What Should I Order at Ebony in Bangalore? Five Signature Dishes Worth the Trip
Quick Answer
Five signature dishes anchor every order atEbony, the Pan-Indian restaurant on the 13th floor of Barton Centre at 84 MG Road, Bangalore. The Kakori Kebab is the Awadhi tandoor classic from a hamlet near Lucknow, made from silky-fine ground lamb and delicately pounded spices. The Dahi Ke Kabab is the highest-selling starter on the menu, a melt-in-your-mouth specialty of curd, green chilli, slivers of onion, and nuts in a fragile crust. Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken is built on a makhni gravy of imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes, which produces a rounder, sweeter, less acidic finish than standard butter chicken bases. The Arcot Mutton Chops are slow-cooked Mudaliar-style lamb chops from northern Tamil Nadu, finished on a tawa with rich ghee. The Malaidar Dal Makhani is Ebony's signature dal, cooked over coal overnight until it turns velvety smooth.
TL;DR
Kakori Kebab is the Awadhi tandoor classic from a hamlet near Lucknow, made from silky-fine ground lamb and delicately pounded spices reportedly created for a toothless Nawab.
Dahi Ke Kabab is Ebony's highest-selling starter, a melt-in-your-mouth specialty of curd, green chilli, slivers of onion, and nuts inside a fragile crust, paired with mint chutney.
Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken is built on a makhni gravy of imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes, giving the dish a deeper, sweeter, less acidic register than standard restaurant butter chicken.
Arcot Mutton Chops are slow-cooked Mudaliar-style lamb chops from northern Tamil Nadu, finished on a tawa with rich ghee. The recipe traces to GM Krishna Shantakumar's Mudaliar family chests.
Malaidar Dal Makhani is Ebony's signature 11-hour dal, cooked overnight over coal until tender and velvety smooth, with a faint coal smoke running underneath the cream and butter.
How to order: for a table of two, start with the Dahi Ke Kabab, move to the Butter Chicken with butter naan, and add the Malaidar Dal Makhani as the carrying plate. For three or four, add the Kakori Kebab and the Arcot Mutton Chops.
Where: 13th floor, Barton Centre, 84 MG Road, Bangalore 560001. Three-minute walk from MG Road Metro Station on the Purple Line.
Why These Five Dishes
Ebony has been on the 13th floor of Barton Centre since 1993. The menu has grown and refined across more than three decades, and today carries over 140 dishes spanning Pan-Indian, North Indian, and Mughlai cuisine, with some South Indian delicacies on the same page. A first-time guest scanning that menu has too many options to choose well.
These five dishes solve the problem. Each one anchors a different part of the kitchen. The Kakori Kebab tests the Awadhi tandoor work. The Dahi Ke Kabab tests the cold-kitchen craft. The Butter Chicken tests the gravy programme. The Arcot Mutton Chops tests the South Indian regional repertoire. The Malaidar Dal Makhani tests the slow-cook discipline. Together they cover the kitchen's full range in five plates.
The Kakori Kebab: An Awadhi Heirloom on the Tandoor
The Kakori Kebab takes its name from the tiny hamlet of Kakori, a few miles from Lucknow, where the recipe was famously created for an old, toothless Nawab who needed his meat ground fine enough to dissolve on the tongue. Ebony's version stays faithful to the brief. The lamb is silky-fine, pounded with delicately balanced spices, and skewered onto the tandoor where the high heat seals the outside while the interior stays moist.
The Kakori is a kebab to order before anything else hits the table. It works as a starter for two and arrives with amint chutney that cuts the richness without competing with it. For a guest who has never had Awadhi cooking before, this is the single dish that explains why the Lucknowi tradition is treated as the most refined branch of Mughlai cuisine.
The Dahi Ke Kabab: Ebony's Highest-Selling Starter
The Dahi Ke Kabab is the most-ordered starter on theEbony menu and the dish most regulars will tell you not to skip. The casing is light and fragile, almost trembling on the plate. Inside, the filling is soft and creamy, built on hung curd flavoured with green chilli, slivers of onion, and nuts.
