Delhi Treats

The Aman

2011-03-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

A friend and I had a fantastic Thai meal at the Aman multicuisine restaurant last week. The restaurant is really elegant and quiet and private, which is what makes Aman a truly magnificent hotel in Delhi. Surprisingly and encouragingly the food prices are nothing like the room prices, which are upwards of $500/night.

We started with a 400/- Tom Kha soup and shared a 600/- thai curry. We also ordered fried rice and jasmine rice. All in all the food was excellent. The service impeccable. While the menu at the Aman is limited, I highly recommend it over Spice Route at the Imperial hotel, especially if you are looking for a change.

After the meal, we walked around the quiet confines of the hotel and had a nice discussion. All in all a surprisingly affordable and memorable evening and in an extremely expensive hotel.

Coriander leaf, Gurgaon - Won't go here again.

2008-06-17T02:57:00.001-07:00

Address:
Vatika Triangle, Sushant lok-I, Block-A, MG Road, Gurgaon 122002
Ph: 0124-5062121,
email: Corianderleaf at vatika group dot com <all together>

We at this expensive, hot but really pretty restaurant on the 6th of June 2008. There were 3 of us. We were looking forward to this meal. We got a reasonably nice table at 9PM on Friday night but I suggest you reserve in advance. The place gets crowded and they mostly have small 4 tops.

As soon as I sat down I was accosted by a Finlandia sales guy who wanted us to buy Finlandia cocktails so that we could enter a lucky draw. The guy was ok.. so we bought 2 cocktails and a beer.

We ordered starters, which were all good. I guess we were really hungry. We had a veg. tandoori combo, which was good. The paneer tikka was wonderfully flavored and melt in your mouth soft. The veg seekh was also good. We then ordered the main course. We had very a standard fare, Dal Makhani, Murgh tawa masala and Paneer Makhani.

This is where things suddenly went downhill.

The wait for the meal was incredibly long. I even went to the restroom in the main vatika building - since they dont have a toilet inside. Even after that we had to wait atleast 25 minutes to get the food after our table was cleared of the starters.

All the main course dishes were too spicy. The garlic nan was outrageously expensive at Rs 65. Even the standard roti was for 30 rupees. I wonder what they put in it to make it so expensive. The service was poor. We were not served in time. We had to ask for waiter buy shouting for attention.

The place is really noisy and hot. The noise is because of all the glass walls and not because of the music. The AC does not seem to cool down the restaurant enough for Delhi's hot summers. The place was really expensive as well. Our total bill was 2790/- for the 3 of us. What really irritated me was the 220 rupees service charge. Why should I be forced to pay 220 bucks. Further, I dont think this money would go to the server.

Can you really imagine a restaurant being ethical enough to give "all" of the service charge to the waiter serving the meal? This is something I need to investigate further.

Here is the bill breakup:

Finlandia small - 598
Beer - Kingfisher - 185
Tandoori combo veg. - 295
Paneer Makhani - 335!
Dal Makhani - 240
Murgh Tawa masala - 345 (only 10 rs more than the paneer)
Garlic Naan - 45
Plan Naan - 110 (55 each)
Tandoori roti - 30
Sub total - 2203
Service Charge - 220.30!
VAT Alcohol - 172
VAT Food - 195.25
Total - 2790

I dont think we are going here again.

Skywok, Khan Market

2007-04-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

Date: 8th April 2007

Location: Khan Market, at the corner of the same lane as the bigger Big Chill restaurant behind McDonalds.

Skywok is a new pan asian restaurant in Khan Market. The food here is good and a little bit expensive. Our party of four ate here. We did not have any alcohol. We ordered one starter two soups and 4 main course dishes and our bill was 2000/-. The food was good. I recommend the Thai chicken soup and the chicken with sweet basil. The pad thai was also really tasty.

We also ordered a rice dumpling with chicken but did not like it very much. The presentation of all the dishes are good. The appetizer came to us in a 4 small cups - one for each.

Although the place is relatively expensive, the ambience is good. The service however would be better. The problem is that people keep running about and do not seem to pay enough attention to you. I would not go here for a quite dinner with the family. The place seems designed for business travelers and company paid dinners.

The Coffee Shop - Maiden's Hotel Delhi

2006-10-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

The wife and I wanted to have a nice breakfast together. So, we dropped off the kid to school and left the other one at home and went out looking for a good breakfast place.

