While Desi Contemporary Indian Casual in Campbell is grounded in classic ingredients, the owners have designed the dishes based on their study of food history and experiences sampling different cuisines while traveling.
“It struck us how many dishes across the world are grounded in their similarities,” Mohit Nagrath, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife Archana, told San José Spotlight. “We wanted to build a concept where it is rooted in Indian food, but exploits those influences and similarities.”
The Nagraths opened Desi in 2019 and offer a menu of “Big Plates” — the tikka masala, curry and paneer dishes you’d expect to find — while the flip side has enticing “Street Eats” and “Quick Bites.”
These appetizers are delicious and fun. Take the Gol Gappe, a Northern Indian dish consisting of hollow spheres of puff pastry meant to be poked open and filled with cubed potatoes. Three different infused waters — tamarind, pineapple juice and spicy mint in any ratio— are spooned to fill it, and the whole thing is eaten in one bite.
It is warm and cool, sweet and tart, chewy and crisp, dry and wet, gushing with bright and complex flavors.
“We call it a water bomb,” Archana told San José Spotlight. “That’s a nostalgic dish for us and very popular.”
The menu’s dichotomy can be seen in two appetizer sampler platters.
Tashan, the Indian street food version, comes with shredded paneer served in crispy tarts, cutlets formed from peas, potatoes, spinach and broccoli served on hummus, and fried yogurt rice balls served with a spicy pickle dip. The more culturally diverse Delhi Belly version features fresh panko-coated tilapia served with tartar sauce and spiced fries, “Tikka Chance on Me” bruschetta made with sourdough bread, chicken tikka, onions, bell peppers, and mozzarella, and Desi Tandoori Kukkad, the most tender and moist tandoor-roasted chicken you’ll ever have.
“As we go along, we are bringing more of these elements together and seeing how they connect,” Archana said. “We tend to keep our spice levels at a medium level, and we make all of them, like our main ingredient, garam masala, in-house.”
The fusion theme with a firm base in Indian ingredients extends to the restaurant’s bar, Gabru, a Punjabi word meaning spirited and full of energy. Drinks are grouped by moods and emotions such as “cheerful and lighthearted” or “romantic and effervescent.” It’s all about the Indian concept of “Josh” — different levels of energy and enthusiasm.
Bartender Gabriel Sebastian Davis said the most popular drink is the Absolute Desi, made with Absolut vodka, lemon elixir and kala khatta syrup, made from a type of Indian blackberry bush.
“It is just a well-balanced drink,” Davis told San José Spotlight. “It’s got a little sweetness to it, and kala khatta syrup gives it a unique and very Indian taste. It’s one of the things we use that most bars just don’t have.”
The Aaja Nachle is another distinctively Indian drink made with white rum, lemon elixir and an herbal elixir called Jaan Paan. It is served with a thick rose jelly called gulkand, wrapped in a minty paan leaf to be eaten along with the drink. These are wildly disparate and strong flavors, but they harmonize beautifully.
It’s easy to focus only on Desi’s street foods and craft cocktails. But the entrees show the same care and creativity — all hearty and engagingly prepared and include saffron or spinach rice, grilled seasonal vegetables and a choice of roasted chicken, paneer, blackened chicken or blackened salmon. These adhere more closely to typical Indian food, with biryani and grilled sea bass dishes available on weekends.
All items that contain allergens, gluten-free items or halal meats are clearly noted on the menu, and a variety of vegetarian dishes can be made vegan on request.
“We have a simplistic menu,” Mohit said. “Mediterranean food, Thai food, Mexican food is popular now. Indian food has yet to get to that level. We want to take this forward-looking contemporary food and elevate it. That is what drives us every day.”
Contact Robert Eliason at [email protected].
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