
Sri Lanka Travel Guide
From the lush green tea fields of the hill country through to the much warmer, and blissfully peaceful beaches of the south with old forts, warm people &
Continue ReadingFrom the lush green tea fields of the hill country through to the much warmer, and blissfully peaceful beaches of the south with old forts, warm people &
Continue ReadingKiara has successfully made food more soulfully beautiful and intellectually engaging. The food is purely vegetarian with a farm to table concept, embedded in the ideology of serving fresh healthy food with memorable flavours, you will be amazed how the thought of meat doesn’t cross your mind even once!
Continue ReadingBefore you go onto reading this article, let me clarify a few points. Travelling is a partially subjective and I believe each country has its own charms and is unique to travellers in terms of experiences &
Continue ReadingWith all your favourite Indian dishes, a handful of modern techniques, a drizzle of excitement, garnished culinary excellence, behold a unique new entrant into the food market, Karma Kismet is a pleasant camouflage, a melting warren of surprising flavours and ingredients paired together to give you a memorable dining experience.
Continue ReadingBarcat is the new delightful kid on the block, it’s quirky, fun and glorious with all that jazz, if you know what I mean!
Continue ReadingSat Sri Akal! Think sensational Punjabi food, think Amritsar, the holy city of religion and sacred food, yes sir! Pack your bags and behold the most gluttonous journey that will take you to a rather spiritual culinary revelation of flavours and dishes that will leave you gobsmacked and pleasantly surprised, satiated yet moaning for more.
Continue ReadingOnce you visit Croatia, nothing will ever be the same for you because no other place will ever be as pristine and as breathtaking as this country.
Continue ReadingHonk, Pullman, New Delhi -Walk into Honk with a subtle promise of the dining spectacle to come. The restaurant is sumptuously massive but intimate, decked out in warm earthy tones, welcoming yet luxurious in every sense.
Continue ReadingSakshi Chugh’s sweet sweet baby ” House of Pie” is sugar and spice and all things nice, quite literally! The cakes are edgy, exquisite and exactly the change you’re looking for, cuz honestly we’re all pretty bored of overstated decorated cakes that may look funky but taste like crap.
Continue ReadingChef Kunal Kapoor and Dietician Pooja Makhija gave us the first look at the Super Oil of the future that’s here to stay, at Smokehouse Deli, BKC earlier this month.
Continue ReadingSleeping Beauty and Cinderella got to sleep in castles and now you can turn those fairy tales into your own reality by staying in ITC Savoy
Continue ReadingI am lazy, I love good food, I like cheese, I like fresh produce! All this brought me closer to my “Cheat’s Cheesey One Pot Fettuccine”
Continue Reading1. You spend all your money on travelling Well, you basically earn to travel. Every penny earned goes into your travel fund, you don’t care how exotic or simple the place may be but you think money is best spent on the experience of travel and nothing else.
Continue Reading10 signs that prove food is your BAE! [via sliceoforane.com] Is the kitchen your favorite room in the house? People watch sports, spend hours watching movies but you love going through the visual therapy of cookbooks and the food section of magazines.
Continue ReadingDelhi is indeed a frying wok during the summers, making it a real task for survival. Add on the crowded streets, polluted pervasiveness of the air, and the dullsville of routine and Delhi summers turn into the worst foe of all times.
Continue ReadingSodabottleopenerwala launches a whole new array of Parsi dishes created with a twist on flavours without a fuss and a waft of homeliness in every morsel of their hearty dishes.
The food may not be the most distinct but it is certainly unpretentious and that’s the thing about good food, you get what you see and what you see is straightforward cooking with simple fresh ingredients that delivers straight to the cords of your hungry heart.
Starters were certainly the highlight of my meal. Bacon Vada Pav and Carnivore Bhel is please the savage non vegetarians who’d put bacon in just about everything. Light and well made.
Chicken Cafreal Salad was a formidably fresh bowl of mixed salad leaves, cured apples with a sharp sweetness to cut the Tart balsamic that embraced the tender chicken bits with delicate smoked onions. Shrouded with snowlike Parmesan, the salad reminded me of a warm Christmas morning!
Adapting to popular conventions the Chicken Cheese Pav would please cheese lovers with a spicy “achar” chutney underlaying stringy cheese! I wish there was mozzarella in it than craft cheese because I missed some gooeyness there. But hey, we all know how fast anything with “that” kind of dairy disappears from the plate and disappear it did, within minutes.
