The minute you step into The Silver Train at Mumbai's Gourmet Village Phoenix Palladium, you'll get a taste of royalty. It gives off regal, aristocratic vibes with its hand-painted walls, chandelier-clad
ceiling, silver cutlery that can almost blind you with its shine and tables that welcome you for a royal celebration. The food is served in a silver thali , adding a touch of royalty to every bite.
As you sit back and glance through the menu, each dish has some royal connection. The Kaleji Ka Raita dates back to the era of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh I of Jaipur. A royal treat, enjoyed especially after a successful chase, the dish features cooked liver (back in the day, it was the liver of the freshly caught game) mixed with dahi and mustard.
The Ande Ka Halwa comes from the royal kitchen of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. His sons disliked eating eggs, so the palace cooks combined them with khoya, saffron and sugar to create a delicious halwa that the young princes relished without figuring out that it contained an ingredient that they simply dreaded.
Rajasthan's popular Lal Maas, Purani Dilli Nalli Nihari, Bilaspuri Baigan Bandhejan, Benarasi Dum Aloo, Dogra Ka Gucchi Pulao and the Tirunelveli Chicken Biryani find their rightful place in this menu.
Moreover, the team hopes to let your 'appetite and mood dictate how you eat', hence the starters and mains come in portions of 1, 2 and 4. It also helps you taste the dish and decide if you'd like to have more or just stop at one.
" i have been working with the royal food of central india for a very long time. thats what my research has been about, says chef and co-founder anuradha medhora. what started as a revival and documentation journey primarily for the food in malwa (a historical region of west-central india) and our venture charoli, which was a curated experience delivery kitchen in bandra came into full being at the silver train.< p fetchpriority="low" loading="lazy">
"The journey with royal food was reviving and documenting food that I grew up eating," shares Anuradha. "It is bringing back stuff that's familiar but disappearing. Food is a part of history that one very comfortably and casually loses over time, unlike architecture, written texts or even celebrations. The royal food because it never really left royal kitchens and homes of nobility, didn't really get its due. The Silver Train is an attempt to take you through the palace kitchens of India."
Several of the recipes are dishes that Anuradha grew up eating or have been handed down to her over the generations or through research. "While the food is serious, one can't forget that royal tables were opulent and fun; it was a celebration every day. We wanted to take the seriousness out of it and bring a lightness into enjoying food with history."
Anuradha doesn't come from a royal family but had the privilege of growing up around royalty. She comes from a small city in Madhya Pradesh that had several royal families settled there. You will also find dishes in The Silver Train that she enjoyed at home during her childhood. "A story of an entire civilisation can be told through its food and if we lose that, a small part of history can be lost forever," she explains.
