By Nimmi Raghunathan
Nothing in the menu jumps out at you. It’s the same tired sounding tikkas, kormas and kebabs. And yet, it’s the place that your friends insist you have to be at to have a one of a kind gastronomic experience. So you settle down with a mentally quirked eyebrow asking for it to be brought on……
Nothing in the menu jumps out at you. It’s the same tired sounding tikkas, kormas and kebabs. And yet, it’s the place that your friends insist you have to be at to have a one of a kind gastronomic experience. So you settle down with a mentally quirked eyebrow asking for it to be brought on……
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you know exactly what is going on in the kitchen and two, when you have had enough customer feedback to be almost smug about it. In the nearly two years that Dilliwala has been around in Diamond Bar, its presence has been a non-splashy one. Open only for dinner on weekdays and serving lunch for just three hours on weekends, the restaurant has been quietly but slowly building a reputation for excellence in food that is part home cooking and part royal Mughlai.
The best part of the food, that begins to arrive at the table slowly, is the subtle use of spices. This of course means you can enjoy the flavors of the vegetable or meat instead of the mindless quotient of masala that is the norm in SoCal restaurants. The hara bhara kebab, which is essentially bite size patties of potatoes and green veggies cooked to a crisp on the outside, bursts with flavor. By the time your tongue plays detective to fathom the ingredients in it, the plate has been polished off. Flaky white wild cod is fried and flavored just right to make up the fish appetizer that is known as the Amritsari and named after the landlocked city. The one thing Dilliwala does with its appetizers, is to get you to wink at the calorie count. The paneers and samosas beckon with their smallish but appropriately sized appearance, leaving little or no oil marks on the dishes.
Even better, you enjoy it all without having the familiar “stuffed” feeling. That, says Tej, comes from doing the spices right. Every spice, he says, “has a logic.” He comes off sounding like a bit of an ayurveda practitioner when he speaks of the heat of some spices and the lightness of others. The correct handling and application of each, he says, prevents diners from feeling heaviness or getting heartburn. So, which spice is the most difficult to handle? “Green cardamom. It’s very strong and can overpower a dish. Cloves and cinnamon pack a punch too,” he says, adding, “coriander is light and easy.”
To him, understanding spices is half the challenge of being a good chef. And he guards his mix well, coming in earlier than the rest of his staff to grind and sift by himself in the kitchen. Regular inquiries about it by clients have him mulling now over the possibility of boxing and marketing them. It’s the same with the secret sauces he uses to marinate his meats. Freshly prepared everyday, he chooses to do ready it himself rather than lose the know-how or risk not being perfect. So the chicken tikka that he serves has to undoubtedly be the best in SoCal, with just the right smokiness and disappear- in-your-mouth kind of juiciness. Your dinner companions rave about the chicken malai tikka which leaves the diner with a delightful clotted cream texture in the mouth while the haryali chicken tikka comes in screaming freshness and mint. Lamb chops, says Tej is popular at the restaurant and its easy to see that the New Zealand meat falls easily of the bone, some of its smoothness coming from the yogurt marinade.
Tej, to his credit, also pays attention to the vegetables on the menu. The saag is simmered long enough to slip silkily down the throat and the baingan bharta has a clear charred taste with the bits of tomato peeking out instead of being blended into an unappetizing looking brown mush. The dals are a hit with the black lentil dal bukhara existing for diners to revel in. The garlic naan that these dishes can be accompanied with is good enough to be a stand alone dish: fresh off the griddle, melt in the mouth soft and topped lightly with black sesame, cumin seeds, green chilies and garlic flakes.
The singular focus on the food comes with a price. As the only chef-owned restaurant in Diamond Bar, Tej is quietly adamant that quality has a price tag. As you slurp your pulpy and essence free mango lassi, he tells you about the thinking and attention to detail that goes into creating a dish. His is the most authentic Mughlai you will get in SoCal he avers and harks back to the days when he made his shift from the fashion industry in Delhi to the food business in SoCal. He truly believes that even though he had a firm footing in the former, it is the latter that is his calling. Born in Amritsar, he became a Dilliwala at 16. He came to the food industry by chance and a turn in fortune. He has no formal training in food, but real life experience in the industry and well known mentors who generously shared their knowledge, have given him a solid background. “I will continue to learn and experiment,” he says, “the day I feel I know everything, my career will end.”
