aka Om Routray
Town Hall. Khan Market. Lovely place, very good service and polite staff. The private room is a nice option if you have any celebrations or a large group. Food was good too. Our visit had only one issue and I won’t call this a minor error. The highly recommended rainbow sushi came with gari and wasabi as usual. The gari was not pink but that’s alright, the color does differ and it not a failing. The wasabi, though, had the texture of a paste and…Continue Reading “Town hall, Khan Market”
Lately, my outings to the well known restaurants have been less than satisfactory. Then, I see a post on a food group about Himachali food fest at a place we had not heard of. 500 buck per head at a place in Gurgaon we had never been to. Seemed worth exploring. Bamboos is located on a broken down road but that’s probably the only thing that was negative about the place. It has bright outdoor seating as well as a covered area to enjoy the…Continue Reading “Bamboos, Himachal Food, Gurgaon”
I wondered if given the makeover that Khan Market has got, if everything around the market has changed too. I have previously mentioned the awesome samosa guy on the Khan Market metro station side. His alu ki sabzi is such a benarasi rich with hing type that you instantly fall in love with it. This time, we wanted to try the tikki cart next to it. It seemed like a family run enterprise, father in the distant, mother at the tawa and son sitting on…Continue Reading “Posh Alu tikki, Khan Market”
There is a Korean Cultural Center in Lajpat Nagar 4, on the Ring Road, next to the Max Hospital. What’s interesting is they have a café that serves Korean food. It’s majorly teas and shakes but they also serve bibimbab, kimbap or sushi, black noodle, Dakgaejang and more. The café is neat looking and pretty in a way too. There are tables for dining and sofas by the wall for post-lunch siesta, that’s what I did anyway. Anyway, the café is open from 10a.m. to…Continue Reading “Korean Cultural Center Cafe, Lajpat Nagar”
How many of you knew that Paharganj is out of bounds for couples from Delhi? Rest of Delhi is not, the starred hotels are not. It is Paharganj. If you walk down the lanes late at night, salesmen would emerge from the darkness, walk a few steps in tandem and whisper “room room room’ into your ears. They know that what they are selling is illegal. They also don’t want to offend the woman with you, they just want to settle it man to man….Continue Reading “Paharganj – Out of bounds for Delhi couples”
Reh. As the owner explained means spark or embers. Chingari in Hindi. The place is so small and hidden that without Zomato I would have never been able to find it. So, if you are a Zomato hater, you are just a mean angry person. Anyway, there was just one Kashmiri man at the counter and he had a chicken curry, rajma and yakhni. We ordered a rajma and a yakhni. Both came with half plates of rice that could feed three children. The rajma…Continue Reading “Reh – Kashmiri food in Dwarka”
This is where another place I loved used to be – Schengen. This is built on the grave of a lover and that antagonised me. But you enter and realise they have not done too badly. The lights have been turned on, the interior are a little bolder, the gravel from the open air seating is gone but the lanterns make up for it. And, they have an amazing menu. The mandatory north Indian section is there for those with a conservative palate but the…Continue Reading “Sanadige, Chanakyapuri”
I have a confession to make. I am biased in favour of small places. I love big restaurants and hotels etc too but it’s the small ones that genuinely surprise and stump me. I guess most of is cheer for underdogs anyway, so I am the only one here. Anyway, couple of days back I was looking for sushis in Dwarka. Could not find them. Supposedly, there is this famous momo uncle in sector 10, could not find him. So, I looked for dumplings and…Continue Reading “Crazy Forks, Dwarka”
Convenience. We should avoid that evil as much as we can. So, here I am, giving it up. Those who follow the blog would know that I have said not very flattering things about food from the state of Bihar. So, if one fine evening, I just say good things about the food, you may dig up an old post or tweet and see this guy has no consistency in opinion, he is just like the other sellouts. Anyway, a Bihari food specialty opened in…Continue Reading “Bhoj Puria, Dwarka Sector 22”
