Sunday, December 4, 2011

Aman Chicken, Ludhiana

There are dishes that define restaurants. The cello kebab at Peter Cat, the Bombvil fry at Gazalee, are dishes so tasty and flavorful that the restaurant almost suffers from patrons not going beyond that option in the menu card. There are restaurants that define dishes. Golbari, in Shyambazaar, Kolkata lays down the benchmark for the bengali Kosha Mangsho, Tunday Kababi for the Galaouti Kebab, these are restaurants which are the stuff of legend. Restaurants which are the unquestioned standard bearer of their signature dishes. Even if the dish at other places may taste better to the individual, it is caveat-ed with "as per my taste" as the standards at these holy grails can never be logically surpassed.
Then there are restaurants like Aman Chicken in Ludhiana, which redefines a dish, (in the case of Aman chicken, its just a side dish) and takes it to a whole new level, making the dish not only the star of the meal, but which makes all other versions one has tasted, irrelevant, inconsequential and not even worth spelling through the same words of the alphabet. Aman Chicken achieves redefinition and redefines the Butter Naan.
Punjab is the land of milk and honey, and cholesterol cannot be a factor in the land of five rivers where it is almost criminal to cook without using the purest ingredients and the most wonderful ghee available. So let us not even get into that area, and let us talk of the Butter Naan served at Aman's Chicken. The Naan is beatifully crisp, very hot and packed with so much butter that it has to be brought to the table folded in the shape of a samosa to prevent the butter from spilling out.
Gluttonous, sinful, unhealthy but so very, very tasty that it renders all else you have as an accompaniment, almost unnecessary. The purest Punjabi white butter is used and it is layered as well, permeating to each and every morsel of the bread and ensuring that each piece is as moist and sinfully tasty as the preceding. At Aman's chicken gluttony is not a sin but a way of life.
Not that the sides are any less tasty. The "side"s we ordered at Aman's chicken was half a plate of Tandoori Chicken and half a plate of the Rahra chicken which was cooked as per the high standards of any famed Punjabi dhaba. The Tandoori chicken was tasty and soft but had the advantage of being served before we were captivated by the Butter Naan.
The boneless Rahra chicken was served with a brown, thick and very rich gravy which went delightfully with the butter naan. The greatest achievement was the fact that the Rahra chicken managed to give us a sense of taste with the Butter Naan around. But there was only one thing that remained with me after the meal at Aman's chicken and will remain with me for life - The Butter Naan Redefined!
A meal for two at Aman Chicken without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 500/-
How to get there: Aman Chicken is at Shastri Nagar, near Ishmeet Chowk in Ludhiana. It is easily one of the more famed eateries in the city and you will not have trouble getting directions from the locals.

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