[Beverly Hills] [Indian] Chakra Cuisine

Chakra Cuisine
151 S Doheny Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 246-3999
http://www.chakracuisine.com

With dineLA happening in February, a big chunk of my paycheck went to food.  And I just spend $300 on textbooks and more $$$ on the incredible Hayden Harnett sale.  Dr. P had some extra spending this month as well.  So after "careful consideration" (haha that sounds funny), we decided to cancel the $$$ level dineLA events at Gordon Ramsey's and Bazaar.  Instead, we tried a $ level lunch at Chakra Cuisine for $16 per person.  Surprisingly, it turned out to be the best dineLA meal this year.



We made reservation at 12:30pm, but it seemed unnecessary.  When we arrived, the entire restaurant was empty.  The decoration was beautiful.  They even have private cabanas for more "private" dining.




The bar area looks really nice, too.  Instead of Indian music, our lunch was accompany by house music.  Maybe this restaurant is more like a night spot than lunch spot.



There were only one waitress and one busboy working.  Since we were the only customers, it felt like we had our private waitstaff.  (Later they did got two more tables.)  We really like the service here.  People were really friendly, polite, and professional.  We couldn't help to compare Valentino's unacceptable service with the exceptional service we received at Chakra.


Tomato Shorba ($7.00)
Made from tomatoes with a delicate touch of spices

I've included the original price of the dishes for reference.  We picked the soup and mushroom for our first course.  The other one was a simple green salad.  The tomato shorba was so addictive.  I could taste the freshness of the tomato in the soup.  It was a little spicy, and it had a really complex flavor of Indian spices.  The portion was HUGE.  When we asked the busboy for another spoon because we wanted to share, he brought us an extra bowl, too.  That was very nice and thoughtful of him.


Bharwa Khumbh ($7.00)
Tandoor cooked mushrooms stuffed with Indian spices & paneer

Oh how we LOVED the Bharwa khumbh.  The mushroom was stuffed with Indian cheese "paneer".  It was seasoned with incredibly tasty Indian spices.  The mushroom was moist and juicy.  I could probably eat 20 of these.


Express Executive Lunch ($14.00)
Lamb served with pulao, roti and vegetable of the day

For main course, I got the Express Executive Lunch. 



For meat, we picked lamb over goat.  I apologize for not knowing Indian food well enough to tell you exactly what kind of sauce it was.  The sauce for the lamb was a little spicy.  It was so good with the rice (pulao). 



The vegetable of the day was paneer cheese (is that a vegetable?).  It was cooked in a tomato based sauce.  The sauce tasted mild and sweet.  Just as good with rice and naan bread.  Portion, again, was huge.  I only finished half of the food was full.


Masala Lamb Chops ($21.00)
Pavbhaji-Methi Taari, fingerlings and beans foogath

Dr. P got the Masala Lamb Chops.  This dish was $21 on the regular menu, already more expensive than the $16 lunch deal!  The lamb was seasoned with Indian spices that I could not identify.  The lamb was cooked perfectly medium.  Tender, juicy and so flavorful.  The potato and beans foogath was good, but it had little bits of beans with really hard shell.  It was a bit hard to chew.


Naan ($5.00) x 2

Our main dishes were also served with naan bread.  Not just one, but two baskets!  We each got our own.  The naan bread was as good as we expected.

We couldn't finish our main courses and asked the waitress for to-go boxes before dessert.  She sent the busboy to help us with packing the food.  The busboy brought out a portable tray.  He packed our food very carefully right in front of us.  Then the food was placed in a nice paper bag with handle.  I really like that service.

Before dessert was presented, the busboy came back to clean our table a bit.  He then put on another tablecloth so we have perfectly clean table to have dessert.  Another incredible service.


Magic Cube
White and chocolate mousses filled with cherri and covered with chocolate glaze

This one was called Magic Cube.  I could see it was a cube.  But where was the magic?



The magic was inside the cube!  Super yummy white and chocolate mousse inside.  So creamy, fluffy, light, and so good.  We both loved this one.


Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
New York style cheesecake studded with chocolate chips and covered with chocolate flakes

The chocolate chip cheesecake was good, but it was heavy.  After a heavy Indian meal, we were more in the mood for lighter dessert.  So the cheesecake wasn't a good choice.



For $32, it was an incredible deal.  We loved everything we had, very satisfied with the service, we were really full, and had enough food to have another meal.  I was surprise that not too many people came here for the dineLA lunch.  Maybe most people rather tried the more expensive places.  But we fell in love with this restaurant.  We will definitely come back again!

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