The whole baked Tarela Trout is cooked in rich spices, served in its entirety where you can taste individual earthy flavours, seafood lovers should opt for this or the Jumbo Prawns. The curry is just as beguiling as its name — simply done with a gravy infused with coconut. Humble and tasteful
The Chicken Biryani is just a really nice chicken Biryani which is made with marinated chicken in yogurt and mild essential spices and made texturally irresistible with caramelised onions and ginger slivers. This served with cool raita reminded me of grandma and her kitchen from my childhood. Very homely yet full on flavours.
Paneer Sanju Baba with Malai Parantha is another dish that has hints of nostalgia with a soft malai parantha and a rich paneer sabzi finished with a dash of malai and nuts. Wholesome and very satiating
Our plates soon freer of crumbs of food, our thoughts wandered sluggishly to dessert. Wishing we had four stomachs instead of one, we picked the Coffee ExpressoCake with whiskey caramel sauce. A formidable roundel of decadence so dense and pleasantly bitter, the texture was so gooey, this little baby grows on you with every bite. Strong flavours but what a bomb. Did I mention it’s made sans flour, so well just imagine it in its velvet buttery sheen or just go and eat one!
We pump in several cups of green tea before we catch a breath after a good meal and leave in a sweet reminiscence of modern Parsi cuisine.
I would like to call this restaurant a temple of new age Indian Cuisine.
Is there someone you’d like to woo? Anyone? Here’s where you bring them.
Visually appealing and lusciously gratifying food makes Masala Library the ultimate fine dine destination in delhi, with a few magic tricks packed into the back end that will leave your palate stunned with tantalising flavours and there will be more than a few instances where you’ll certainly go – woa what just happened!
A 19 course chef’s special menu with beautiful wine pairings, it doesn’t get better than this and here’s why.
Masala Library is all about innovation
and ultramodern molecular gastronomy techniques compatible with a culinary tradition steeped in centuries of history, Yes but it goes that extra mile to deliver an “experience” to diners which is made possible with impeccable service and attention to detail along with magnificent food.
The food gimmickry starts with a mango and coconut amuse bouche that comes in a quirky egg shell with a magical sphere that pops a burst of the tropic in your mouth.
A culinary crash course of Indian cuisines in a single meal begins hereafter.
The Deconstruction of Samosa comes with a strip of pastry topped with a mosaic of bits of potatoes, peas, tamarind and green chutney, looking rather simple. Yet, by some potent alchemy, on transferring the contents to your mouth, it transmutes into the exact flavour and textures of samosa.
Charcoal Bhajiya is gimmickry galore, appears in ashen colours of black but bites like the taste of nostalgia of fried onions pakodas we grew up eating.
The Farmer’s Staple which is basically a bite of caramelised onion parantha is so simplistic yet tastes fabulous with a dollop of rich white butter. Nadir Choorma comes out looking like a piece of art, delicate spiced air-fried sliver of lotus stem served with the traditional radish-walnut chutney which is sopped off in nanoseconds!
Another piece of edible art consists of a cube of cheese, perad, placed in a rambutan peel with a sliver of the fruit, and accompanied by a miniature cheese poee, a pliant bread and mango vinegar. It’s hard to explain the brilliance of this dish in words and can only be experienced by the first hand burst of flavours!
Even dishes that don’t rely on science come with surprises: Silken Galouti kebab is piped onto aireated sheermal, the flavours leave you in a celebrated silence!
The wild-mushroom “chai” arrives in a mini tea-service ceremony, as a clear consommé is poured over dehydrated mushrooms and truffle oil dried into crumbs.
A dish of curry leaf prawns, conjoined with the magic words ‘thayir sadam’ on the menu, is much better. The prawns are perfectly chosen for their plump freshness, and the crunch of pepper in the black sauce is joyful and satisfying.
The Naga Pork comes braised in black beans and bamboo shoots, sticky sweet and thoroughly orgasmic with meat that melts like magic.
The Mizo Soup with Black Rice will warm and nourish you to your bones with an enchanting broth poured over a delicate bowl of deliciousness.
The Radhuni Sea Bass cuts like butter and tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before because the flavours left me in a haze of fulfilment! Beautiful and piquant.
The langoustine moilee with gunpowder mash and curry bread shines through and through with a mild coconut curry sauce draped over velveteen langoustine!
Be still my beating heart, for there’s more for you to behold! Dessert is not far behind, there’s the ubiquitous stuff and some flying sphere shenanigans.
