A hidden gem of Hell’s Kitchen.
Last week we tried a new Indian restaurant, Jaz, located in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen. Jaz gets its name from the owner, Jaz Rupall, who wanted to bring the home cooking she grew up with and bring it to Hell’s Kitchen. The interior of Jaz is refined, having white tablecloths on every table and having very refined décor around.
Jaz boasts a wide range of wines to select from as well as a few select craft cocktails. We tried the Kiss from Jaz which is made with Singhani 63 Bolivian spirit, Campari, combier rose liqueur, bitters, and prosecco. The drink didn’t taste strong and had a nice subtle sweetness that came from the rose liquer. The prosecco addition added a nice refreshing element with the bubbles which made this drink nice to come back to between bites of food.
For our appetizers, we ordered the Lasuni Gobi and the Vegetable Samosa. The lasuni gobi is a batter fried cauliflower floret paired with a garlic sauce coating. The cauliflower itself was tender inside while maintain a nice coating from the sauce. There was a beautiful crunch that came with it and the pairing of a sweet ketchup garlic sauce added some beautiful flavor to the dish. The vegetable samosa is an Indian restaurant staple but can easily be messed up if not made correctly. The stuffing in the samosa was spiced potatoes and peas and it had the right amount of spice, heat, and savoriness. The puff pastry samosa was fried perfectly and had a nice crispy exterior while keeping the filling moist.
For our main course we opted for the Palak Paneer and the Chicken Biryani. The palak paneer is a classic North Indian dish where you have the paneer slowly simmered in a pureed spinach, ginger, garlic, and herb sauce. The paneer was tender and the spinach sauce was velvety and creamy. There sauce also didn’t overwhelm you with spice and allowed the natural flavors of the ingredients to shine through with each bite. The chicken biryani was a great rice dish pairing to the saucy palak paneer dish. The chicken was cooked perfectly and was tender and moist in the middle. The rice was cooked well and took in a lot of the spices and seasoning added to the biryani. What makes Indian food fun and enjoyable is how many of the dishes are meant to be mixed and eaten too. The mixture of the palak paneer and the chicken biryani created a wonderful medley of flavors where the spinach and ginger melded with the savory umami flavors from the biryani.
To finish our meal, we ended with a khulfi ice cream. The dessert was creamy and sweet and had a hint of the spice that you can expect from khulfi. The juxtaposition of having this cold dessert after having a nice warm meal was the perfect finish to the night.
Our lasting impression of Jaz was that it is a wonderful Indian restaurant that does classic dishes right. If you are looking for an Indian spot that had the essence of Indian home cooked food, try Jaz out.