One of the oldest hotels in Delhi, the Oberoi Maidens hotel in civil lines, Delhi was our choice of the day. We thought we'll go and in and check out the menu. If we liked it we'll stay and eat, if not, we'll walk away and probably have the breakfast buffet at the yellow brick road at the Ambassador Hotel, close to Golf Links.

We were floored by the unexpectedly beautiful garden and outdoor seating arrangement at the Maidens coffee shop. The breakfast buffet at Rs. 375/person was not a great value for money. The wife did not want to stuff herself so she decided to go for a simple toasted sandwich, which should have been substantially cheaper than the buffet. I, of course, had the buffet.

The breads were bad. They had stale Croissants and no rolls. The white and brown bread was the standard brittannia bread we have at home everyday. The utthapam was ok. The omlette overcooked. The dosa was stuffed to the brim with potatoes and had way too much curry putta (leaves). They probably put a whole plant in there. Anyhow, it is was good to to see a 103 year old banyan tree while having breakfast. The service was slow, but we didn't care as the surroundings were so nice and quiet.

The hotel is also 103 years old. It was established in 1903. I dont know if we will go back there again. It was not a good value for money.

1911 - The Imperial Hotel

2006-10-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Our party of 8 had a fun dinner at 1911 at the Imperial. Although, we wanted to go to Spice Route one person in our party was wearing shorts and people in shorts are not allowed in side the Spice Route. So, we went to 1911 and ordered from both the menus. This turned out to be a good thing as the 1911 menu was really limited.

We ordered lots of beer (Cobra brand, which is sold primarily in the UK) and martinis (Vodka). We ordered way too much food and the total bill came to about 16000/-. The highlight of the meal were the Thai curries from Spice Route and the Sandwich which we took to go. The servings were generous and the food was yummy.

The tandoori murgh was huge. I have never had a bigger chicken in my life. The legs were as long as my lower arm. Maybe it was not chicken, after all it could always be another bird. The fish and chips had lots of fish and lots of chips. It was fun to sit outside, facing the beautifully maintained garden at the begginning of a new winter in Delhi. I'll go back their again and eat a sandwich, maybe not on my money though.

Market Cafe, Khan Market

2006-09-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

So, after reading a review from Sabina Sehgal Saikia, we decided to visit the Market Cafe in Khan Market. The cafe is located right opposite Khan Chacha's excellent tikka/Romali wrap shop. You can also say that the cafe located in the back lane behind the older Big Chill cafe.

The Cafe was cheery and had wi-fi connectivity but the food was horrible and horribly over priced. We ordered Veggie Fajitas (Rs 180/- I think) and a grilled vegable sandwich (Rs. 165). Thats all our budget would allow.

After waiting forever, we were served the smallest sandwich in the world. We had asked for a focaccia panini bread and the whole sandwich was probably no longer than my hand and no wider than two of my thickest fingers. The filling did not go to the edges and the sandwich was not dressed properly. The side of fries, served with the sandwich contained 5 fries, maybe 7. The side salad was basically grated carrots and I cant remember what else it had. While the sandwhich was eatable, I could not get over the fact that they were charging 165/- + taxes. I compared this to the 90/- grilled veg. sandwich and Angels in my kitchen or the 80/- open faced sandwiches at Big Chill and felt cheated.

The Fajitas were worse. We sent them back.

They had wrapped up some stuff in two torilla like wraps and put a lot of spicy tomota sauce/salsa on it. The sour cream, served with the fajitas was like sour curd, or something else but not like sour cream at all. Further, the vegetables in the fajita did not come sizzling, like they would at any other place - Bennigans, Saket or TGIF, anywhere. It was unedible.

We quickly paid our bill Rs 190/- no tips and left. We ate at Khan chaha, right outside. We had 2 chicken romali wraps, 1 paneer tikka wrap and a coke. this was the best wraps we've had in a while. At a Rs 60/wrap. This is a great bargain in Khan Market.

We then went for coffee and a belgian chocolate shake at the Big Chill. I give 3 months to the market cafe. They will either shape up or ship out.

Angels in my Kitchen

2006-08-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

Angels in my Kitchen

We have eaten at this recent defence colony establishment 3 times now and at all times the quality of the food and what was included with a sandwich was inconsistent but tasty.