Deep-fried, syrupy jalebi makes an appearance for dessert as tiny beads of “caviar” resembling salmon roe floating in a pistachio broth, topped with saffron foam. Each luscious morsel bursts on the tongue with a surge of sweetness.
Ashen Kulfi is ummm, ash kulfi! The flavours are amusing and grow on you with every bite, I polished off the plate!
Theatrics Galore is the levitation gig that’s performed right on your table by one of the talented chefs who’ll make your eyes roll (in a good way) by making your chocolate raspberry pop float on this air, yeah well, just making sure you’re having the effin time of your life, that’s all!
A cost of Rs 2300 + taxes for a non vegetarian nineteen course menu of Godly flavours?
I think this is a steal because Masala Library will blow your socks off with multiple foodgasms & surprises. This could be India’s closest shot to a Michelin star, just saying!
Not a big fan of middle easterners cuisine but certainly converted thanks to a visit to Cafe 5 which is serving some astounding Lebon flavours in a rather small and humble space but don’t let the docile vibe of the little den fool you into thinking it is anything less than a jackpot.
I certainly hit it and had one of the most decadent Lebanese food affair here.
The menu is pretty vast considering just how limited this cuisine is, that or I am just being prejudiced.
These guys are whipping some serious sorcery in terms of complex flavours in something as ordinary as hummus. Offering an excellent variety from mild, spicy to healthy, their hummus will leave you licking your fingers and your plate until you are embarrassed by rolling eyes around you.
Sun dried tomato hummus is so beautiful and tart with sweet under tones mixed into creamy hummus.
Spicy pepper hummus had me on my knees, asking for innumerable refills. With traces of an achari flavour, spicy and so full bodied, this is my fave food right now. Not far behind in terms of flavour and leases calories was the spinach hummus, fresh and so chunky & lovely.
I gulped humongous bites with soft pita and crunchy vegetables until I sopped up all plates on the table.
Up next came the Spicy Chicken in Hummus dripping of a godly marinara sauce with tender chicken bits sitting inside a hummus ring. So smooth and velvety, this is a star dish and highly recommended to anyone who remotely even loved food, and not just Lebanese.
The vegetarian variant was just a delightful and delicious.
Chicken shawarma is classic with soft notes of chicken covered in a mild lime mayonnaise dressing, some crunchy lettuce inside big pita breads. Simple and straightforward.
The lamb Mince Shawarma is what’s making the magic happen with the most beautiful tasting spicy lamb in ruby hues wrapped with creamy Mayo inside pittas. So good!
The vegetarians seemed to loving their paneer shawarma and Falafel which looked effortlessly fresh and inviting. Didn’t quite try the former but I would give full marks to the falafel.
Finished off the meal on a sweet note of rather Indian flavours of Kheer, which was lightly sweetened and tasted just about perfect at the end of this massive feast of big bold flavours.
Cost/ Person: Rs 300
Will I visit again? Yes.
Rating: 4.5/5
There’s a subtle quirk factor that takes a spin on the menu, decor and cocktails which are stunningly refreshing at the all new Depot 48 that is the perfect balance between swanky, sophisticated and gluttony!
Bathed in daylight on one end and moderately dim on the other, this little restaurant is the new gastronomical wonder in Gk Market serving ambitious food and delivering an extremely fine dining experience with an overall peppy vibe!
I settled in with an Elderflower Cocktail sprited with fresh dandy flavours and a rather exciting quinoa salad that I could eat every day, which says a lot about how beautifully complex yet delicious it was with almond slivers, feta, pomegranate and roasted pumpkin in a delicate honey lemon dressing.
Pulled Pork & Refried Beans Tacos translated to a perfect meatgasm with soft pork bits served with cool sour cream and lettuce wrapped in a soft taco shell.
The artichoke spinach cheese dip with deep fried tortilla chips is so fresh that sopping the cheesey goo on chip ,is an experience everyone should have at least once into their lives, soothing and heavy duty gluttonous. This is followed by hearty Fish Empanadas, deep fried encasing delicate garlic chilly fish filling, extremely filling and flavourful. The Chicken Wings appear looking like a cheerful pretty maiden on a platter but sadly carried very little flavour in them, these could be avoided!
Panko Crumbed Chicken Schnitzel with a Spicy Red Sauce is pretty standard with crispy fried chicken slathered with a tangy marinara like sauce. However it’s the Coffee marinated Mutton Chops with a balsamic reduction that fares pretty well ,coming super juicy,with light hints of coffee, which manages to not overpower the meat. The companion brown jus is velveteen and sinfully redolent with the flavour of spices. Highly recommended.