Recommendations are like any other currency. You send far too many out and they will be davlued. So, I am a little miserly when it comes to putting myself in the line of fire. But this one kind of dragged me out of the house. And, it is not a restaurant. I had written undiluted good things about Hachiba sometime back. The team has moved on and now does something that I know no one else does in the capital – community table on the…Continue Reading “Tasallibaqsh, Gurgaon”
Karma is a female canine and all that but passion and resolve to be happy can go a long way in messing up karma’s plans. Other than the ones who are predisposed to unhappiness, I can write a book on that, most other have a little wiggle room if they really want. Like this gardener from Bihar in a Lajpat Nagar colony garden. The guy has grown grapes and jackfruits in the small garden. There are sunflowers and massive tree sized jasmine flower plants and…Continue Reading “Growing grapes in Delhi”
Monday mornings are as they are. Talking about awesome food helps. If the food comes at a bargain, it works wonders. Most of you believe that Guppy by Ai and deal can’t be said togerther. But, surprisingly, a place where a meal for two costs four thousand, has a lunch set menu for around 1000 bucks and it is the awesomest thing in town. The best part of the sit down menu is that it is not a buffet, which would have been a disaster…Continue Reading “Set lunch menu, Guppy by Ai”
Metropolis is a victim in Paharganj. It stands a little far from the crowd, right at the entrance, a little aloof and arrogant. May be, that’s why people hate it. Reading the reviews on Zomato, I almost decided not to walk in. Thank satan, I did. The restaurant is small, built like an alcove of an afterthought within the hotel. There are two rows of tables divided by wide pillars. It is certainly not pretty. The lights are not dim but not too bright either,…Continue Reading “Metropolis Bar & Hotel, Paharganj”
This one is a real cow, not the steel one I wrote about earlier. This cow, may be, lost a twin. But a woman earned her living for a lifetime. As I took the photo, a woman walked towards me, asking for money. She had put the calf on a goods carrier, did enough to deify the animal with a statue and a poster etc. The carriage stopped in front of every alternate shop and did the passive religious bullying. I didn’t see anyone paying,…Continue Reading “Holy Cow, Paharganj”
I don’t remember the first time I had sattu. The version I had is called chhatua in Odia. It is made of poha, chana, wheat and some new versions come premixed with dry fruits. In Delhi, I first saw them around Kashmiri Gate and Chandni Chowk. But that was watered down version of the one pictured here. Noida seems to have far too many litti vendors, so sattu should not be a surprise. This guy’s cart was as clean as a cart can be, while…Continue Reading “Office ke neeche kya hai – Part 5 – Sattu”
The only Evergreen I knew was in GK. And, I had been there once in half a lifetime. Parking was always an issue and I avoided the place. My only recurring brush with the outlet were the sweets that someone or the other brought over. The kaju katlis were supposedly too good. I didn’t find them extraordinary. Anyway, they have a bigger outlet in Dwarka which has ample parking, during the mornings or when it is too sunny for people to come out. So, I…Continue Reading “Evergreen, Dwarka”
A girl looks on as a pickle vendor sells his ware at a weekly market in Dwarka. The nature of weekly markets change so much from one area to another. The market surrounded by highrises will have completely different stuff from this one which was closer to a local village. These pickle vendors belong to that narrow category who can traverse both. There are many more that can’t – the cloth sellers, the five rupee cup and glass sellers, 3 for 20 chole bhature walas…Continue Reading “Weekly Market, Dwarka”
I went there when the Dine Fest was on. Always seemed too expensive to me otherwise. During the Dine Fest, they had a fantastic menu for just Rs600 plus taxes per head. You could order 4 items, the portion sizes were smaller than regular, but more than enough for an average person and a steal for the price. The Dine Fest is over. So, why am I writing about it now? First, you can be alert when then next one comes. Second, the restaurant is…Continue Reading “Kylin Premier, Ambience Mall”
All of us have different views about the tibetan colony. Some have been to the other one near Bus adda and think this is something similar and have never been here. Some go there for the beef, some will never go there because of the beef. I was there in 2001 for the first time as a student of the Delhi University. I was there recently after years. And, the place has changed. The restaurants are fancy, the streets are cleaner, there are cafes now…Continue Reading “Lama Shop, Majnu Ka Tila”