Without the frills and fuss

Yum Yum India’ is a kind of establishment that abandons any sort of pretension and focusses instead on churning out hot and flavoursome food.

The eatery does not come with any sort of frill or fuss — instead, it comprises two simple rooms, one with a makeshift table where a customer can stop for a quick snack, picked out from the display corner. The other room is the sort of place in which one can have an extended lunch, with comfortable seating and wide tables. Both lead to the common kitchen, where the cooks — and on occasion, the owners — of the eatery spin between stoves and tandoors to come up with an array of scrumptious dishes.

Kshitiz Agarwal, who runs the restaurant along with his father, Kuldeep Kumar Agarwal, makes a point to be at the eatery every single day, interacting with the customers and ensuring that everything is carried out according to his direction. His father explains, “We ensure we’re always here. The eatery has been seeing good business, especially during lunch hours. We have hired cooks who are from Bihar and other parts of North India, so they know how to prepare the kinds of dishes served there.”

The eatery, which is located on Jail Road, in Kasavanahalli, is a breath of fresh air for the many office-goers in the area who are bored of staple canteen fare. Its menu is extensive —including a selection of soups, crisp starters and a long list of Indian breads. The breads, especially are tempting; ranging from simple items like butter roti and garlic naan to the more extravagant Amritsari stuffed kulcha — a soft, thick kulcha stuffed with potatoes and masala. In terms of starters, the eatery focusses on staple Indianised Chinese fare, with favourites like paneer manchurian, gobi chilli and the all-time classic, chilli mushroom.

Surender, one of the assistant cooks at the eatery, explains that the fast-moving dishes include items like paranthas and pulavs, which office-goers pick up for mid-meeting lunches. Along with the other cooks at ‘Yum Yum India’ — who come from across the country — he reaches the eatery early each morning to cut fresh vegetables and keep pre-sliced ingredients ready, so that dishes can be tossed up as soon as they’re ordered. “Sometimes, if there aren’t enough workers in the kitchen, Kshitiz saheb helps us to cut everything and keep it ready as well,” he explains.

The curries are fairly representative of any North Indian dinner table, with staples like dal fry and tadka, chana masala, aloo palak and bhindi. Vegetable jalfrezi, capsicum masala and the eatery’s special stuffed tomatoes — which are spicy and filled with a blend of special masalas — are also all-time favourites. Diners often pair the gravy dishes with a plate of steaming biryani, pulav or pudina rice.

‘Yum Yum India’ also has a range of paneer-based dishes, which echo the typical tomato-and-butter flavoured paneer dishes of Punjab.

Apart from classic matar paneer and paneer butter masala, there are slightly more adventurous options such as paneer do pyaza, paneer korma and paneer tikka masala. Meals are often wrapped up with a cup of spiced raita or plain curd.
For details, call 40915165.