Ellora – JA The Resort

The last time we visited the Kinara restaurant by Vikas Khanna, we were dazzled by the exquisite menu. Unfortunately, the hotel is now temporary closed and so is Kinara. The good news, Vikas Khanna has yet again come out with a new restaurant Ellora at the adjacent Resort. Ellora actually means caves and the restaurant concept is to try bring in positivity and light with their creations in the dark. The restaurant is only open for the evenings and the inside walls of the restaurant have been designed to give you a feel like in the caves.

Every diner is given a complimentary starter with their signature tray of pickles and a healthy shot drink consisting of Mango, cumin and mint. The shot drink wasn’t attractive to my sweet tooth, but we thoroughly enjoyed their tray of pickles with each one delivering a punch of Indian spice of it’s own. From the drinks, the carrot ginger fizz was really good, enjoyed drinking it very much through our dinner. There is an overload of ice though, so you might want to tell them in advance to reduce some to avoid diluting it too much at a later stage.

The starters were simply a work of art. All of them were hot starters, presented in great style and color. I think they would have spent more time decorating than preparing it. Each of our starters were unique to its taste. The banana fritter was just amazing. Never did we expect to enjoy a banana fritter as much as we did here. It was long, crispy and mix it with that special tangy sauce, it’s a very satisfying experience. The baked yoghurt stuffed in kunafa was even more crispier, the dipper found at the bottom added the needed flavour to the stuffed yoghurt kunafa. You can’t go wrong with a giant marinated Indian prawn which were just melting in our mouth. The passion fruit dipper made the experience even more lovely.

The mains came in style as well. Starting with the pan seared Salmon that felt different thanks to the underlying carrot and watermelon curry. The Biriyani came ‘grand’ topped with cashew nuts and mixed berries along with one of the most beautiful looking yoghurt decorated with cucumber and passion fruit sauce. I thought the boondi raita which we ordered separately was an over kill, as the complimentary cucumber yoghurt did a good job except they are decorated differently. The slow cooked Achari lamb was rich with plenty of lamb pieces in it. I felt the curry could have been a little more for the Achari lamb. The signature Kinara roti is unique and is not something you’ll find in other Indian restaurants and is quite heavy for a roti.

The desserts have been different at Ellora and you shouldn’t expect the typical Indian sweets that you normally see. We started off with the attractive Saffron Rose pudding which had a soft texture and just the right balance of sweetness. The steamed yoghurt by itself was more bland and the berry compote coupled together gave it a nice flavour. We had an excellent finish to our dinner with their signature milk tea. They serve two kinds of milk tea, one is cardamom and saffron, and the other is lemongrass and ginger. Both of these milk teas have been amazing, a new taste and a great finish to our meal. Highly encourage everyone to try these milk teas when you are at Ellora. Click here to visit their official website. Click pictures to see them in full screen view: