shahnama, as the name suggests definitely gives you a "shaahi" (royal) treatment. this is a part of jehan numa palace hotel which serves you a grand stretch of buffet all year round. breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner buffet.
i chose to go for a lunch buffet today. as soon as we entered the place, must say the staff is highly courteous. they make you feel welcomed, warm and extremely comfortable. hospitality is what honestly makes jehan numa stand out from all the other hotels in this city.
ambience is royal and again very different from that of others. their buffet stretch was huge - from soups to various kinds of bread, a cheese platter, salads, deviled eggs, dahi badas, veg and non veg kebabs, veg and non veg tikkas, chinese and thai section of gravies and noodles, baked counter, pasta counter, two kinds of rice, veg and non veg gravy vegetables, types of naans and rotis and a dessert counter.
presentation is really good. it tempts you to eat.
well, i tried eating the maximum dishes so that i could give a proper review.
hot & sour soup was actually brilliant. why did i say so? it's because mostly when served hot and sour the soup is way too hot. the black pepper used is way too much and gives ones throat a bad time. rather here one couldtastethe hotness of the soup with the sweetness of the veggies and gave peace to ones throat. moving on to the salad counter had watermelon and feta which was brilliant, corn salad which was accompanied with green bell peppers and lemon juice, tomato and red chilly powder and didtastegood, homegrown lettuce salad and this is one of the best, juiciest, fresh lettuce i have had, roasted chicken salad which was scrumptious to the core. the chicken pieces were roasted to perfection with little spices and brilliant. moving to the main course their dal fry was finger licking good, with perfect amount of tadka. tomato rice was average, nothing different or special about it. paneer laziz had soft and tender pieces of paneer cooked in tomato, cream and cashew gravy which was extremely rich in taste. kele ki subzi was something unique, which generally people fear cooking is because if not cooked well, the combination of spices and bananas give an extremely bad taste. it wasn't bad, quite bland and highly plain intastestill couldn't make me love this vegetable and add on to my favorite list. junglee maas was something i had for the first time and was quite spicy, so people who love spicy food-it should be your pick. babycorn cigars were dipped in batter and deep fried and gave sweet and sourtasteall together and was one of the good starters. mushroom stronganoff was something which took my heart. creamy and rich in taste, the mushrooms were covered in thick creamy red gravy. chicken lehsuni tikka was good but not something i haven't tasted before. it didtastequite common. chicken methi tikka was extremely tasty. the best i have had till date. the chicken pieces were marinated well in spices and methi leaves and they were juicy and tender enough to melt in your mouth. simply loved it.
one should have a developed taste/taste buds for fishes and various kinds of cheese. i tried the hunan fish and smoked cheese for the first time. the fish even after being cooked had a very strong smell. the smoked cheese had a pungenttasteand gave a hint of bitterness as soon as you swallow it. so, go for these two only if you wish to build yourtastebuds or already have developed ones.
let's move on and satiate our sweet tooth-
chocolate mousse- soft, perfect, melting and brilliant.
brownie- filled with dates, nuts and a base of crumbs was one of the best.
cookie dough pastry- dressed with chocolate and baked with chocolate chips was again tasty.
baked curd- baked curd had a little sourtastewith
sweetness of fruits, something different and nice.
moong dal halwa- it was nice.
caramel custard- well, they never go wrong with it.
by the way, the lunch buffet is rs. 899/- + 16% taxes on weekdays and rs. 999/- + 16% taxes on weekends.
it's totally worth it.