There sandwich and choice of breads are great. The french loaf and focaccia was great. So were the olives and the potato wedges. They were as good as the ones I had at the 360 at the Oberoi.

The owner's turned out to be friends of ours and that improved the level of service and our first time there was great. We thought we had finally found a cheaper and more delicious alternative to Big Chill.

However, such optimism was short lived. Our 2nd visit and 3rd got progressively worse. once they were out of Potato wedges, another time they gave us someone ele's sandwich. I did like that they took good care of kids. When my daughter wanted to have some pasta, they were kind enough to give her an exceptionally large portion of Penne for free. She had a ball and so did we.

I still recommend this restaurant, just give them sometime to iron out the kinks, their heart is in the right place and the angels, they are in their kitchen.

Spice Route - Imperial Hotel

2006-03-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

We had another fantastic meal with Barry on the 13th of March, 2006. On my suggestion, we went to the Spice Route at the Imperial Hotel. The spice route came highly recommended by the Conde Nast Magazine as one of the 10 best restaurants in the world. I think this was slightly over stated. While the food was great, I dont think it could be one of the 10 best restaurants in the world. It could be one of the best in terms of decor but that's about it.

We ordered two bottles of wine
1. Châteauneuf du Pape vieux telegraphe 2001 - Rs. 4500/-

Primarily made from Grenache, this 50 Euro wine retailed for close to 80 Euros here. The wine was good and worked well with the spicy food we ordered that night. I remember seeing the Châteauneuf du Pape vineyards from the papal palace in Avignon. I'll insert the pictures of the vineyard later.

2. The second bottle we ordered was a spanish red wine. This wine was one of the most tasty wines I have had in my life. It did not go very well with the spicy food on the table but still it was fantastic. The wine was made from cabernet grapes only. It was most likely a Miguel Torres Cabernet that sold for Rs 5500/-

For food, we ordered
Appetizers
Grilled Prawns
Coral Mushrooms
Minced Chicken w/ Sweet Basil
Main Course
Green Curry w/ Chicken and Coral mushrooms
Prawns
Mixed vegetables in mildy hot sauce
Jasmine Rice
Pad Thai
Deserts
Two Spring Delights or something like that (Mango & Strawberry sorbets)

The whole meal for 5 set us back by Rs 20,000/-. I was impressed by the wine, the coral mushrooms and the wine glasses. They were about 1 foot tall and really elegant.

2005-05-27T03:57:00.001-07:00

Dinner at IHC - Delhi O Delhi. Great Draught beer.

2005-05-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

Anniversary dinner at IHC - Dilli O Dilli

Dum Phukt

2004-11-26T05:03:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to eat at Dum Phukt last week. Actually, I ate their twice last week. While the first meal was great, the second one seemed too similar to the first and hence wasn't that great.

17th Nov 2004, Meal 1:
The 4 of us ordered:
2 Kakori Kebabs
1 Hara Kabab
1 DAL
1 Rogan Josh
1 Chicken Dum Phukt
2 Nans
2 glassed of wine at 500/- each

At the end of it, we paid about 7000/- for the meal and about 17000 for the bottle of wine we ordered while we were waiting for the table. It was a Brunello di Montalcino We started drinking the wine at about 8PM and finished the bottle around 10:30PM. Inspite of pouring the wine in a decanter, we felt that we could have given the wine more time to breathe. It was an awesome bottle of wine.

In all, this was a fantastic meal. At 25000/- it seemed a little expensive though.

I must mention that the wine list at the Maurya is a little misleading. They did not have the OPUS 1 or the Insignia for the year mentioned on the wine list. In fact, it took them a good 10 minutes to locate the Brunello. This was actually good service compared to what we were subjected to 2 days later.

19th Nov 2004, Meal 2

Again, as a part of another party of 4, we went to Dum Phukt; this time with reservations. I sat at the same table I sat 2 nights ago. We ordered:

1 Kakori Kebab
1 Hara Kebab
1 Dudiya Kebab
1 Dal (from Bukhara)
1 Nan
1 Kulcha, Aloo
1 Raan
1 Chicken Dum Phukt

We also ordered a bottle of wine. This time the bottle cost us only 6000/- . I think we ordered the Amarone but I am not sure. We looked at the wine list for good 30 minutes before one of us decided that we were going to order the amarone. We asked the waiter to get us the bottle. It took the waiter 3 tries and over 45 minutes to get us the bottle we wanted. They kept bringing us a wine that was not on the list!