Slow Roast Pumpkin & Feta Taco is sublime and extremely distinct, easily scores for the best dish of the meal. It provides a soft background score for the luxuriant goat cheese to hit its full creaminess with the peppery rocket and soft taco shell. Vegetarians will be delighted by this menu!
The Non Veg slider platter looks sexy as hell with variants of fried halibut and chicken burgers but personally, I felt they could be upped in terms of taste. That being said, I am certainly coming back for their delightful menu of burgers which looks pretty kickass and exciting!
Then came the moment of complete bliss, literally, the waffles and desserts here will render you speechless with absolute silence as you OD on the sweets!
Chocolate Gianduja waffles with Caramelised nuts is a chocolatier’s dream come true. Intense and decadent.
Wild Berry Compote & Mascaporne Cheese waffles are fruity and sweet with the creaminess of the cheese, which makes it me absolute favourite!
Being the shameless glutton that I am, I went on to taste the dessert of the day which was a dense dark chocolate pudding in a jar served with vanilla. One word, no two words: Sinful Perfection!
So here’s why you need to check this place out-
It’s not your usual brick in the wall restro bar with the usual shenanigans, it’s fresh and inventive where the food may fall under familiar genres but the choice of ingredients and pairings is anything but ordinary!
ps- Whoever is making their sauces and rubs is a brilliant culinary genius spinning real sorcery in the kitchen because these sauces are so lush and yum, so remember to take a lick of every swab of sauce on every dish!
Cost/ person : Rs 1500-2000 (inc alcohol)
Will I visit again? Yes yes yes.
Enjoy dining al fresco? Let yourself be romanced by the sidewalk sounds of a big city or pampered by the peacefulness of a garden. Flock to the boulevard table and share a bite under the sun or the stars. Be it a brunch in the breeze, sunset supper or long lunch, all of it tastes best outside
There are only so many blue sky days or glimmering nights so don’t spend them cooped up in copped up spaces of the capital. Get out and get a whiff of the breezy freshness whilst the beloved winters arrive in delhi.
Strings of lights, spindly trees, bold wooden tables and more greenery beheld, The Lodhi offers one of the finest dining experiences in the city. The ambience takes you by a happy surprise and promises of an earthy yet top notch dining experience with sophisticated delicious food.
Tasting of a few immaculate dishes from their new menu celebrating the 16years anniversary of the Restaurant, the chef prepared some toothsome and memorable dishes for us which began with a Couscous chermoula salad dotted with plump raisins and subtle flavours with the sweetness of fresh pomegranate rubies that had me eating out of my palms. Decadence in simplicity. These were followed by most elegant tiny toasts of Homemade chicken liver pate with melba & fresh fruit compote that struck the right balance between textures and flavours. Gobbled up a dozen of these! *guilty*
Tomato Olive and Feta Bruschetta was a simple & refreshing canapé with clean flavours and quality elements.
As if the delicacy of the menu wasn’t wooing me enough, the wine based tea cocktails struck a cord in my boozy heart with the most delicate notes of flavour in every sip.
Madurai Sangria and Jodhpur Ice Tea are among the most delicious wine based cocktails i ever sipped with the former made of a fruity red bubbly and the latter made with a sharp white wine. Such beauties!
G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S is the word. I washed down quite a few of these, not enough apparently because I remember every bite of food I took from that night like a fond memory!
This was paired with an even more delicate Jamun Sorbet that was the perfect palate cleanser between courses and with the right hit of crystallised sweetness.
The Stir Fried Sweet Cripsy prawns were the piece de resistance for me for more reasons than seafood being my absolute weakness. Plump baby prawns fried to a crispy perfection and finished off with a sweet chilly glaze. Yum!
I culminated the cocktails and canapé soirée with a dainty little cheesecake cube made with dense cheesey sweet goodness and tasting absolutely divine with every bite I took!
Gorged plentiful and thoroughly enjoyed wine cocktails after a really long time and boy, am I glad? Very much.
The new menu is worth a try if not more because it exhibits modern flavours and cooking techniques in ingredients that are adapted to the Indian palate and yet manages to be swanky and global in appropriate traces!
Winter is coming and you know just where to head!
Cost/ person: Rs 1500-2000 (inc alcohol)
Will I visit again? Yes.
