RESTAURANT REVIEW: Kitchen Rumors

The building off Washington where Kitchen Rumors is located has a special place in my heart, as it was formerly home to Xin Chao, one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the city (and before that Beaver's, which was also solid). So despite shedding a tear or two when the house that Christine Ha built closed last year, I was very excited to learn that the Kahani Social Group (the folks behind Amrina, a top-tier Indian restaurant in the Woodlands) were opening a new concept in a much more convenient location.

Inside you'll find a long rectangular dining room with a fun pink and green pastel color scheme, dark green ceilings, and some interesting sections of colorful wallpaper patterns. It's definitely a more laid-back vibe than the lavish Amrina, as the plastic chairs helpfully indicate (they call it "fine casual", whatever that means). In the Xin Chao days I was fond of sitting on the spacious tree-shaded patio, and while I didn't get a chance to see that side of the building this time, I imagine it's still there. Once it finally cools down, it should be a great spot to bring your dog and enjoy dinner and the weather.

Executive chef (and Chopped winner!) Jassi Bindra is doing the lord's work here, and while it's an Indian restaurant in name, you won't find too many traditional dishes on the menu. Instead, they are reimagined with global twists, bridging the subcontinent with Japanese, Mexican, and other cuisines. This makes for a fun experience where each dish brings something creative and unexpected. You can order a la carte if you wish, but we opted for the Rumors Experience, a four course omakase of sorts, which fortunately happened to include almost everything on the menu that I wanted to try.

Each course includes multiple dishes served family style. First up was the Roasted Oyster Tikka. The briny cooked oysters were served with a lovely tikka sauce that blended coconut with the classic spicy tomato curry. Along with a bit of mignonette, the classic oyster condiment, enhanced with some chimichurri herbs, this bite was full of deep flavors... a fantastic way to start the meal. This was paired with Infladita, which are basically build-your-own panipuri. Even more DIY than at Musaafer I recently wrote about, here you get an empty shell and a tray with spiced smashed avocado, lamb keema ghugni (a chickpea mash), and passion fruit water, along with the requisite tamarind and mint chutneys. The greens, reds, and yellows of these fillings were quite striking, and worked nicely in various combinations, but my favorite was the spicy lamb plus the sweet passion fruit water.

The second course consisted of three dishes: Lobster Dumplings, Blue Cheese Chicken Kebabs, and Crispy Kale & Wasabi White Peas. The dumplings were basically shumai filled with a generous portion of buttery lobster, served atop a mangosteen infused Malabar sauce (a rich tangy South Indian curry) and finished with a dollop of caviar. Quite the decadent bite. The kebabs were sort of a play on butter chicken, with a funky but subtle blue cheese "fondue" making things a bit more fun, and garlic butter spiced panko and some microgreens puller it all together. I'm not normally a huge kale guy, but the bitterness of the fried crunchy kale was masked by the yogurt and wasabi white peas, and a fried potato patty provided a soft textural contrast. Pretty good for a dish featuring one of the worst greens!

Round three was a beast: Branzino, Goat Biryani, and Bison Short Rib Nihari. The fish preparation was simple, but delicious... pan seared over a "green herbs sabzi", which was basically a fragrant mash of herbs, and drizzled with oil and lime. The bison was advertised on the menu as "fork tender", but unfortunately it didn't quite meet that mark. It still tasted good, as the nihari stew had deep aromatic flavors and some turmeric-assisted warmth, but I wish it would have fallen off the bone as anticipated. Speaking of tough meat, goat is famously a rather coarse protein due to its low fat content, and the chunks in the biryani were also a tad on the chewy and gamey side. That being said, the aroma of the aged basmati rice was intoxicating, and the birista (fried onions) gave a nice little bit of crunch. Add in some of the yogurt provided on the side, and you have a pretty great dish that overcame the slightly fibrous caprine.

While not included in the tasting menu, we had to try the Butter Chicken Ramen. This wild-sounding dish had a luscious tomato-based broth which was a bit spicier than you'd expect from the Indian classic, but par for the course for ramen. The noodles were soft and bouncy, and some sliced chicken breast soaked up the broth nicely. I'm not sure I would order this as my main course, but I'm glad I got to taste it.

I'm sorry if I offend some readers here, but it has to be said: Indian cuisine is not exactly renowned for its desserts. The two offered here were a bit of a mixed bag: Howdy Gulab Jamun and Shahi Tukda Panna Cotta. You're probably asking WTF are those, as was I when I read the menu. The former was a pecan pie cookie bar topped with a syrupy-soaked cylindrical donut and some lemon curd. This was well-rounded with the sweetness of the donut balanced by the sharp acidity of the lemon curd. A decent dessert considering the alternative: the panna cotta was an absolute mess, and I don't think anyone at the table wanted more than one bite. There was reduced milk-soaked bread, and some pistachios and dried rose petals to garnish. It was, quite frankly, one of the least good desserts I've had in quite some time, just mushy and unappetizing.

I'm running out of time to write this but I don't want to end on a down note, as this place was generally quite excellent, so I'll just shout out a couple of great cocktails: Desi Girl At Heart was a wonderful refreshing tequila drink with lime, turmeric, cayenne honey, and yogurt wash (spicy and citrusy, a perfect combination), and Felicitate The Winners is a bourbon-based libation with lemon, pomegranate, rose, saffron, cloves, and absinthe bitters (complex with acidity, bitterness, and floral notes).

Overall, a really solid restaurant, that, despite a few flaws, I would love to return to one day and see how things develop as it ages out of its first few months. Hopefully it breaks the curse of this location and stays open for years to come.

RANKING UPDATE: Debuts at #7 on my best Indian restaurants list in the Houston Restaurant Guide

NEXT UP: A handful of dispatches from (way) south of the border.