Restaurant Review: Hotel Saini Inn

Overall Rating: 3/5 

(We are rating it out of 5 since we opted for a takeout, so the review is only on the basis of food, not the ambiance, hygiene, etc)

Address: 8/1E, Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata- 700 027. (Landmark: Above Sony Center, at Riman Road Bus Stop)

Cuisine Type: North Indian, Sea Food & Chinese

Other Details

Bar Available: No

Veg/Non Veg: Veg, Non Veg both

Hours: 12 PM to 12 AM

Home Delivery:  Yes (Home Delivery is free within 2 Km with a minimum order of Rs 300. Foil packaging charges is at Rs 5/plate)

Attendees: Red Chilli and Green Chilli

Bill Please: Rs 580/- (without VAT since we opted for a take-out).

Pros and Cons

A brief summary of this restaurant review:

Pros

1. Expertise in Punjabi cuisine

2. Good hygiene

Cons

1. Bit pocket heavy for students

2. Size of roti/chapatti/flat breads are very small

3. Doesn’t tickle taste buds

4. Long delivery time even for parcels 

Our Platter

1. Mixed Chowmein

Decoding the Dish: Fried noodles, shrimp, chicken, egg crumbs, carrot, cauliflowers and onions served with single sachets of tomato sauce, chili sauce and chopped green chili in vinegar. The noodles were fried, flat and spicy (as is the norm for crispy chowmein) with generous amount of shrimp, chicken bits and egg crumbs. Nothing distinguished or awe inspiring about the dish.

WWEat Thinks: The only distinguishable feature of this dish is the handsome amount of shrimp and chicken bits. With every mouthful you will get the crunchy delicacy. Other than that, it is just another plate of chowmein from a Fast Food Center.

2. Paneer Kulcha

Decoding the Dish: Paneer stuffing (mashed paneer with salt, red chili powder, coriander leaves and other added spices) in tandoori.

WWEat Thinks: Kulcha is basically a Punjabi way of cooking flattened dough.  The Paneer Kulcha of Hotel Saini Inn had a smooth texture and was well cooked inside-out. The stuffing was admirably tasty. Even if your meal consists of just the Kulcha and plain curd/raita, you would enjoy the combo. On a slightly unenthusiastic note, the size of the Kulcha could have been a bit bigger.

3. Dhaniya Chicken

Decoding the Dish: The full plate consist of four pieces of chicken cooked in coriander leaf chutney, curd, pudina (mint), red chili powder, spices, garnished with makkhan (Indian Butter) and chopped green chilli. The chicken was soft and well cooked.

WWEat Thinks: We feel that the people at Hotel Saini Inn absolutely nailed this dish. When you first take a spoonful of gravy you’ll taste sweet, slightly sour and hot flavours-in the sequence mentioned. The rich preparation and variety of spices fulfills the expectations you have from authentic Punjabi cuisine. We couldn't stop ourselves from licking our fingers till the last drop of the gravy was gone.

4. Chapatti

Decoding the Dish: Plain flour chapatti (without makkhan).

WWEat Thinks: Size of the chapatti was like ‘poodi’. You would need at least 6 chapattis to assuage that growling stomach.

5. Fish Bharta

Decoding the Dish: Barramundi cooked bharta style. Although, one expects the main ingredient to be mashed up in the bharta, however, there were four pieces of barramundi in the dish. (Barramundi or the Asian seabass is popular in Thai and Indian cuisines. It has different names across different cultures, demographics and languages. For example, in Thai language it is called Pla Kapong. Across India, in Malayalam language it is known as Kalaanji. In Telugu language as Pandugappa, Koduva in Tamil language and Bhetki in Bengali language. In Goa of western India, where Konkani language is used, it is known as Chonak).

WWEat Thinks: This might have been a great preparation with chicken but did not strike the right chord with fish. The original smell of barramundi was lost in the thick curry. The flavour of bharta and barramundi was an odd combo. Had they used pomfrets instead of barramundi, the dish would have been much better. However, we liked the fact that the bharta was not too spicy. It had nice acidic balance

6. Chicken Mushroom Fried Rice

Decoding the Dish:  Fine basmati rice stewed with noticeable amount of mushrooms and chicken bits, vegetables (capsicum, finely chopped carrot, fried onion, etc). 

WWEat Thinks: The first thing we noticed after a spoonful of fried rice is the absence of Ajinomoto flavour which made the fried rice more Indian than Chinese (and more healthy than harmful). The fried rice can be had even with a simple tomato sauce or chili sauce. One full plate of  this Chicken Mushroom Fried Rice is sufficient to satisfy your empty stomach.

7. Kadhai Chicken

Decoding the Dish:  Rich red curry garnished with cashew nuts, raisins, cream and coriander leaves. Gravy is sweet in taste.

WWEat Thinks: Not much variation in terms of taste as the gravy tasted more like chicken bharta. We would recommend you to have alongside roti/ chapatti/nan. This dish is meant to be accompanied by Indian flat breads.

Conclusion

Overall, we recommend Hotel Saini Inn for core Punjabi dishes. The Dhania Chicken and Paneer Kulcha are etched in our memory. Therefore, we intend to revisit the place and explore other authentic Punjabi cuisines. Till then, take care and keep enjoying the many pleasures of Food :D