Must eat places in Delhi- favorite restaurants

Delhi is a city of foodies. And after my 4N5D foodtrip in the same, And for many reasons, it used to be (and still is) one of the power centers in undivided India. The wealth accumulated here was unimaginable. Also, people from multiple cultures and food habits came down to settle in here. and as a result, the variety is mind-blowing. Now, if we want to plan the food in Delhi, we can split it in few zones, which goes as follows and you can also check my blogposts on the same by clicking on them.

• Jama Masjid area
• Chandni chowk
• Nizamuddin Basti

But is that all ? Definitely not and Delhi being the capital of India, there are hundreds of good restaurants and food joints worth visiting. But I had a short visit and could not cover all. Hence in this blogpost, I’d like to talk on few of the stand-alone places, which I loved in Delhi.

Andhra Bhavan Canteen

Delhi, being the capital of India, boasts of many state bhavans. Now they are different state government offices having lovely canteens. And needless to say, the canteens serve some authentic mouth watering fare. And the reality is, if someone wants to visit all of them, he/ she would need to be in town for at least a month. But, out of the list, I’ve visited only the Andhra Pradesh canteen and I must say, I was pretty impressed. The location can be found here on Google map.

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The entrance is not really that impressive. But once I got in, it was a madhouse. Hundreds of people were enjoying their lunch inside a large room. It runs of a prepaid system and you need to buy the token first from the counter on the left. Now here lies the trick.

I’d always suggest for their veg thali (which is unlimited) and order for one portion of Fish fry and one portion of mutton pepper fry. Off course, order for some soft drinks if you feel like. Filtered water is served on the table and unless you are super finicky, you don’t need to bother. Please be ready to share a table with strangers and be ready to gobble up the food. This is not a fine dining slow-relaxed-eating joint and there is always someone waiting for you to finish your meal.

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The thali itself is super tasty and is bound to satisfy one hungry soul. But, what’s life without some non-veg fare for a bong ? And this comes the sides. The fish in the fish fry varies from day to day. Basically whatever fish was good, the canteen management gets it and fries. It’s pretty heavily spiced and dark fried. With a sprinkling of the lemon slice given, it’s a bliss. Same is the story with the Mutton fry. It’s heavily finished with black pepper and is super tasty. But whether a faint hearted person can love it or not, is my question. But again, both the dishes are just superb in taste, as well as quality.

Do not, I repeat, do not forget to take extra helpings of their ghee and enjoy the piping hot tice with a sprinkling of gunpowder (kept and reloaded on the table). I missed some curd-chilly, but that’s just me. I was told, they make a superb Biryani on Sundays, so maybe worth a try on my next visit. Thali was priced at 130/- and the fish and mutton fry were 170/- each. A lunch for two here would ccost around 600/-.

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Matka Peer Dargah

Just a short distance from the Andhra Bhavan canteen, lies this place called Matka Peer Dargah. The location can be found here on Google map. And there’s a nice folklore around that place. It goes like Sufi Saint Hazrat Sheik Abu Bakar had migrated from Iran to India in 1275 CE and chose to stay here. He had mystic powers and kept a matka (earthen pot) with him and helped people with the help of magical water from that pot. The news spread like wildfire and reached Sultan Giyasuddin Balban, who didn’t seem convinced. So he wanted to taste the saint and sent him a pot of iron balls resembling black gram and another resembling jaggery. But the saint, with his power, converted them both into real food items. And hence, the place got famous.

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However, today all we could find is a dargah and all the trees had matkas hung from them. There are multiple food outlets there serving home-styled simple Mughlai food. Sufi food is basically simple home food and not the rich spicy ones. And Anirban took me to one specific shop and ordered some Shami Kebab and Qorma. The qorma was a regular one, but I was surprised by the shami kebab. It was one of the softest and tastiest stuff that I’ve tasted. They’re small in size, perfect shaped (even the sides were properly done) and fried live in front of us. The whole thing was served with Roomali Roti.

The sitting was very very rustic and you need to be ready to share the table with strangers. Maybe the food was not some super life-changing stuff, but simple soul food.

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Cafe Lota inside National Crafts Museum

Being a bong, I was craving for some sweets and Anirban took me to The National Crafts Museum. Now please don;t think otherwise. I am hardly into anything else other than culinary art. But this place whould be visited once. It’s a huge ground with various artisans putting up their stalls. And if you’re good at deciding what you want, wonderful stuff can be purchased at a pit-bottom price. And at the entrance of gate no 2, was this place. Location can be checked here in Google map.

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It’s a pretty sofisticated cafe with proper sitting and food in Delhi is not cheap. But the dessert is pretty good here along with the selection of fancy coffee, I was told. Anirbar took the lead and ordered the Apple Jalebi and Baked bhapa doi cheesecake. And I must say, they were fantastic.

The portion size is pretty good and justified the pricing. Apple roundels were cut out and deep fried in a Jalebi batter and topped with some Rabri. Result was pure love. Same was the case with the Cheesecake. The moist flavor of bhapa doi gelled perfectly with the cheesecake and it was a sheer pleasesure. Do go their after a hearty meal and I don;t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Curry Singh Kitchens for authentic Punjabi food in Delhi

But all said and done, I was craving for some authentic Punjabi Food. Now, “authentic” is one of the most misused words in today’s world, so let me rephrase it as home-style food. I am sure that in Punjabi households, they don’t put in that much cream in everyday Dal, neither they put dry fruits in god-damn every dish. Use of butter is evident, as it’s mostly home-made. And god knows how they’ve started putting food coloring into everything.

So, once I was looking for something like that, I was taken to Gurgaon (rather Arcadia mall) by Anirban, The location can be checked here in Google Map. in the quest of home-style authentic Punjabi Food. Chef Reetika Gill is a magician. She knows her food, or rather home food, as she calls it. Her restaurant has got around 15-20 dishes and the setup is pretty rustic.