Rating:4.5/5
Parallel has changed perceptions of what a modern Indian restaurant in New Delhi could entail.
Blown away by the modern design element that’s built on the idea of minimalism and a monochromatic idea of complexity in simplicity, there is a certain waft of warmness in this contemporary gastronomical space which is artisanal in design yet humble in its flavours.
As you sit down in this quaint tiny den bathed in happy bright sunlight in the day, be prepared to be seduced by the exhaustive documented menu which is a warren of melting pots and extremely inspired dishes.
I am positive about the fact that Parallel will be fondly rejoiced by those who can appreciate Indian food in all its exotic pride and those who have a mind beyond butter chicken and dal makhni!
Every dish on that menu is weaved deliciously out of traditional flavours but is presented in unconventional modernity. There is a certain victory when a menu delivers each and every dish well beyond your expectations.
Roast Pumpkin Soup with Kaffir Lime Prawn Roulade reminded me of a Tom Kha just in the beginning but it dissolved into a beautiful mystery towards the end of the slurp, extremely velvety with the right amount kick to it, almost left me begging for more of that gorgeous prawn bite which could have been served a wee bit more generously but hey, I am not complaining. The soup was washed down with Arugula and Spinach Salad with sherry vinegarette, extremely fresh with caramelised beetroot bits, walnuts and crunchy makhanas! This was just the beginning of the pleasantly startling pairings for our palate because the Koshambir with pulled chicken delighted us even further because it was raised to much beyond an indigenous Marathi salad.
Something as basic as Dabeli with nimbu leaf pav feels sleek and so refined with gorgeous tamarind and mint chutneys which elevate the bite to another level.
Kasundi Chicken Pav, perfumed with refreshing mustard combined tender grilled strips with soft chicken and pillowy pav in a delicious medley.
The Beetroot Bhaji tacos and Paunchy Pig tacos deserve a sonnet or two for being super inventive and delicious. The latter enveloped rather superlative rich pulled pork with marinated red onions in a thepla like taco but it was the former beetroot mess slathered with a yogurt sauce,that had my heart skip a beat with genius flavours and textures, it put my palate in extreme awe and confusion, a devastatingly delicious confusion that is.
Reinstating my faith in vegetarianism, came in the beetroot slider mounted with fries and salad and these little babies were a bomb! A hard core carnivore like myself found love in an unexpected green space and I much preferred these over the obviously seductive and rich lamb sliders.
These were followed by some more picturesque plates of decadence like the delicate Yellow Chilly Tilapia in all its tender flaky glory with a sublime sweet & sour sauce and baby grilled vegetables. Paneer Sukka came with a homemade flakey Lachha Parantha, such a homely dish, heartily accessible but more pristinely garnished than your hole-in-the-wall curry house. This was licked off even before I could decipher the beautiful play of spices in the rich masala.
53rd in 6th Chicken over Rice is inspired from the famous NewYork street food where diners go gagas over the simplistic plates of gorgeous chicken with rice and pita slapped with a bouncy béchamel. Parallel is serving just this in its decadent entirety with simple flavours that deliver soul satiation in the first bite!
The cocktail menu is just as enticing if not more but I didn’t have a chance to wash them down. The mocktails however had me crushing over their sweet sweet concoctions among which the Orange Passion and Moscow Mule are the perfect potions to sip on!
If all this beautiful descript hasn’t given you a foodboner, wait for the desserts which are pretty spectacular here.
Sea Salt Caramel is a gooey pudding with the right amount of sweetness and a lovely balance of texture with a sugar brûlée that’s always a pleasant experience to crack through. A subtle finisher to indulgence.
Textures is the standout dessert that ensures a seriously distended belly with a lot going on in one plate, much like a culinary Broadway, with sinful chocolate! .
Fresh mint, chocolate soil, fruit coulis, melted dark chocolate over another chocolate sphere encasing delicate chilled basil ice cream that appears when the hot ganache is poured over the chocolate sphere!
The dish is finished a le gueridon, poured over with a warm decadent chocolate sauce which transmutes the entire beauty into an inchoate chocolatey mess. it’s addressed with the complete silence of good eating
Theatrics, flavours, TEXTURES, on point and cheers to gaining a kilo or two after this magnificent tryst with flavours and uncontemporary Indian cuisine.
Verdict
Parallel is spinning a serious culinary sorcery in the kitchen space with literally everything except their ketchup being made in house to ensure freshness and quality of every element that is served on the table and each dish, however simple it may look on surface is a culmination of several constituents which are all assembled and created in the kitchen where the chefs are super cautious of providing starkly different and undistinguishable flavours and foodgasms in every dish and bite!