While you greedily attack the outstanding paan kulfi with bits of betel leaf – an absolute must item – he explains that the inspiration for his spice blends and the best critiques for the dishes that emerge from the stove are from his wife Raviya. So while you thank him for his talent in the kitchen, you might also want to tip that imaginary hat to her for getting it right.
Dilliwala, 303 S.Diamond Bar Blvd., Suite G, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. Dinner: Tues-Thurs: 5-9pm; Fri & Sat: 5-10pm. Closed Mon.
The best part of the food, that begins to arrive at the table slowly, is the subtle use of spices. This of course means you can enjoy the flavors of the vegetable or meat instead of the mindless quotient of masala that is the norm in SoCal restaurants. The hara bhara kebab, which is essentially bite size patties of potatoes and green veggies cooked to a crisp on the outside, bursts with flavor. By the time your tongue plays detective to fathom the ingredients in it, the plate has been polished off. Flaky white wild cod is fried and flavored just right to make up the fish appetizer that is known as the Amritsari and named after the landlocked city. The one thing Dilliwala does with its appetizers, is to get you to wink at the calorie count. The paneers and samosas beckon with their smallish but appropriately sized appearance, leaving little or no oil marks on the dishes.
Even better, you enjoy it all without having the familiar “stuffed” feeling. That, says Tej, comes from doing the spices right. Every spice, he says, “has a logic.” He comes off sounding like a bit of an ayurveda practitioner when he speaks of the heat of some spices and the lightness of others. The correct handling and application of each, he says, prevents diners from feeling heaviness or getting heartburn. So, which spice is the most difficult to handle? “Green cardamom. It’s very strong and can overpower a dish. Cloves and cinnamon pack a punch too,” he says, adding, “coriander is light and easy.”
To him, understanding spices is half the challenge of being a good chef. And he guards his mix well, coming in earlier than the rest of his staff to grind and sift by himself in the kitchen. Regular inquiries about it by clients have him mulling now over the possibility of boxing and marketing them. It’s the same with the secret sauces he uses to marinate his meats. Freshly prepared everyday, he chooses to do ready it himself rather than lose the know-how or risk not being perfect. So the chicken tikka that he serves has to undoubtedly be the best in SoCal, with just the right smokiness and disappear- in-your-mouth kind of juiciness. Your dinner companions rave about the chicken malai tikka which leaves the diner with a delightful clotted cream texture in the mouth while the haryali chicken tikka comes in screaming freshness and mint. Lamb chops, says Tej is popular at the restaurant and its easy to see that the New Zealand meat falls easily of the bone, some of its smoothness coming from the yogurt marinade.
Tej, to his credit, also pays attention to the vegetables on the menu. The saag is simmered long enough to slip silkily down the throat and the baingan bharta has a clear charred taste with the bits of tomato peeking out instead of being blended into an unappetizing looking brown mush. The dals are a hit with the black lentil dal bukhara existing for diners to revel in. The garlic naan that these dishes can be accompanied with is good enough to be a stand alone dish: fresh off the griddle, melt in the mouth soft and topped lightly with black sesame, cumin seeds, green chilies and garlic flakes.
The singular focus on the food comes with a price. As the only chef-owned restaurant in Diamond Bar, Tej is quietly adamant that quality has a price tag. As you slurp your pulpy and essence free mango lassi, he tells you about the thinking and attention to detail that goes into creating a dish. His is the most authentic Mughlai you will get in SoCal he avers and harks back to the days when he made his shift from the fashion industry in Delhi to the food business in SoCal. He truly believes that even though he had a firm footing in the former, it is the latter that is his calling. Born in Amritsar, he became a Dilliwala at 16. He came to the food industry by chance and a turn in fortune. He has no formal training in food, but real life experience in the industry and well known mentors who generously shared their knowledge, have given him a solid background. “I will continue to learn and experiment,” he says, “the day I feel I know everything, my career will end.”
While you greedily attack the outstanding paan kulfi with bits of betel leaf – an absolute must item – he explains that the inspiration for his spice blends and the best critiques for the dishes that emerge from the stove are from his wife Raviya. So while you thank him for his talent in the kitchen, you might also want to tip that imaginary hat to her for getting it right.
Dilliwala, 303 S.Diamond Bar Blvd., Suite G, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. Dinner: Tues-Thurs: 5-9pm; Fri & Sat: 5-10pm. Closed Mon.
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