Though newcomers to Canada, chef Kulwant Singh Jhand and Rajvinder Jhand — the real-life Mr. and Mrs. Singh — have deep roots in the restaurant industry. Chef Kulwant, 46, still owns two similar restaurants in Vienna, Austria, where he immigrated from India at 17. And they have something to teach about transporting us to another country through dining.
You can feel it the moment you enter their new, family-run Indian restaurant on 124 St. The walls inside the former Cosmos space are painted warm shades of cinnamon and gold. Every table is candle-lit with colourful table runners and shiny touches of brass and copper imported from India. But what really contributes to the experience of travelling afar is the combination of exceptional Punjabi dishes and attentive service.
We no sooner settled in our seats when staff delivered a plate of complementary, fennel-flecked papadam with three types of pickle and chutney. “We don’t want people to wait for 20 minutes with nothing to eat,” said Arman Jhand, the Singh family’s 18-year-old son who works in the 80-seat restaurant.
After consulting with our server on the highly subjective topic of spice heat, we chose several dishes in the “medium” range from dozens of choices on the reasonably priced menu. For vegetables, we had baingan bhaji — eggplant with curry and ginger in cashew sauce — along with palak paneer. While the latter is anchored by cubes of Indian cheese, a zesty blanket of pureed spinach and peas makes it a solid vegetarian option.
The biryani was a table-wide favourite. Studded with lamb pieces, the fragrant bundle of rice and raisins (flavoured by cinnamon, cardamon and cumin) was paired with a generous dish of yogurt, fresh cucumber and cilantro. Topped with glistening pomegranate, the yogurt was a palate cooler and delicious dip for the house-made naan.
The most impressive dish was the aptly named sizzler mix that arrived on the table in a parade of pop and colour. The platter was heaped with ginger and garlic-marinated chunks of lamb and chicken that had been roasted on skewers over charcoal briquets in the restaurant’s fiery tandoori oven. Though rich with the tang of cumin, cardamom and fennel, the meat had a seductively smoky finish.
We finished the evening with milky house-made chai and were delighted when a small, complimentary serving of mango cream topped with crushed pistachios arrived on the table. All that was missing was someone to tuck me into bed.
“We want guests to leave happy so we have their trust,” Jhand told me. “A little dessert won’t hurt anyone.”
Mr & Mrs Singh Kitchen
Westmount │ 10810 124 St NW, Edmonton │ 780.222.5655 │mrsinghkitchen.com
