Our second day in Ranthambhore yielded a morning tiger trek seeing three cubs and then an afternoon trek for 4 hours with no results....until we were about to leave the reserve and a tiger literally jumped down and near the car and crossed the path in front of us (our guide said this has never happened to him in 32 years of being a ranger!). We came to dinner on a super high and Sara, our server from the day before and that day as well, was so thrilled and told us she had several dishes in store for us that were very special. She was so amazing for our stay that we commended her to the hotel manager as well as the head of Oberoi here in India! We still had a half bottle of white and red from the night prior so we drank those as we were leaving the next day.
We started with Palak Patta aur Bhindi ki Chaatwhich was made from spinach into a funnel-cake-like dough(not sweet) with a sweet yoghurt, nylon sev(semolina), pomegranate and Indian pickles that we loved. Chapli Kebab were pan fried lamb cakes with coriander and spring onion served with three sauces to dip: tomato & garlic, smoked yoghurt, mint & coriander. We loved them ALL!!
Main courses were Methi Malai Murgh-fenugreek and chicken in a yoghurt curry sauce; Bhuna Ghost(pronounced Ghosh) which is a baked lamb with onion and tomato; Mango Rice with Lentil Dumpling and the winner again was the bite of heaven on a fork veggie dish: Shahi Baigan Halim, aubergines in a rich garlic, onion & coriander cream sauce.
The chefs came out and we congratulated them on the amazing new dishes we had never had before and wished we were staying longer here!!
Of course there were breads:Koki Masala (Gram or chickpea flour with onion, coriander and green chile), but we tried to refrain so there was room for dessert.
Khulfi-the omnipresent Indian ice-cream was made from rose and pistachio with a caramelized nut crisp; Kong Firni was a rice pudding of condensed milk, almond, pistachio and saffron; while Baked Gulabjamon Rubdi(pronounced rubri) Malai is that rich gooey ball we see everywhere but it was tamed here a tad and served in a saffron cream.
I stopped in the bar for a scotch in front of the fireplace and had the room all to myself thinking what an amazing journey this has been, and we were only one week in out of three. Much more food to enjoy!!!
Everything including the tiger is on Facebook!
