I recently blatantly invited myself to a tasting at Pranna and without a doubt I asked Tiff to be my +1 because A) shi eats and B) she would objectively critique what she ate/drink instead of subjectively complain about the spoon being too deep. Below is a walk through of what went into our judgmental pie holes.

I am usually a woman of whiskey and just whiskey alone but I guess the princess in me is willing make exceptions for the occasional fruity drink (if I wanted a vodka cranberry, I would have had someone hand fed me cranberries while I took shots of Belvedere). Above is the Thai Gave, agave nectar, ginger juice, lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, and Milagro tequila. I understand the whole word play in the name but I would have just named it Monsoon Season in Southeast Asia because it’s essentially an Asian take on a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. It is well done because it succeeded to convince you that it will be okay to drink many of these, but will actually come back and punch you in the face three hours later. Just like when Sebastian handed Cecile a Long Island Ice Tea in Cruel Intentions.

This is the Fire Cracker Shrimp with cilantro and sweet chili sauce. The seasoning was spot on but it could have been crispier. Usually the firecracker shrimp is rolled in a spring roll wrapper to ensure layers of crispiness but this tasted closer to a battered shrimp.

Look, isn’t this a great photo? It’s the Chicken Malai Kabab with yogurt, Garam Masala, and mint chutney. As you might have already noticed, all of these photos are shitty. As a photographer, I find this method of documenting food rather liberating and genuine. I get to fully concentrate on gastronomically deconstructing this cube of chicken and then instead of letting you eat with your eyes like you always do, you can digest my utterance. Plus, it’s dark as hell in there and we don’t get plates. It is a food photographer’s nightmare, even if your stupid camera goes up to 12800 ISO. Back to the chicken — it was a tad bit dry and served as cubes. Therefore, it makes me wonder if they actually grilled it kebab-style or if they were individually charred. One of the points of skewering it up is for the meats to feed off of each other’s juices to avoid loss of moisture. Loss of moisture in your meat (in any cases, yknowhatimeeeen) is not fun. I just wish it was socially acceptable to take my sweet time to rub my chicken cube with all the mint chutney it could possibly absorb while the waitress singlehandedly (literally) holds the tray as three other friends are waiting for me to be finished so they could do the same.

This was actually a really good drink but I made it look like iced mushroom consomme that you have to drink with a straw out of a wine glass. Pranna Sutra consists of muddled red seedless grapes, fresh lemon juice, white wine, and Kettle One vodka. I once went on a date with a girl that was so in awe by the fact that I just took a shot of Jameson followed by a Cream Ale, and when I asked her what she wanted, she said, “just get me something that doesn’t taste like alcohol, something fruity perhaps?” Had I known of this, I could have been like, “oh, you want a Pranna Sutra?” instead of “uhhhhh vodka soda?” I don’t know which one would have gotten me laid.

Paneer Tikka with ginger, garlic, yogurt, and roasted spices. Modestly seasoned for an Indian dish yet still flavourful. A friendly reminder for me to venture outside of my palak paneer comfort zone tomorrow when I order my lunch.

The Spicy Tuna Tartare with shisho leaf, scallions, soy caramel sauce was my favorite. Sadly I only got to eat one of these. The tuna was not diced like your typical tartare, but instead it was sliced into tiny short strips which allowed you to texturally experience your raw meat in a slightly different way. The soy caramel sauce gave it a bit of a Chinese flavour. Yes, you can say this is Chinese flavoured. 

Not pictured: Chicken Samosa with Turmeric, peas, sweet chili raita, and Edamame Falafel with raita and curry flavor couscous. These were both quite good as my first instinct was to just eat it and not even take a picture. The samosa was nicely crispy and not too greasy. Imma let me finish but samosas made with puff pastry is my all-time favourite.

There is no conclusion really because I am still stuck on the fact that the spoon that served the spicy tuna tatare was too deep.