First and foremost, I must say that I was sooper-dooper excited when I had an invite from Ayna, Hilton along with a few other select bloggers to check out their Kebab Festival which is on for a limited period of time. This feast is on from August 15th to September 2nd. If you are the kind of person who loves juicy succulent kebabs, then this is your heaven. The place has a lovely ambiance with excellent choice of seating and fine cutlery. The thing which I noticed immediately on arrival were the numerous mirrors all around. I later came to know that Ayna means reflection.
After we were seated in the lovely dinning area, we were served with a round of lassi. The lassi was rose flavoured and light. I would have liked a thicker lassi, but I later realised on seeing what was in store for us, that a thicker lassi would have meant a fuller tummy. While we were waiting for the tangy kebabs to arrive we were served with something called a pre-starter. This tasted more like a dokla, even the consistency was soft like dokla. Then came one of the best mojitos I have ever had - The Gulkhand Mojito. Aynas own creation! A mojito with an Indian twist to it. It reminded me of Paan-Beeda but with a magic touch to it.
As we sipped on our mojitos, the kebabs arrived. The Barra Kebab was lamb shanks, slow cooked on a tandoor with a slight hint of vinegar and yoghurt marinade. The lamb shanks were tender and tasted brilliant.
Ayna Nasheeli Tangri was rich and flavorful. The pieces were juicy and easy to bite into. Next I was served with Ayna Black Chicken Tikka. On my first look I thought it was more like a charred piece of chicken, but later the chef explained that the color is imparted to the chicken by a black edible ink, the name of which he would not divulge. The taste was blissful!
After the chicken tikka, I tasted one of the best kebabs which I have ever had. The Kakori Kebab. I have eaten the Goluti Kebab else where and this was just like it, but served on a small sized parotta. A very royal dish. The flavors were orgasmic. In a word, heavenly! This is one dish which one must never miss.
Then I sampled the Meen Varuval and Tulsi Jhinga. As the name imples the Meen Varuval was a South Indian Chettinad dish. I sought of liked the taste of the dish, inspite of it being a little dry. Others felt it was plain ordinary. Tulsi Jhinga was a basil and gralic marinated Prawns. The prawns were well marinated and rich in flavors.
Then I sampled a few pieces of Mushroom Jahanara and Bharwan Tandoori Aloo. Mushroom Jahanara had two pieces of Mushroom with cheese filled in between them and grilled to perfection. Mushroom was really soft. Bharwan Tandoori Aloo was soft scooped out potatoes marinated in various spices and cooked in a tandoori. Both the veg dishes were nice but the non veg dishes definitely over powered them.
After tasting some of the delicious dishes, we were served with Jafroni Parotta. Parotta was coated with poppy seeds. The parotta was soft and tasty. The combination of this parotta and Tangri was just fantastic.
We were also served with some grilled ghoat liver ( Machhli Ajwanni ). The liver was decent, but I would have preferred Chicken Liver. Finally we were served with Babri Sheekh. This was a chicken sheekh coated with pieces of egg white. This dish was lip smacking.
After a big round of juicy kebabs, we were all stuffed. We jumped directly into desserts. We were served with delightful Kulfi Ice cream, a tasty rasamalai like dessert and malpova. The Malpova was down right dry. But both the kulfi ice cream and the rasamalai get full marks.
All in all, the dinner turned out to be a gastronomic delight.
A plate of kebab starts at Rs 700/- and goes all the way upto Rs 1200/- If you are in the mood for a kebab-venture, head right here!. As I had said earlier the Kebab festival is on from August 15th to September 2nd.
Dishes which you must try are:
1. Barra Kebab
2. Kakori Kebab
3. Jafroni Parotta
4. Gulkhand Mojito - Drink
Food - 8.5/10
Ambiance - 9.5/10
Price - 8/10
Ayna is open only for dinner. So please do make reservations before you head over here.
Hitlon is located to Olympia Tech Park in Guindy
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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places.
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