Parallel is all about passion and love for food and we can feel it!
Cost/ person: Rs 1500
Will I visit again? Yes.
Rating: 4/5
I love sushi and that makes me an extreme prejudiced glutton who would nibble over just about any kind of this delicacy and savour it like it were my last meal alive. This brings me to my quest to eat sushi all over Delhi NCR and I was pleasantly pleased when I ordered some swanky sushi from Sushi Junction who offer a diverse and exciting selection of sushi which tastes pretty decent when it arrives to the comfort of your bed!
There is the conventional globally pervasive variety and then there’s a select menu that is created to cater to the Indian palate like the Chicken Tori Karage made with deep fried chicken gobbets rolled in a delicious creamy assembly which I absolutely loved.
Chicken Rogan Josh sushi stole my attention at the first glance because that’s highly susceptible to the Punjabi palate and extremely easy on the taste buds for even those who frown upon the idea of Sushi.
Didn’t get a bite of this beauty but I intend to order it soon on one of my binging nights.
Other vegetarian options like the Baby Corn Aioli wrap and Kidney Bean Curry Sauce will make any herbivore extremely delightful and grateful for the foreplay of familiar flavours on the Japanese cuisine play ground.
Sticking to the usual suspects, the California Roll continues to be my standard favourite made with fresh quality crabstick and mayonnaise with the glorious fish roe to finish off this beauty. Tender and delicious with a bite!
Salmon roll was throughly authentic and fresh with the taste of sea and the sweetness of the mayonnaise that livened up the wrap with a delicious textural balance.
Neat and ergonomic packaging in compartmentalised boxes ensures that the food remains dainty and in place with fresh wasabi, pickled ginger containers and kikoman.
Verdict
Sushi Junction is the perfect blend of expertise and experimentation which certainly works for my palate. The prices are competitive and reasonable considering the freshness of their produce and quality of food and packaging.
If you’re a sushi buff like me or am absolute desi foodie, give this junction a go because sushi here isn’t about the good ol seafood, it’s much more!
Cost/ person: Rs 500
Will I order again? Yes.
Rating:4.5/5
A tryst with Sanadige and I have experienced the choicest coastal flavours on my palate.
Mention coastal cuisine, and it’s assumed that it would be seafood and coconut that would be talked about.
Linger over the vast seafood and north Indian menu before you make your choices from this coconut-rich cuisine at Sanadigne which is a happy happy celebration of authentic coastal cuisine with rather memorable flavours that play havoc on your palate, well in only the best way.
Sana-di-ge in Tulu refers to the brass lamp lit on auspicious occasions in parts of Karnataka
And a this is exactly the welcoming penache of the restaurant which is most aptly lit with a brass lamp and plentiful flames on entrance at the center. Spread across three floors with a glass elevator in the center and interiors reflecting grandeur, tradition and dashes of modernity, the idea to recreate a sacred space of food and subsequent joy is well achieved.
Talking the real gluttonous talk, the menu reads like a big fat book of all things indulgent and delicious, clambering around South Indian, coastal, North Indian cuisine playing favourites to seafood.
Starting off with Paneer Ghee Roast, that looked minimalist until I bit into a rather immersive experience of marinated cottage cheese roasted with ghee & spices.
This was followed by a rather majestic Yetti Prawn Platter that blew my mind away with sensational prawns cooked four way, rich pepper fry, spicy Tawa fry, Chilly prawns and prawn sukka. Huge in portion and a meal in itself that must certainly be on the table! The prawns are formidably fresh considering the landlocked capital delhi is!
Butter Pepper garlic Lobster was a symphony of exotic flavours and delicate textures, straight from the sea to the table. Brilliant cook on the tender lobster bathed in a silken butter garlic sauce that could invoke a poet in anyone. Gorgeous flavours that have me salivating as I write this. Highly recommended.
The seafood orgy didn’t stop here, Infact it started off in fully swing with the Tandoori Chaamp that came next with rich marinated baby goat chops in perfumed Indian spices and smoked in the tandoor to a melt in the mouth texture! Unbelievably soft and toothsome, North Indians will plunder this dish with pleasure.
Main course only becomes more indulgent from here with overpowering flavours, hearty presentations and portions.
