Cooking With Shobana

Saturday, June 20, 2026

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: KHAKI, SAN RAMON, CA

A general observation. The number of restaurants that offer Indian cuisine in the United States- and more so in California- has grown exponentially over the years. Prem remembers when he first visited the US back in 1992, Indian cuisine was a rarity. No longer so. These restaurants are filled not only with people of Indian origin as one would imagine but also by many local Americans.

We dined at Khaki Indian Bar and Canteen, a modern Indian dining favourite in San Ramon, CA last month. It is located at 6000, Bollinger Canyon Road, City Centre Bishop Ranch, one of East Bay's premier dining and shopping destinations. Their operating hours seem to vary depending on the day of the week, so it is better to check their website . However, please remember they are closed on Mondays! You can order food online or make a reservation especially if it is a weekend.

The restaurant gets its name from the popular Indian fabric of that name. Khaki was a long time mainstay of Indian clothing, typically used in different types of cotton-based uniforms. The staff were wearing khaki aprons. I guess the name was adopted for this restaurant to signify its Indian roots and heritage.

Khaki has a well stocked bar with a wide variety of alcoholic drinks, cocktails and mocktails. We examined the many options before selecting our drinks.

Prem chose the James Bond Vesper, made with gin, vodka, vermouth, and orange bitters. Being an avid James Bond fan he could not but help saying it should be "shaken and not stirred" !

I had a Gymkhana Gin and Tonic- made with gin, house spices, lime and tonic. Cheers!!

For starters we had the Cauliflower Koliwada- crisp fried cauliflower with a chilli garlic marinade- modelled on the fish dish from Mumbai's Koli community of fisherfolk.

Another starter was the Malvani Kolambi: made with prawns, roasted coconut, dried red chillies and stone ground spices.

Tandoori Salmon Tikka- fresh Atlantic salmon marinated in tandoori spices and mustard oil- served with red onions, cilantro and green Indian chilli chutney

For the main course, we had the Meen Pollichathu: fresh whole butterflied branzino, cooked with a coconut, kokum and tomato masala, wrapped in banana leaf.

Butter Chicken : tandoor charred boneless chicken with creamy tomato sauce, white butter, tree nuts, and dairy

Chicken Chettinadu- bone in-drumstick, black pepper, fennel, curry leaves and roasted spice blend

These dishes were had with hot steamed rice as well as Indian breads like naan and lachha parathas.

For dessert, our party of four shared Verandah Orange Juice Cake; Ras Malai Tres Leche; Gulab Jamun Creme Brulee: and the Canteen Pudding.

In my view the best items were the Butter Chicken and the Tandoori Salmon Tikka. The Meen Pollichathu was pretty good too but the Chicken Chettinadu was rather disappointing.

The vote for the best dessert goes to the Ras Malai Tres Leche-an interesting play of the Indian old favourite Ras Malai with tre leche which is the popular Latin American ' Three Milks" cake .

Overall, we enjoyed our dining experience at Khaki Indian Bar and Canteen, San Ramon. and I would heartily recommend this to foodie friends.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: INDIENNE, CHICAGO

After our stay at New York, we travelled to Chicago, IL. You will recall that at New York I had the great fortune to dine at three of the finest Indian restaurants, Chef Vikas Khann's The Bungalow; Chef Raveesh Kapoor's Indian Accent; and Chef Vijayakumar's Semma.

In Chicago, we dined at another famous restaurant called Indienne. This was inaugurated in 2022 . Shortly after, it was awarded a Michelin star in 2023. It was the first Indian restaurant to get this honour. Chef Sujan Sarkar and his team have ensured they have retained the prestigious status every year since then. Chef Sujan is from Kolkatta but spent over a decade in London honing his skills. He has entrepreneurial ventures in Los Angeles, and San Francisco to his credit.

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to meet Chef Sujan as he was out of town. He was busy with the inauguration of his New York restaurant situated in Henry Hall, West 38th Street, near 10th Avenue in the Hudson Yards.

The name "Indienne" comes from Chef Sujan Sarkar's objective of a fusion of Indian flavors and French techniques. We went there with great expectations having signed up for their 9 course Non-Vegetarian Tasting Menu.

As you know, a "tasting menu" is a multi-course dining experience curated by the chef. The choice of dishes and the sequence in which they are served are pre-determined. Typically, the portions are small but there is great variety. Also, often the best dishes from the chef's kitchen make the cut.

At the Indienne, the beauty of the tasting menu lies in the chef's reinterpreting traditional Indian dishes with his own innovative choice of ingredients, not to forget the unique styling of the dish.