Now, personally, I trust a restaurant which has lesses items in the menu. And this was one such place. The menu was simple- some Bhatti Ka murgh (Bhatti is the term used for Tandoor), an assortment of bread, Kali Dal and Mutton Curry. Some vegetables were there and despite much pressure from everyone, I stuck to my favorites- non-veg items with Dal-Roti.

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Now have you seen the movie Ratatouille? Yes, that famous Pixar movie which every food lover must watch at least once. Anton Ego takes the first bite into his mouth and his eyes closed in love. He was back in his childhood, where he could feel his mother feeding him the ratatouille. I tore the bread, dipped in the Kali Daal and it was the same with me. Home cooked food is always the same. They boast of simplicity. Creating a simple dish without much hullabaloo is one of the toughest things and Curry Singh Kitchens did just that. Ingredients were fresh and hand-picked, the food was less and perfectly spicy and with food was without the destroyer of Punjabi food- cream.

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Bhatti Ka Murgh didn’t have a food color and the meat was soft. The Fish Amritsari smelt of FRESH Ajwain and the mutton curry- ahhh superb. It was cooked for hours. In most of the cases, we see a standard gravy is cooked and kept somewhere. Most of the meat is sauteed or tossed in a frying pan or wok with a ladle-full of the gravy and topped with some tampering (or cream or god-knows-what). And slow-cooked simple food is dying every day. But this place had got me back to my roots. Once in Delhi, do go there at least once.

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Reetika cooked the Halwa for us and it was full of ghee (we loved that) and without dry fruits, which we loved. It’s pure ecstasy.

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Baar Baar Khan Market

Now if Curry Singh Kitchens is all about simplicity, Baar Baar Delhi is all about style, yet maintaining the superb food standard. Chef Sujan Sarkar is my good friend and we used to study in the same college. Now, some people are born to do certain things and Sujan was borne to create magic in thekitchen. With his long training in modern European cuisine, he knew the basics of cooking and how to break the stereotypes. So, when he invited to his place Baar Baar at Khan Market, Delhi, I couldn’t say no. The location can be found here.

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The decor is top notch, but let’s come down to food. The first cocktail was Leh Berry. It’s made keeping in mind the five ingredients – alcohol, lemon, water, sugar and spices. It’s a gin based cocktail with house sea buckthorn syrup, caqrdamom and citrus bitters with some tonic water. It was a lovely and interesting change from whatever gin based cocktail that I’ve tasted.

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For food, I was served in tasting portions. It was Duck sheekh kebab on ulte–tawa-ki-parantha. I am sincerely apologetic for the bad photography and the sole villain was the lack of light. The house crisps were served with sweet corn mousse and tomato chutney with a twist. The final dessert was Daulat Ki Chaat. Yes, though I’ve visited in winter, but missed the road-side Daulat Ki Chaat. But had a lovely variant here. Now they didn’t make it here but got them outsourced. But sprinkled some butterscotch on top and gave it a new twist. So, if someone is looking for some modern India food in Delhi, Baar Baar Khan Market is definitely recommended.

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Moti Mahal for the Butter chicken

While in Delhi, not visiting The Moti Mahal is a carnal sin. It’s like visiting Agra and not going to experience Taj Mahal. They have claimed to invent what is the epitome of North Indian food, Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken. Moti Mahal was established in 1947 and its patrons include all the big shots- from Indira Gandhi to Gordon Ramsay. It’s in the old area of Daryaganj, Delhi and it seems time stood still there. We went there over a lunch. The sitting area is pretty big with open air and AC sections.

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But I don’t know whether it was a bad day or whatever the reason, the food was pretty average. I mean I’ve tasted much better Butter Chicken elsewhere. The Tandoori Chicken was good at the best. And the best part was the Kaali Dal. It was damn good, provided you don’t take into account the Dal from Bukhara, ITC Hotels. But whatever, all the experiences can;t be good.

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And the best Thai Food

Wise men always said that the best should be kept for last. And finally, I should pay thanks to Sirattiya (better half of of Anirban Bora) for treating me with the best Thai food that I’ve tasted. Sirattiya hails from Thailand and it’s a sweet love story of how they got together. But let’s not get into that. Anirban was boasting about his wife’s cooking skills and me, being myself, didn’t take him seriously. Now he invited me home for dinner and naturally, I jumped in.

So at his home, while we were discussing important matters like South Africa’s space policy or India’s foreign liaison policy, she took the pain of cooking a full meal for us- literally single-handedly. The best part was she was basically from Thailand and got married to an Indian glutton. So, it was best of both the worlds. She understood the items and spices here and got the substitutes for Thai ingredients easily. And that was the magic of home cooked food.

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It was Pork Satay and Vietnamese Spring Rolls for starter– to go with our wine, while a whole duck was getting roasted inside the oven. The dinner was simple. Som Tam Salad, stuffed cucumber Soup, Stir-fried vegetables, Lamb Panang Curry and that Roasted Duck. Hahaha , and that’s simple for her. Let’s not get into details and trust me, it was the best Thai meal that I’ve had. The items were bang on taste, simple as they should be and basically soul food. there is always a difference between restaurant food and home food and it showed here.

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Overall, in these 5 days on the trail to taste the food in Delhi, I must say, I am fascinated. From the glittery lanes and bylanes of Jama Masjid to the dark lanes of Nizamuddin, from the hundred year old sweet shop to the home-styled Punjabi food, food in Delhi is fascinating. I am sure there are many more joints which I’ve missed and I promise, this series will continue. If you have any particularly favorite place, do let me know in the comments section.

Bon apetit

I can be reached at 9903528225 / indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com