Lavaash by Saby: Crumbs of History

Lavaash by Saby is a beautiful looking restaurant, which features food that tastes like manna.

Lavaash by Saby, Sabyasachi Gorai, chef Sabyasachi Gorai, restaurant Lavaash by Saby, Armenians and Bengalis, Armenians food, Bengalis food, food review, talk

Interiors of Lavaash by Saby

Lavaash by Saby as a restaurant is gorgeous, the story behind it magnificent, and the chefs superbly talented. It celebrates the millenia-old relationship between Armenians and Bengalis, who lived together in and around chef-owner Sabyasachi Gorai’s childhood town of Asansol. The menu is a retelling of this relationship. In the interests of brevity that’s all we can say about the space and its idea, of which reams could be written. Now to the main bit.

Our meal begins with the namesake, Lavash, a traditional Armenian bread eaten all over West Asia, and one of the few foods on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Quite a mouthful, as is the version of the bread that comes to us. Celebrating the marriage between Armenia and Bengal, the Jurassic Cheese Lavash Pizza comes smothered in Kalimpong cheese (a cheese from the hill station and made from cow’s milk) and both the smoked and salted variants of Bandel cheese,which originated in the erstwhile Portuguese colony in the state. The crunchy aragula softens the coalescent yet tangy flavour of the cheese, belied also by the crisp but pliant bread. Meanwhile, the Spicy Pide Pie is a Georgian dish, boat shaped and keeled by bread, while the deck is tacked over with a fried egg, more Kalimpong cheese and manned by kalonji, or black onion seed pods. A contrasting medley of flavours and textures this, we have a tough time deciding which should be our daily bread.

Our entrees make a smoky entrance. The grills delegation is represented by the Khorovatz, or Armenian BBQ grill, on which our Lamb Koobideh and Kathi Kebab have been grilled. The former is a flattened version of seekh kebab, though far more tender with a delicately distinctive flavour, unfamiliar but delicious; the latter is out of a Kolkata nizam’s kitchen with soft, yielding chicken pieces, skewered on bamboo and bursting with flavour. Another smoking gun on the menu is the Prawn Tolma, essentially an Armenian dish of stuffed vegetables, in this case onion; red charred and stuffed with an amalgam of prawn, coconut milk and kasundi mustard — that indispensable sidekick of Bengali cuisine.

Our mains are again bifurcated into Bengali and Armenian — Mutton Rezala with Buttered Govindbhog rice — which is Bengal’s basmati, and the Chicken Kalyagosh with the Matnakash Claypot Bread. The former is pure comfort food (indeed, on the menu it is described as “Childhood on a Plate”), while the latter an outlier, at least for us. The chicken comes simmered with pulpy chickpeas and olive oil and peppered with paprika and parsley, but it’s the bread that draws all eyes. A farmer’s bread, traditionally baked to celebrate the onset of the harvest season, it actually resembles a round ploughed field, complete with furrows. The scattering of pumkin and black onion seeds between them complete the analogy, and deliciously so.

As if all this hadn’t been decadent enough, there’s dessert: a Milk Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake. Crumbled over with cookies, nuts and glazed over with cherry, each bite is a bit of manna, all the elements coming together in a symphony of sweetness.

Meal for Two: Rs 2,500 (including taxes and alcohol)
Address: H-5/1, Ambawatta One, Kalkadass Marg, Mehrauli
Contact: 33106315

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