driving back from dalhousie to delhi, we got stuck in traffic jams on the highway, so decided to do a night-halt in ludhiana, and this hotel is right on the highway. lower portion is a car dealership, upstairs is a hotel, and on the side is this restaurant.
in the style of many other hotel restaurants in this part of india, there is no view from the windows, and the lights are very dark, we had to ask for a light over the table to be brighter to read the menu.
being in punjab, we decided to try the local food, which means tandoori chicken, butter chicken, and kaalee daal with basic naan/tanddori roti. frankly, we were not expecting anything out of the ordinary, but when the food came, and as per the advice of the server he brought the tandoori chicken first with the black daal to match, it was wonderful. i think we may have got lucky with the broiler that day, or something, but the bird was very juicy and the outer masala used was minimal, just the way we ordered it.
likewise, you could make out that the daal had been slow-cooked, and the rajama in it was not the usual small one, but the bigger ones that add flavour and substance. and then eventually, the butter chicken, again on advice of the server, was with bone.
we were encouraged to eat with our hands, and i think that brings out a difference in the way butter chicken tastes, so all in all, if you want to have a good meal without going into the town and also maybe stay overnight, then this is a decent option.