We started the evening with gin and tonic! But wait, here's the difference. They offered a distinctly Indian edge to the traditional British drink. From the available options, we chose Kokum! It did add to the taste of the drink which came served with a giant size single ice sphere.

Let's see all that went into making up our non-vegetarian tasting menu that evening.

Dahi Puri (Buckwheat, Green Apple, Tamarind)

Banarasi Tomato (Burrata, Black Rice) :

Hamachi (Avacado, Cucumber, Sol Kadi). I can imagine the dexterity required to individually plate each serving!!

Egg ( Corn, Green Pea, Caviar, Babka Pao) :

Lobster Ghee Roast ( Prawn Ela Ada, Sunchoke, Mango):

Lamb Kebab ( Shami, Ribs, Endive, Pickled Jicama):

Chilli Cheese Khulcha:

Chicken Makhni ( Red Pepper, Fenugreek) served with Black Dairy Dal and Garlic Naan :

Kaju Katli ( Honeycomb, Nougat, Milk Ice Cream).:

As we left we were given Treats ( Coffee and Walnuts; Mango & Ginger)

What do I remember most from this meal? I must say it was the Chicken Makhni and the Garlic Naan, followed by the Lobster Ghee Roast!

The most attractive plating had to be the Hamachi.

The non-vegetarian tasting menu at Indienne was stylish, sophisticated and sumptuous!

As a foodie and a food blogger, I came away immensely impressed by the innovation and creativity of the Chefs at Indienne.

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: SEMMA, NEW YORK

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE; SEMMA, NEW YORK

For me, our recent visit to New York was a food blogger's dream come true! I had the opportunity to dine at Chef Vikas Khanna's Bungalow, where we were fascinated by the personal charm of Chef Vikas Khanna, apart from the delicious food.

We then dined at Chef Raveesh Kapoor's IndianAccent. This was a unique experience in tasting Indian fusion food presented so very innovatively by Chef Raveesh Kapoor.

The third great "foodie" experience for me was dining at Semma, This Indian restaurant is located at 60, Greenwich Avenue in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. It is presided over by Head Chef Vijay Kumar, who won the prestigious James Beard Award for the Best Chef in New York State in 2025. Foodies the world over often call this Award the "Oscars of the Culinary World".

The byline for Semma is Heritage Southern Indian Cuisine! You can make out the food traces its roots back to the earthy, rural foods of the South Indian State of Tamilnadu, India where Chef Vijay Kumar spent his early years.

Recently Semma ( which I am told means "Fantastic" in Tamil) was named No 41 in North America's 50 Best Restaurants! This is such a huge honor as Semma became the first Indian restaurant to feature in this much coveted list. Moreover, it has been only 5 years since Semma was founded by Vijay Kumar and his friends and partners Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya. Their aim was to provide diners with food that was "unapologetically Indian." The Michelin Guide summed up this approach by describing Semma as "Indian cooking that does not pander to American expectations"! Semma has retained its Michelin Star for several years in a row.

We were naturally very excited to get a dinner reservation through Seven Rooms.com as at times it can take months to get one. It was all the more thrilling when Chef Vijay Kumar took time to chat with us.

The decor - as one would expect- is traditionally Indian as seen in the pictures below.

The drinks on offer had both exotic names and ingredients- all named after places in South India. We chose Konkan ( Tequila, Kokum, Coconut Oil, Chilli, Salt) and Chikmagalur ( Whiskey, Filter Coffee, Chicory, Cream). Both were totally delicious!!

Since we love sea food, we knew what we wanted for appetizers! Our unanimous choice was Eral Thokku: tiger prawns cooked in a gravy of green chillies, fenugreek, and fresh curry leaves. I considered this by far the best dish of the evening.

We next had what is perhaps the most popular dish in Semma in terms of volume! The Gunpowder Dosa, which was our crisp Masala Dosa with a filling of potato masala, served with chutney powder affectionately called "gunpowder", sambar and two chutneys. .

For the main course, we selected the Meen Pollichathu- a delicacy from Kerala. In this dish, the fish ( they used sea bass here) is well marinated in spices, wrapped tightly in wilted banana leaf and steam or pan cooked with tomatoes, ginger and shallots. We were served this with hot steamed rice and an accompanying gravy. While it was enjoyable, we would have preferred it to have been more spicy.

We ended the meal with Elaneer Payasam, a dessert made with tender coconut, coconut milk, cashews, raisins and ghee. This was an excellent way to close the evening.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Semma. We would like to thank Chef Vijay Kumar and his team for the wonderful dining experience.

Sunday, May 31, 2026

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: INDIAN ACCENT, NEW YORK

Our travels in the United States have delayed my posting in the blog- today I share my experience in Indian Accent in New York nearly two weeks ago!

