Confused in the Daaruk

Daarukhana, Friday 12 July 2019

Customer Care: 8.5 Service: 8.5 Value: 6.3 Quality: 9.0 Atmosphere: 6.8

Overall: 7.8

In July the OCC put forward a sparsely populated gathering at Daarukhana restaurant in Wanchai, a now closed establishment that offered modern Indian cuisine. Interestingly the protests were cited as the reason for the premature shut-down, which this reviewer sees as a bit of a cop-out

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Without swaying, of course, the flavours were delicate, balanced and, at times, delicious. The staff were attentive and generous with their time. The OCC were especially fond of the chicken curry and the cauliflower starter, much to our disdain that it was vegetarian.

The restaurant scored highly, which makes it a shame that the OCC couldn’t return in stronger numbers. Yet I suppose Darrukhana’s issue was that it didn’t know what it wanted to be. The “modern” Indian element fell short of the likes of Black Salt and the New Punjab. It lacked an authentic atmosphere, trying instead to “elevate” Indian cuisine, which isn’t required.

With all being said, the food was exceptional. But to quote the maverick Spider Steve, AKA T10, “this doesn’t feel like an Indian restaurant”. For once, T10 was probably right…