a walk around the city, and you’ll see it.
Anyway, between all this is a Mughlai restaurant called Tava, currently on Mosque Road. Run by Mumtaz and her husband Feroze, this joint has been in Bangalore for the past 15 years. “We began on Miller’s Road in Fraser Town and then moved to Brigade Road. Both times we had to shift shop as the buildings were coming down. We have
been here for the past three months,” says Feroze.
Well, Mughlai is as Mughlai tastes. What sets Tava apart is not the decor, locale or the menu, but rather what is not on the menu card.
For example, the chicken anghare is not on their takeaway menu, though it is on the card at the restaurant. The term ‘anghare’ is Urdu for smoked. So this dish has its ‘tadhka’ or seasoning done with coal for that special flavour. As Mumtaz puts it, “It’s something like a flambe dish.” (Once again, the French connection creeps in).
Anyway, the dish arrives at the table in a tightly closed pot and is opened by the waiter who scoops out the by-now-smoking piece of coal and you are engulfed with the fumes and aroma redolent of food cooked on an open fire. Thankfully, the gravy does not have gritty bits of coal, but is rich, thick and spicy and goes very well with rotis. Tava offers a range of rotis starting from the usual naans to the not-often-seen ajwain (carom seed) roti.
Some of Tava’s best delicacies are on order only. Like the mutton karela kebab is made with the joint of lamb leg that has been tandoored, fried and served with egg. Or the full leg special which has to be ordered a day in advance. And of course, bheja fry which is requested only by ‘connoisseurs’ of the dish.
Tava also has combo meals (Rs 250 and Rs 500) which give a bit of everything on the menu — kebabs, rotis, a gravy dish and biryani accompanied by soft drinks — value for your money.
The tandoor at Tava is lit from the afternoon and all the grilled items are available during the day.
Tava
Mosque Road
Meal for three adults: Rs 500
080-25481488, 25481489