Some of you may have had the pleasure of dining at The Indian Accent in New Delhi. Located in the Lodhi Hotel, this restaurant for fine dining was voted the No. 1 restaurant in India by Condé Nast Traveller. It has featured since 2015 in Asia's 50 Top Restaurants. This group has restaurants in Mumbai and New York as well. During our recent visit to New York, I was thrilled to get an opportunity to dine at The Indian Accent there. This is an upscale Manhattan restaurant situated in the larger premise of Thompson Central Park by Hyatt at 123, W 56th Street.

I had the great pleasure of meeting the very talented Head Chef Raveesh Kapoor. He has worked earlier in Indian Accent in New Delhi. He was kind enough to make time for me. He explained what they seek to do to set them apart from other Indian restaurants. His goal is to create innovative presentations of Indian cuisine using his experience and creativity.

We started with a refreshing mocktail.

I was extremely impressed by Chef Raveesh's culinary skills. He used traditional Indian vegetables, ingredients and dishes to transform them almost magically to superbly crafted high cuisine offerings. Quite amazing!

Here are a few examples that stay in my mind:-

Let's start with the first introduction to innovation. Look how cute is this!! Pumpkin and Coconut Shorba with Blue Cheese Naan! The shorba was as good as it looks -served in a small cute black cup. The mini-naans were delicious.

This was definitely eye catching! Here is Paapdi Chaat - the humble yet legendary Indian street food- after it gets an upmarket styling!

Guess what this is ? An innovative take on Idli Sambar with a Jackfruit Podimas ! Presented like a sandwich.

Another treat for the eyes- and the palate! As an admirer of food plating, I couldn't take my eyes off Crispy Uttapam with roast onion chutney. Just imagine- our good old Utappam presented as this multi-colour dish.

Picture above is of- if I recall correctly- Dal Kalbelia, made with lentils in a buttery tomato sauce. It's origins are from our Indian State of Rajasthan.

Now look at this! It's a Medu Vada but made with Tofu. Served with Madras gunpowder and sambar cream ! The plating reminds me of a welcoming smiley!!

Another interesting dish was made with Sweet Potato (Shakarkhandi) garnished with Rajasthani style crispy okra topped with fresh herbs.

Picture below is of Potato Kofta, Punjabi Kadhi, Achari Mirch

This superb dish was the Tawa Paneer with Lauki (Bottle Gourd) Curry. Lip smacking!!

Finally the delectable dessert: a creative take on a dessert from Tamilnadu: Black Rice Kesari paired with Coconut Payasam

Here's a clip I saw in Instagram on Chef Raveesh in On The Clock.

So signing off with grateful thanks to Chef Raveesh Kapoor, Head Chef at Indian Accent, New York. I promise we will visit again!

If you happen to be in New York and are looking for some excellent Indian food- served in spectacular style- look no further than Indian Accent!

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE : BUNGALOW, NEW YORK

On May 13, 2026, I was thrilled to tick off one of the top items in my bucket list. My husband, Prem and I were dining at Bungalow, 24, First Avenue, New York! This is a renowned restaurant in which Chef Vikas Khanna - often described as an global ambassador of Indian gastronomy - is a Partner.

Besides being excited at dining here, we were thankful that we had got a reservation in the first place! Trust me, it is very, very difficult to make a reservation. You have to book 20 days in advance of the day you wish to dine. Guess what? All the slots get grabbed in some insane time like 10 seconds!! The good news is that once you have a reservation and reach Bungalow, you can be assured of a memorable experience.

We had the privilege of meeting Chef Vikas Khanna, who was recently named in Time mag's 100 Most Influential People of 2026! He makes it a point to greet diners as often as he can. Much to my delight, we spoke of my blog and he remembered my picture. He penned a gracious message in my copy of his book, " Flavours First: An Indian Chef's Journey ".

I reminded him of his praise for the food from our Mangaluru area, where he studied, which he warmly acknowledged. For me, this was the highlight of our conversation. Coming from a Master Chef like him, our Konkani cuisine has got a richly deserved boost in the eyes of the culinary world!!

We began the dinner with Nilgiri Tandoori Prawns as starters. These jumbo prawns were huge in size and absolutely delicious!

For drinks, we went through the list of innovative offerings. I had the Lucky Cheng: clarified green curry infused Gin, Lime, Kewar, and Crispy Green Curry Leaf. Prem chose to have Paan Sour: vodka, Paan chutney, kewar, and dehydrated rose petal dust.

For the entree, we had the Chicken Amritsari eaten with Butter Tandoori Rotis. The succulent pieces of chicken were richly marinated and served in a thick, creamy sauce made of charred tomato, fenugreek, tandoori spice mix and cashews.