One fine Friday afternoon, I had this sudden urge for eating chinese food and then I and my parents decided to go to this restaurant called “Aronai”, in the evening for dinner. Set up in the outskirts of Kokrajhar, a small town in Assam, India, Aronai restaurant is a fine dining multi-cuisine restaurant that caters to Chinese, Indian, as well as Mughlai cuisines. “Aronai” is a word that is very dear to the heart of the Bodo people, a major ethnolinguistic group of Assam. Aronai is a hand-woven stole offered as a gesture of respect, appreciation and love to revered guests.
A long and wide corridor greets us as we enter the restaurant and the first thing we notice about the restaurant is the color ‘brown’, because of the use of light brown coloured cane furniture that imparts a touch of refinement. Cane Bamboo partitions are arranged all over the seating area of the restaurant creating sections in such a way that everyone who eats at the restaurant has privacy. The restaurant is beautifully adorned with Chinese light fixtures hanging down from the ceiling, and colourful, interesting picture frames hanging on the walls. The cozy and cool aura of the restaurant makes the guests feel very welcome. Since it was around 7:30 by the time we reached, there were already many guests in the restaurant.
The waiter who showed us to our table was very courteous but the same cannot be said for the people who were at the reception. They were all talking among themselves and were not paying much attention to the guests who were trying to ask them some questions. So, as soon as we entered the restaurant and realized that the receptionists were not paying much attention, we were a little upset. However, the pleasant manner of our waiter made up for it.
We were seated in a section which accommodated four people and was just perfect for me and my parents. We started off our dinner by ordering an appetizer of chicken pakoras, which are fried gram flour balls mixed with pieces of chicken. Mango powder, also known as chaat masala, was sprinkled over the chicken pakoras which added a slight tangy taste to it that really pleased my palate. For the main course we ordered chicken hakka noodles, vegetable fried rice, konjee crispy chicken and my all time favourite, chilli chicken. We first ate the chicken hakka noodles with the konjee crispy chicken – a divine pairing. Slightly burnt chopped garlic pieces were added to the crispy chicken that gave a very flavourful taste to it and when we ate it with the noodles, it was like a match made in heaven. We next paired the fried rice with chilli chicken. But it did not come up to my expectations. The chilli chicken was quite bland and the vegetables were not cooked through and the rice just did not have any extra flavours other than soya sauce. So, the chilli chicken and fried rice was a little disappointing.
Overall, the restaurant is great for its interior decor and its cleanliness. Several people with whom I have interacted concerning food in the restaurant have recommended a number of dishes as being excellent. So, I recommend people to be discerning in choosing what to eat and what not to eat.
Aronai Restaurant, Shyamgaon, J.D. Road, Near Bharat Petrol Pump, Kokrajhar, B.T.C Assam, Pincode: 783370, Phone number: 99572-92013