Kori Thali is a beguiling medley of chicken sukka, chicken pepper fry, chicken curry, some more chicken types cooked exceptionally well with veg palya, papad, pickles, rice, rasam, buttermilk and so on. This is a sight to behold and devour with a promise of an extremely satisfied tummy!
Mutton Telengana is pure unadulterated quintessential chhetinad delicacy cooked with beautiful spices that will make your stomach see stars in day light and it made a serious splash with the flaky Malabari Parantha which made this the highlight of my meal. Exceptionally tender cook on the meat and what a gluttonous decadent bite this was! Magnifique.
The Veg thali was just as pleasing with deliciously cooked vegetables, dal and essential South Indian counterparts which will most certainly move something in the hearts of even a carnivore because their cooking techniques and spice picks are marvellous.
Stuffed to the gills, we made our way to the most delicate dessert Elaneer Payasam of fresh coconut cream mixed with the pulp of tender coconut, this was extremely light with banging flavours which were extremely delicate and a perfect way to end Ye food monstrosity we committed.
FYI the mixologist at the bar has some mean potions up his sleeve with exciting cocktails blended with a lot of booze and flavour to ensure you remain intoxicated incase the food spares you! In my case, I indulged solely in the food feasting while my fellow diners sipped and raved about the delicious drinks.
Verdict: this could be the the best restaurant in delhi serving the coastal whiff is superlative authenticity with over whelming flavours of the sea and down south! Get down here and indulge in a gloriously messy supernova of diverse dishes which will woo your palate within minutes of ascendence.
Cost/ person: Rs 1500
Will I visit again?
Rating:6/5
“Farm-to-table” surely is an au courant restaurant buzz phrase, but knowing how to combine and show off seasonal, local and organic ingredients is truly an art. For environmentally sound food that packs a wallop in the flavor department, pencil in a visit to Devang House that makes organic elements high priority and is a quaint little cafe, extremely away from the bustle of the commercial city packed with only good happy vibes and happy food.
A holistic space celebrating the joy of being!
Devang offers the triumvirate of “local, sustainable and organic” food that’s so satisfying you’ll wonder why you can’t eat here every week. As you walk in towards the restaurant, you can’t help but notice how your inner void gets filled with positivity with every step to take towards the sanctuary.
Happy faces await at the main door with folded hands and welcome you with “Namastey” and a wide smile. Every member of the management & the staff is in sync with their vibrancy and warmth and this is when you already fall head over heels in love with this place. Soothing quaint meditative music and chants flow like lullabies throughout the powerful aura of this little den.
The interiors are simple, sophisticated and dreamy with the twinkle of lights all around. The indoor area is small & cosy but most ergonomically set up with a tiny stage, a bookshelf, a small beverage section and a rather beautiful section which displays their organic foods, supplements and delicious posters of their monthly roster.
FYI The menu is seasonal, selective and highly organic which keeps changing from time to time to give you the rear taste of the good things in life.
The wholesome dining experience transcends from the striking hot Agni tea, which was like nothing I have sipped before, digestive & spiked with ginger, pepper and more elements that do you good, this was the perfect starter to a rather elaborate meal I enjoyed here.
Pesto and sun dried tomato khichdi which is actually a variant of the risotto, stole my heart in the first bite exuding rich earthy flavours of fresh produce and star anise. Magnifique.
Ragi Nachos, Ragi pita with chunky hummus and pickles made for the healthiest yet the tastiest starters which were munched throughout the meal along with roasted spiced Makhanas. The latter was so simply made yet concentrated with tons of flavour and nutrition, my body seemed to celebrate all the good food I was putting in, with no compromise on flavour.
Further on, the savage glutton inside me was surprised with how brilliant the lentil burger and the pesto tomato pizza was!
Organic can be psychologically comforting knowing that you’re putting healthy stuff in regular fast food items & the belly wins as well with such dishes made scrumptious.
Salads sound simple but are composed with multiple healthy elements bathed in lusty sauces which only make them even more palatable. Try the cucumber sesame salad for oomph and flavour.
Those with an Indian palate will find themselves immersed in joy with the Ragi Dosa, chillas, Stuffed Paranthas, Indian Thali and Coconut Stew with Appam.
Each one of these is wholesome, ridiculously delicious and so darn healthy, it will take you by surprise. The Coconut Stew stood out for me with the complexity of flavours which was a rather happy marriage of Thai & South Indian flavours in a single bite brought together with fried mustard and curry leaves. Beautiful.