It is a deceptive dish. The technique looks simple but holding the kebab together long enough to reach the table without the curd collapsing takes precise temperature control and a kitchen that has cooked the recipe enough times to know exactly when to lift it. Pair it with the mint chutney to cut the richness. It is the kind of starter where the table orders one round, finishes it in three minutes, and immediately asks for another.
Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken: Probably the Best in Bangalore
Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken is, in the kitchen's own words, given that "ultimate" zing by a makhni gravy built on imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes. It is probably the best butter chicken in Bangalore. The framing is not idle: regulars who have eaten it for years describe the rebuilt recipe as the strongest version on MG Road, and a long-running Tripadvisorreview of Ebony Restaurant, Bengaluru describes the room as "wow-ing clientele for more than two decades" with its food and setting.
The San Marzano detail matters because it is specific and verifiable. San Marzano is not a generic Italian variety. It carriesDOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) certification under European Union regulation, which restricts the name to tomatoes grown in the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino area near Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy, and the protection is enforced by theConsorzio del Pomodoro San Marzano DOP. Compared to standard tomatoes, San Marzano DOP carries lower acidity, sweeter flavour, fewer seeds, and thicker flesh.
Ebony does not run a pure San Marzano gravy. The makhni base is imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes, in deliberate proportion. The blend keeps the cost workable without losing the sweetness and structural depth the San Marzano contributes, while the local tomatoes carry the bright, acidic note that gives the gravy its lift. The result is a butter chicken with a deeper tomato register than the standard restaurant version, where the sweetness carries through the cream and butter rather than sitting underneath them. Order it with a butter naan and a spoonful of the dal alongside.
The Arcot Mutton Chops: Mudaliar Heritage on a Tawa
The Arcot Mutton Chops are slow-cooked lamb chops in a simple Arcot Mudaliar spice mix, finished on a tawa with rich ghee. The dish is rooted in Mudaliar cuisine, the heirloom cooking tradition of the Mudaliar community of northern Tamil Nadu, with the Vellore-Arcot belt as its historical anchor. At Ebony, the recipe comes from GM Krishna Shantakumar's Mudaliar family chests, which theEbony page on the Hotel Ivory Tower website credits as one of the heritage layers built into the menu.
The masala is built on yoghurt, ghee, and a tightly defined spice mix. The meat arrives moist and pink, with a finish that is warming without being aggressively spiced. The dish was originally constructed to travel well, which is why the meat is flavourful enough on its own to season the rice it sits beside. It is the South Indian crossover most North-Indian-leaning diners will not expect from a Pan-Indian kitchen, and the one that quietly makes the case for Ebony's range.
The Malaidar Dal Makhani: Eleven Hours Over Coal
Every Indian restaurant claims its dal makhani is special. Most are not.Ebony's Malaidar Dal Makhani is the kitchen's signature dal, cooked overnight over coal for eleven hours until it turns tender and velvety smooth. The texture is the signature: the lentils have surrendered into the gravy, the cream and butter have melted into the body of the dal, and the coal has lent a faint smoke that runs underneath the richness.
This is a dish that rewards slow cooking, and the eleven-hour overnight programme is what separates it from the dal makhani served at restaurants that cook it on a four-hour schedule. Order it as the supporting plate for the Butter Chicken and the Arcot Mutton Chops. Pair it with aMalabar paratha or a tandoori roti from the bread section, and let the dal carry the table while the proteins do their work.
How to Build the Order
For a table of two, three plates handle the meal: one starter, one main, and one supporting plate. Start with the Dahi Ke Kabab. Move to the Butter Chicken with a butter naan. Add the Malaidar Dal Makhani as the carrying plate. The pairing covers tandoor, gravy, and dal in a tight sequence.
For a table of three or four, build outwards. Add the Kakori Kebab to the starter round so the tandoor is properly represented. Add the Arcot Mutton Chops to bring the South Indian register onto the table. A biryani or aMudaliar Prawn Pulao rounds it out. For a larger group, add the Mutton Dansak, the Parsi mutton-and-lentil stew that has been on the menu since 1993, and at least one of the regional plates from the seafood section, like the Mrs. Palekar's Saraswat Brahmin Fish Curry from the Konkan or the Bengali Mustard Curry.
