Restaurant Review: aRoqa

Taking classic Indian flavors and serving them with a modern twist.

Last week we got the amazing opportunity to try aRoqa, an Indian restaurant whose mission to take classic Indian flavors and dishes and create them with a modern lens.  Located in the heart of Chelsea, aims to bring an immersive culinary experience to every guest, and succeeds at doing so.  aRoqa was conceptualized by Owner Monica Saxena as a date night spot for guests to enjoy small plates.  With the interior of aRoqa is incredibly chic, boasting black finishes with dim lighting, making it a place I would consider an ideal date location.  Aside from the décor, aRoqa also has a wonderful selection of Indian inspired craft cocktails that pairs beautifully with their dishes.

We started our night off with some drinks.  The first one we tried was called the Third Eye which was made with strawberry hibiscus infused Citadelle gin, Drambuie, cherry heering, egg white, orange basil cordial, and lemon.  We may be biased, but whenever a drink has egg white in it, it’s hard for us not to love it.  The addition of egg whites in any cocktail gives this fluffy creaminess to the drink that envelopes your entire palette with the cocktail flavors.  The drink itself had wonderful notes of cherry that came through with every sip and had a finish of orange that played with the cherry nicely.  And we have to mention the presentation of the drink where it comes with an eye drawn into the drink itself.  It was such a whimsical and delicious cocktail that we would definitely come back for.  The second drink we tried was called the Gold Rush Thyme which is made with Woodinville Straight Bourbon, pineapple juice, lemon juice, thyme simple syrup, and Angostura bitters.  The drink has notes of vanilla from the bourbon that accentuates the pineapple flavor in the drink.  The tropical flavor in this drink was delicious but not too sweet where it overwhelms you after a few sips.  The bitters balance out the sweetness well and the addition of the lemon juice adds some brightness to the drink.

For appetizers we tried the paratwala paneer and the peri peri prawns.  The peri peri prawns was accompanied with smoked birds eye chili paste and paired with a poached peach chutney.  The prawns were cooked perfectly, being both tender and moist.  The coating of the chili sauce helped add more moisture to the prawns and gave a subtle heat throughout the dish.  The poached peach chutney was such an interesting and smart pairing as the natural sweetness from the chutney balanced out the spice from the prawns.  The paratwala paneer was made with large pieces of paneer that was stuffed with sundried tomato and spinach puree.  This dish was playful in the fact that each one had little pipettes to add more stuffing to the paneer.  The paneer itself was large and meaty.  And the marinade from the paneer was something you would expect from a tandoori marinated paneer dish which added extra savoriness to the dish.  The pairing of sundried tomato added a nice brightness to the dish while the spinach puree added a wonderful savory, umami addition to the paneer.  Both purees stood out in their own ways while keeping the essence of the tomato and spinach within the puree.

For our main course we opted to try the Butternut Squash ke Kofte and the Fenugreek Murgh.  The kofte was paired with a sweet corn malai sauce and finished with a broccoli garnish.  The malai sauce was sweet and creamy while maintaining the natural butternut squash taste to it.  The kofte itself was crispy on the outside while being moist and tender on the inside.  From experience, it is incredibly hard to get a kofte to stay crispy on the outside especially while being immersed in a gravy sauce so the fact that it maintained that crisp crust was something to note and thoroughly enjoy.  The Fenugreek Murgh was a pretty straightforward dish that had chicken simmered in a luscious and creamy funugreek sauce.  The chicken was cooked tenderly and retained a lot of moisture which was great.  And paired with the creamy murgh gave the chicken an extra kick of umami with a nice budding spice that lingers at the very end.  Paired with a naan makes for the perfect bite where the sauce envelopes the fluffy bread and you can savor the flavor from the sauce.

For dessert we tried the Rose Pudding with Gulab Jamun.  If you’re unfamiliar with gulab jamun it is basically a fried milk ball soaked in a sugar syrup making it both sweet and moist.  The pairing of the rose pudding played nicely with the gulab jamun where there was a varying sweetness to the dish.  The gulab jamun was mist and tender and as soon as you take the first bite, you get a wonderful burst of sweetness.  The rose pudding was flavorful and held the essence of rose in it while also being silky in texture.

Our last thoughts in aRoqa is that this is an Indian restaurant that is worth checking out.  The menu has a little something for everyone and the dishes don’t skimp or hold back on the spice and flavor like you see with some other Indian restaurants in the city.  As someone who has grown up eating Indian food, these dishes were both familiar while also having something new and exciting that makes me want to come back.  Not only that, the cocktails served were wonderful and can be enjoyed with most of the dishes that you can order.