The wine finally arrived when we were halfway done through the starters. The starters were consistent and excellent, just like the first time. Although the novelty was not there anymore. This is probably why I do not consider meal 2 to be memorable. The raan was not good, the texture was too strange for me.

I think we paid about 6800/- for the food and about 7500/- for the assorted drinks.

China Fare

2004-10-17T23:58:00.001-07:00

China Fare in Khan Market is now my favourite Indo-Chinese restaurant in Delhi. I really liked their Chowmein very much. Since I don't particularly like authentic Chinese food (chicken feet and fish and all) and I dont think Chinese foods from Vans is particularly healthy, I am left to pick a chinese restaurant from the following list:

Moet's
Akasaka
China Fare
Chinese Room at Nirula's C.P.
Zen C.P.
Berco's

so my ranking would be:

China Fare
Moet's
Akasaka
Chinese Room at Nirula's C.P.
Zen
Berco's - dont go there, anywhere but here.

--Anubhav

Park Balluchi

2004-10-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

Park Balluchi
Inside Deer Park,
Hauz Khas Village,
ND: 16
Ph: 26859369, 26969829

So, the family of five and a half people ate at Park Balluchi on 16/10/04. It was a great meal. Clearly the best Indian meal I have had in a long time.

I want to say that Park Balluchi is probably the best Indian restaurant in Delhi right now. I think there food is innovative and tasty. They are a great value for money. Here are some things that stood out:

Paneer Harra: Delicious Paneer Pikka sandwich with corn, spinach, herb etc used as a filling
N. H. Gulbahar: Fabulous besan dish. The besan had a texture of paneer and the gravy was really tasty. Paneer like Besan triangles were nothing like I have ever tasted before and I will go back just for these
Stuffed Kulcha, Lacchedar Paratha and the Garlin Naan were all fantastic.

The only think that did not stand out was the Dal. They do not have Dal Makhni.. and quite frankly I am fed up of having Dal Makhni everytime, everywhere. As much as I like it, I think I am done with Dal Makhni for atleast 2 months. Here is the cost analysis:

Paneer Harra: 160/-
Reshmi Kabab: 220/-
Palak Sabz M: 150/-
N. H. Gulbahar: 160/-
Dal Mohani: 120/-
Aloo Kulcha : 70/-
Garlin Naan: 75/-
P'wari Naan: 35/-
Tnd. Paratha: 35/-
Tax: 8%

Total: 1144.80 for a meal for 5 people. It would have been less than 200/- per person had we avoided the Reshmi Kabab.

It was sad to see that Park Balluchi had done away with the really romantic huts outside. The huts were really private and fun. I guess it wasn't providing them with enough revenue so they converted the 3 stand alone huts to a large sitting area with 6 tables.

--Anubhav

Bukhara

2004-09-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Bukhara last night.

We got in at 7:50PM. Got our table at 8:50PM and were out of the restaurant by 10:00PM. It seems that it is really difficult to skip the queue at Bukhara. I did see Mr. Mehta jump the queue. He got a table for 2 in 20 minutes, when everyone else had to wait for 50m - 1 hr to get a table.

Clearly he had a good relation with the usher.

We were 5 and we ordered:

Corona Beer x 3 = 350 x 3 = 1050
Large Non Veg Starters Platter
Dal x 2 = 300 x 2 = 600
Nan x 5 = 95 x 5 = 475
Chichen Makhni

In all we paid 5000/- for this meal for 5. Of course we could have gone to Dum Phukt and ordered the Dal from Bukhara, but we found out that Dum Phukt won't allow my 3 month daughter in their establishment. Bukhara had no problems with it.

Next time around, I think we will not order the large non veg starters platter. It seems like a waste of money if you are not into all kinds of meat.

Thai in Delhi

2004-09-10T01:41:00.000-07:00

Bangkok remains my choice for Thai food in Delhi. Even though their soups are avoidable and their curries too spicy, the pahd thai preparation keeps bringing me back to this establishment.

We ordered the following items last week:

Pahd Thai
Red Curry Chicken
Plain Rice

This meal for two set us back by Rs. 520/-

I have vowed never to eat Thai and Chinese at Berco's. They have no clue as to what they are doing. They continue to put in too much lemongrass in all their Thai items and claim that that is how Thai food is supposed to taste!

I would have believed them had I not known better.