When Rooh opened in downtown Palo Alto in January 2020, it announced itself with live-fire, modern Indian fare in splashy surroundings. Thankfully, it not only survived the global calamity that hit a mere two months later, but continues to take Indian cuisine to new heights now.

It even added a parklet for outdoor dining. That’s where I dined recently when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant on a chilly weeknight. With plenty of heaters, though, as well as thoughtful floral decorations, the parklet was plenty comfortable. Even on a Wednesday, it was filled with diners, as was the dining room.

Husband and wife, Vikram and Anu Bhambri, who got their start in the tech industry, opened their first Rooh in San Francisco in 2016. It, too, is still going strong, along with locations in Columbus, OH, and New Delhi.

Executive Chef Sujan Sarkar oversees all the Rooh locations (except the Chicago one), with Chef Apurva Panchal in charge of the Palo Alto locale.

The food is imaginative, playful, and vibrant, with small plates $18 to $21, and large plates $26 to $44. When Chef Panchal, and sommelier Sergio Blandon, formerly of San Francisco’s Campton Place restaurant, offered to create a menu for us that would offer a lot of variety, we eagerly agreed to put ourselves in their hands.

The signature cocktails at Rooh have always been winners, from their presentations to their flavor profiles that are based on Ayurveda principles to balance body, mind, and spirit.

The Whistle Podu ($18) is served over a fancy “Rooh” imprinted ice cube. This is Rooh’s far more layered take on a Bloody Mary. Made with vodka, honey, and smoked rasam, it’s at once savory, peppery, and moderately spicy. Like a Bloody Mary, there’s tomato present, but also tamarind and curry leaves. It makes for a cocktail that warms through and through.

The first noshes to arrive were a dahi puri, a crisp fragile shell holding avocado, yogurt mousse and the surprise of sweet-tangy raspberries that made for a bright, awakening bite alongside a glass of lively 2017 Argyle Willamette Valley sparkling wine. Inside the same wooden box was also a tart filled with curried asparagus that offered up the other side of the spectrum with cozy warmth.

Next came a super fun dish for carb lovers like myself — a puffy kulcha bread adorned with pea shoots, goat cheese, and shaved black winter truffles. As you cut into it, the tender, airy kulcha deflates to make eating easier. Who can resist warm, soft, chewy bread done up with creamy cheese, right?

The Indian street food snack of bhel gets extra love here, thanks to the unexpected additions of Middle Eastern hummus for added creaminess and Japanese togarashi for a hit of spice. This salad-like dish is a riot of textures and tastes with crunchy radish, creamy avocado, nutty green chickpeas, puffed black rice, and tangy tamarind gel. Every bite is a little different and thoroughly invigorating.

A Japanese influence is evident again in the edamame kebab, which aren’t soybean pods threaded on a skewer, but a soft, creamy hockey puck-patty of minced edamame garnished with asparagus spears and a pickled yellow pepper sauce.

Paneer gets a Middle Eastern turn when it’s rolled up and covered in fine threads of Middle Eastern kataifi that turn golden, crunchy and so buttery tasting. Spoon over bold tasting tomato and ginger jam that’s like ketchup’s more worldly cousin.

Sonoma duck is ground, spiced and formed into kebabs that get kissed by the flames, then dotted with a rainbow of chutneys — a sweet fruit one and a spicy mint one — before arranged atop saffron flatbread.

The lovely smokiness of live fire really comes through in the chicken malai tikka. The chicken pieces are marinated in a punchy mix of ginger, garlic, yogurt, white pepper, green chili, garam masala, and cashew paste before cooked in the tandoor. Pistachio dukkah is strewn over the top for extra crunch in this comforting dish.

To give the taste buds a break before the rest arrived — yes, more was still to come — Blandon brought out a palate cleanser developed by the restaurant’s bar manager. It wasn’t the usual sorbet, but something far lighter — foam. Yes, foam may have had its heyday long ago, but in this application it really worked. Made of both ripe and unripe pineapple juices, coconut milk, a touch of nutmeg, and a sprig of cilantro, the frothy white foam possessed the refreshing tangy taste of a tropical sorbet but didn’t leave you feeling weighted down in the least. It refreshed, then dissipated immediately.

Good thing, too, because a moment later the pinwheel paneer arrived. The flatbread is rolled up around soft Indian cheese and arranged in a creamy pool of labadar gravy as rich as that of tikka masala.

Salmon fillet gets marinated in pickling spices, turning it incredibly tender and subtly piquant. It’s served on a hearty, porridge-like mix of hearty lentils and millet enfolded with bay shrimp. The salmon skin overtop is a joy, probably the crunchiest you’ll ever experience.

Quinoa is cooked as creamy as polenta, and serves as the base for meaty portobello and king trumpet mushrooms, whose earthy flavor gets kicked up by black garlic.

Colorado lamb chops arrive crusted with spices and pistachios, after being grilled until smoky and tender. You’ll be tempted to pick up the bones with your fingers to gnaw on every last bit.

Completing this spread was dal, enriched with butter and cream, plus saffron rice, warm garlic naan, and wheat roti.

To cap off the meal, three desserts were paraded out: First, chocolate saffron kulfi fashioned into an adorable white chocolate-dipped popsicle on a stick. Second, a moist and intensely coconuty tres leches layered with coconut mousse and dotted with wiggly-jiggly coconut jelly cubes. Lastly, a rich cashew praline cake with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that came adorned with a scoop of fennel-scented ice cream and a dramatic black rice cracker.

To pair with it all, Blandon poured glasses of the 2016 Klein Constania Vin de Constance, which he likened to the Chateau d’Yquem of South Africa. It was an apt description of this intensely floral muscat full that sang of luscious apricot, honey, and orange marmalade.

No matter if you dine indoors or outdoors, Rooh’s dynamic cuisine is sure to win — and warm — you over.

More: Dining Inside at Rooh Palo Alto