Guests at Ebony can also cross-order from the menus ofASEAN On The Edge andThe 13th Floor, the South-East Asian restaurant and the rooftop lounge bar that share the same floor of Barton Centre. The kitchens are connected, and the same plates travel between the three rooms.
Where to Eat These Dishes
Ebony is on the 13th floor of Barton Centre at 84 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore 560001, with full lift access. The address is a short walk from MG Road Metro Station on the Purple Line and a few minutes from the Brigade Road junction. Reservations are available by phone at [phone number to be inserted]. The full à la carte menu runs at both lunch and dinner. Hotel Ivory Tower in-house guests receive 20% off all in-house F&B during their stay, applicable at Ebony, ASEAN On The Edge, and The 13th Floor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I order at Ebony in Bangalore?
Five signature dishes anchor every order atEbony: the Kakori Kebab (the Awadhi tandoor classic from a hamlet near Lucknow), the Dahi Ke Kabab (the highest-selling starter on the menu), Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken (built on imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes), the Arcot Mutton Chops (Mudaliar-style lamb chops from northern Tamil Nadu), and the Malaidar Dal Makhani (cooked over coal for eleven hours overnight). For a table of two, the starter, the Butter Chicken, and the dal cover the meal. For a larger table, add the Kakori Kebab and the Arcot Mutton Chops.
What makes Ebony's Butter Chicken different from other restaurants?
Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken is built on a makhni gravy of imported San Marzano tomatoes blended with local tomatoes.San Marzano is a name for tomatoes grown near Mount Vesuvius in Italy, with a sweeter, less acidic flavour and thicker flesh than standard tomatoes. The blend gives the gravy a deeper, rounder tomato note that carries through the cream and butter rather than sitting underneath them. It is one of the best butter chicken in Bangalore.
What is a Kakori Kebab?
The Kakori Kebab is an Awadhi tandoor kebab named for the small hamlet of Kakori, a few miles from Lucknow, where the recipe was created for an old, toothless Nawab. The lamb is ground silky-fine, mixed with delicately pounded spices, and grilled in the tandoor. The technique sits at the technical peak of the fine-mince kebab tradition, and Ebony's version is faithful to the original.
What are the Arcot Mutton Chops at Ebony?
The Arcot Mutton Chops are slow-cooked lamb chops in a simple Arcot Mudaliar spice mix, finished on a tawa with rich ghee. The dish is rooted in Mudaliar cuisine, one of the heritage cooking traditions of the Mudaliar community of northern Tamil Nadu, with the Vellore-Arcot belt as its anchor. AtEbony, the recipe comes from GM Krishna Shantakumar's Mudaliar family chests.
Why is the Malaidar Dal Makhani special?
The Malaidar Dal Makhani atEbony is the kitchen's signature dal, cooked over coal for eleven hours overnight until it turns tender and velvety smooth. The eleven-hour overnight programme is the difference between this dal and the standard restaurant version, where the lentils are typically cooked for four to six hours. The result is a fully integrated dal where the lentils, cream, butter, and faint coal smoke have collapsed into a single rich body.
How do I book a table at Ebony, MG Road?
Reservations at Ebony are taken by phone at [phone number to be inserted]. The restaurant is on the 13th floor of Barton Centre, 84 MG Road, Bangalore 560001, a short walk from MG Road Metro Station on the Purple Line.Hotel Ivory Tower in-house guests receive 20% off all in-house F&B during their stay.
Sources
Ebony restaurant page, Hotel Ivory Tower, with the official menu narrative on Parsi influence, the GM Krishna Shantakumar Mudaliar recipe lineage, and the Chef Arif Ahmed North-West Frontier kitchen layer.
Hotel Ivory Tower official website, with property and dining context.
Tripadvisor: Ebony Restaurant, Bengaluru, guest reviews and overall positioning.
Magicpin: Ebony, MG Road, Bangalore, with current live menu listing of signature dishes including Ebony's Ultimate Butter Chicken, Dahi Ka Kebab, and Arcot Mutton Chops.
Consorzio del Pomodoro San Marzano DOP, official protection consortium for the San Marzano PDO designation.
EUR-Lex: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1263/96 of 1 July 1996, original PDO registration of Pomodoro San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino.
EUR-Lex: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1346 of 8 August 2019, most recent amendment to the San Marzano PDO specification.