The smoothies and desserts are devastatingly delicious considering just about how nutritious and power packed they are. The mango coconut and Almond cheeko smoothie will wash down an entire day’s stress in a gulp. I finished off my feast with the mango & chia seed pudding which was bespoke freshness & flavour.
“conscientiously sourced,” “thoughtfully prepared” and “sustainable” have been traits of food that one could fairly describe as being “so Devang.” But at the same time, the food is more than that:The gorgeously plated dishes are greater even than the sum of their very great parts.
Clearly such pearls of appreciation for Devang means I am in love!
What I suggest is, you visit this haven and test it for yourself because this is one stand alone place in Delhi which is like no other and yes it serves vegetarian food, no alcohol but believe me it serves an experience beyond it all, a experience for the soul and the being, paired with food that may look simple but don’t be fooled, it’s a rife with flavours both big and nuanced.
Ps- They offer great cooking classes here and I am most looking forward to their community hosted nights like “Poetry Night” and many more. Check them out!
Namastey!
Cost/ person: Rs 500
Will I visit again? Yes yes yes.
Rating: 4/5
Not all spin-offs are created equal: The best retain what you loved most about the original, with enough new material to keep things fresh. Luckily the Chatter House in Khan market is just that, a happy breeze of appropriate evolution of the form.
In the land of ever increasing bars like delhi you don’t often walk into one where the food is equally spectacular as the cocktails and the night vibe.
Chatter House is one big culinary delight for all you foodies who do not like to eat shitty food with their drinks.
A pioneer in the current mania of craft cocktails, don’t be just swooned yet, because your taste buds are up for a jolly ride!
The staff is happy to talk you through any libation on the menu, or suggest other items. They are attentive and warm. It’s that kind of dedication that makes coming here worth the effort.
The architecture is a sweet sweet revelation because it’s reminiscent of a pronounced simplicity imbedded in a colonial old soul complexity, of wood work and lifelike solid paintings and a few fun elements here and there to keep the cheery vibe of the pub going! Spread across three floors, each one has its charm for the diner, the drinker and the star gazer. Now that’s the beauty of the brilliant mind that designed this hub.
The food shines so bright that personally the whole bar aspect of this place faded away and all I could witness was how the flavours conquered with delectable notes of an excellently concocted menu.
Be prepared to be wowed with inventive twists on traditionalist dishes.
We started off with the most memorable smoked yogurt salad dotted with crunchy almonds, soft root vegetables and a delicate bite on my palate. Plain gorgeous. Keeping up the amp salad standard, came in the Almond Citrus Salad with Valencia oranges, feta and greens dressed in a sublime vinegarette, fresh and light I could have this every day of the week.
I ordered myself a glass of delicate sangria to help me wash down the battalion of starters that came next.
Dahi ke kebab were every bit gooey and godly as one would expect of a speciality Indian restaurant so you can imagine my happy amazement when I experience the perfect burst of creaminess on my palate.
Chicken Chorizo Croquettes with a soft cheese centre tasted like the top notch fried food that one would love with a drink.
The piece de resistance was the dal makhni shots with blue cheese naan.
Creamy rich dal makhni paired with probably the best piece of Indian bread I have tasted of flakey crust and pungent blue cheese neutralised with fresh chopped pineapple chunks. Divine is the only word befitting this dish.
Galouti kebabs shimmies up a riot of complementary textures and spices. Beautiful.
We decided to take on an empire with a rather indulgent affair of main course. The Shepard Pie and Mac & Cheese with bacon dust became the immediate targets of our raids, high on meaty goodness and so beautifully paired with the right ingredients, these were star dishes to take home to the parents.
Creamy Polenta with Mushroom Ragout was every bit a vegetarian’s dream for the immense flavour & complexity that was encompassed in one compact dish. Extremely silky and delicate.
The dessert platter has a taste of their signature sweet treats and I love how I wasn’t clobbered with sweetness, wonderfully balanced concoctions which assured a rather subtle happy ending comprising of a passion fruit cheesecake, banana cake with toffee sauce and a molten chocolate cake.
The dam of desserts burst asunder,filling my mouth with the sweetest of flavours.
Verdict: Chatter House combines all things wonderful that one looks for an evening out in the city.
A triumph delicious entry in Khan Market, it deserves a visit or many to experience the melange of magical flavours so well created by the chef which will ensure an even more intoxicating high from the crafty bar.
Cost/ person: Rs 1500
Will I visit again? Yes.
Copyright, 2015 | Built with Love Innovative Bug