When I was invited to review a new Mughlai restaurant called Kaiser in Supermart 1, I was very sceptical about it. I mean, how different can a chicken tikka be from the restaurant next door? Every second restaurant in Gurgaon is serving the same cuisine, dishing out the same stuff day in and day out. In fact, as soon as I reached the place, I actually asked the owner how he was planning to stand out in this cuisine and his confident retort was for me to taste the food and then make up my mind. So, we got down to eating and despite all my apprehensions, I was pleasantly surprised with what I experienced for the next one hour. The food was surprisingly good and I would definitely go back again there.

I started with the Chicken Malai Tikka (Rs 300) and this dish was very very different from the regular chicken tikka coated with cream. The coating here had (from what I could make out) cheese and cream and some seasonings and the chicken was tender yet firm, easy to bite, not melting in the mouth. The coating was mouthwatering.

The next dish, Chicken Tikka (Rs 275) was not your colour coated tikkas that you get at all ahatas and neighbourhood joints. This had the natural colour of well cooked chicken but not the charred colour of overdone, burnt chicken. The chicken again was well cooked, retaining the bite but not chewy at all. The marination did not leave anything to be desired, being aptly spiced and I would have this tikka any day with my drinks.

               Chicken Malai Tikka                                Chicken Tikka

The next dish was the Mutton Tikka (Rs 275) and I was eyeing this dish since we had started. The reason being I have never had this dish done well. Either its chewy or overdone and burnt. This on the other hand was something I have not had in the longest time. The meat was tender and, at the expense of sounding repetitive, again done very well. No chewy bite or burnt, dry meat here. Right from the coating to the insides, it was cooked well and was just perfect. Again, it was not melting in the mouth, but then it wasn’t no galauti either. The Mutton Seekh (Rs 250) was a well spiced delight, but for a seekh it was too soft. I like my seekh chunkier, but I wasn’t complaining about the taste of the dish.

                  Mutton Tikka                                       Mutton Seekh

Moving on to the main course, we had a dish called the Haleem Biryani (Rs 300) which the owner told me was their own innovation. This dish was basically rice cooked in stock topped with haleem, topped with desi ghee. This was mind blowing!! I am not a rice person, yet I almost finished half the portion by myself and I am definitely going back for more!!

                                  Haleem Biryani

Next we had the Butter Chicken (Rs 325) and this was just about average. No complaints, but can’t say this is the best in Gurgaon. Next on the menu was Mutton Korma (Rs 350) and it was disappointing and not recommended. It wasn’t even a korma in my opinion.

                Butter Chicken                                       Mutton Korma

For desserts, I had the Paan Kulfi (Rs 75). This innovative kulfi had a whole meetha paan inside, complete with the leaf, gulkand, laung and elaichi!!! And it was absolutely yum!! Highly recommended.

                                                 Paan Kulfi

Please note: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant to taste their food, and no bill was presented to the author. While the author assures you of objectivity, the review may be influenced by the personalized attention the author got.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Food: 4.0 | Ambience: 3.5 | Service: 3.5 | Value: 4.0 | Overall: 4.0

Meal for two: Rs. 800 | Alcohol: Yes | Credit Card:

Address: Kaiser, A-222, Super Mart 1, Gurgaon. Tel - +91 9910087760, +91 9818838230