Neel

Charcoal, fenugreek, and a Punjabi table

The tandoor takes the first decision: char before sauce, smoke before polish. Neel is the all-day dining room of Ran Baas The Palace in Adalat Bazar, Patiala, and its brief is a Punjabi table set inside the restored royal fabric of Qila Mubarak. The concept borrows from the royal family's hunting tradition, which is why the room reads as an intimate contemporary durbar hall rather than a replica: wood, stone and muted textiles, with the fortress bazaar pressing in on the other side of the gates.

The palace was brought back into use by the hotelier Priya Paul with the conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, and it opened in January 2025 as Punjab's first luxury palace hotel. Neel occupies a former royal guest house inside the fortress. Its cooking stays close to regional appetite: local produce, Punjabi technique, tandoor work, slow sauces, thalis, and bistro touches that widen the room without flattening it.

A Punjabi program built on heat and time

The menu moves by sequence rather than theatre: breads, pickles, vegetables, lentils, charred proteins, rice, sauces with enough body to hold the table. The Charred Tandoori Platter uses seasonal proteins and vegetables over natural charcoal, then finishes them with lemon and fenugreek. The Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank takes five to eight hours in aromatic spices, a timing that matters because the dish depends on the cut yielding before it reaches the plate. A Seasonal Punjabi Thali gathers local vegetables, lentils, pickles, and fresh breads, and the wider thali program draws on curries and dhals from eight princely states.

That architecture suits an à la carte room. Neel can lean hearty without losing proportion, because the kitchen gives each preparation a task: charcoal for edge, braising for surrender, fresh herbs for lift, cream or butter where the sauce needs a longer finish. The international bistro thread sits beside the Punjabi work rather than above it. Breakfast keeps the same breadth, moving from Punjabi breads to eggs, benedicts, and muesli, but the stronger identity arrives when the tandoor and the slow pot are allowed to set the pace.

The room inside the fortress bazaar

Outside, Adalat Bazar presses close with jewellery shops, rickshaws, and the ordinary voltage of Patiala street life. The passage into Ran Baas changes the register. Massive wooden gates lead to a quieter courtyard, with sitar music carrying through the palace hospitality rather than announcing it. Neel's room takes its cue from an equestrian idea of the outdoors: wood, stone, muted textiles, and preserved architectural elements set against a careful modern restoration.

The restaurant reads as a contemporary durbar hall, not a replica. Light moves across the room, the private dining space carries sage green and gold, and the courtyards give the kitchen's smoke and spice somewhere to settle. In that calm, a dish like the Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank does not need a flourish; five to eight hours in the pot have already done the speaking.