Cafe-cum-restaurant Kiara Soul Kitchen has a menu that is inclusive, says C Mittal

If you have grown up in north India like I have, you know it is best to be sceptical of any restaurant that announces “Pure-vegetarian” on its board. Despite that I cast my reservations aside and entered the Kiara Soul Kitchen, the pan-Asian cuisine-based cafe-cum-restaurant in Greater Kailash 2. And guess what? This time around I was not disappointed.

Navy blue chaise lounges and chairs and rose couches with a mini water sapling on each table welcomed us. The walls were adorned with empty green and magenta wine bottles arranged in parallel lines. The soft music and spring couches made sure that you were comfortable before coming to the more important business of ordering food.

I dug my fork into Sweet potato wedges and pumpkin gallete, served with tamarind sauce and cabbage leaves. The wedges were placed vertically in six short and round glasses and had the flavour balance right. They were soft without being mushy, spicy yet sweet and had also got the flavours of garlic and ginger spot on. I can vouch for it — a sweet potato will never taste the same again.

I took my pick of the mocktails menu and ordered a Virgin Sangria. Presented in a wine glass, it was grape juice with a perfect blend of assorted apples and fruits, sugar syrup, lemon and strawberry crush.

“I want to quit eating meat, but I hate vegetables,” a line that is often repeated and heard. But the idea could be turned on in its head if you eat Steamed pok choy leaf dumplings at this place. For those who aren’t aware, pok choy or bok choy is a type of Chinese cabbage. These looked like green blobs and once I bit in them, I tasted finely-chopped mushrooms, grated carrots, and other assorted vegetables wrapped in pok choy leaves that were flavoured with a hint of coconut milk with in-house chef’s special soya reduction dressing.

The next in line were the caramelised baby corn, which was nothing short of perfection on my plate. This dish is certainly on the top of list of the must-haves here. It was served with sweet chilli sauce alongwith a blend of Thai spices.

We ordered organic black rice for the main course. Full marks to the dish’s presentation, as the rice were served like an inverted bowl in a round white plate with an aloe-vera stem on the top. It was accompanied by finely-chopped babycorn, mushrooms, grated carrots, broccoli, beans and cubed cottage cheese. The sumptious rice has a green curry to go with. The curry was an amalgamation of lemongrass, galangal, coconut milk and assorted vegetables but it fell short on taste.

The other mocktail that I had was Fuitoholic, which was a combination of grapes, apples and kiwis in grape and cranberry juice and was delicious.

The place has a great send-off as well with its divine Truffle Petit four — dark chocolate balls rolled in green fennel.

But more than the food, it was the inclusivity of the menu which bowled me over. When you turn to the last page of the menu, you will find an assortment of dishes suitable for certain kind of patients — diabetic, thyroid, or even gastric ones.

The place with it’s colours and a variety of vegetables makes it a great choice, even for a carnivore. Certainly, worth a visit.