It took 3 months to write my first blog and it took me another 3 months to write the second one,thanks to my office which made me work 7 days a week in Feb. Surprisingly the reactions were positive on the first . Thanks to Vivek and Madhuchanda for commenting on the blog. Now for the feedback. The first feedback I got was from someone in Norway who said that my title is misleading. He is planning a trip to India and he thought my blog was more of a tourist guide while in reality its more of Eating out guide. Point is taken so i am changing the title of blog to "Interesting eating places in Delhi". secondly i have started getting some more additions to the list. Thanks to Sumit and Tina for Cafe Zsa Zsa(which has unfortunately closed down) and Madhuchanda for Cafe Delhi delights for Prawn Pizzas. ( i still have not tried it so i will comment on that later). Then almost all my recommendations were non-vegetarian places. The problem is that I dont have much idea about veg cuisines but I will still try to add some bit to that also
1) Veg Soya Chaap in Butter Sauce-Mitra di Chaap-Mayur Vihar phase-1 near the metro station- One feedback I got was that my recommendations are all non-veg. So I tried to do some research on interesting Veg food( Many of my friends consider " Interesting Veg Food"as Oxymoron) and I found Soya Chaap in Butter sauce. This is an exact replica of the Tandoori chicken in butter sauce from Darya Ganj which i had mentioned in my first blog. After speaking to the owner I discovered an all too familiar story. The original shop was actually selling Tandoori chicken only, but after visiting a Babaji or some astrologer he was told that he has to give up Non-veg to achieve success in fact he couldn't even touch it. So using the great Indian Jugaad, he replaced the Chicken's on the sheekh with Soya chaaps. Apparently Soya chaap is the veg equivalent of Chicken(we can debate on the same). Anyways the change has not been bad for business. He gets quite a huge crowd on Tuesday and Thursdays when many people cant have non-veg(but they can drink which I have never understood).
As far as the taste goes its not bad. The Butter sauce is done nicely and the chaaps are chopped and smeared in the sauce. I found it to be a bit pricey for a Hole in the wall place but then Soya chaaps and butter are supposedly expensive ingredients. @Geetadi- since you were interested in the tandoori chicken you can try this. it does not have garlic and you can ask not to put in onions.
2) Keema Pao in Yellow Brick road, Hotel Ambassador, Khan Market- YBR is a landmark in Delhi. There is a fair assumption that everybody in delhi must have visited this coffee shop in Ambassador hotel at least once in their lifetime. This place used to be the favorite hang out for us after partying hard and going for a bite at 3 in the morning. Their Bulls Eye was the pre cursor to all the the Hot chocolate with Vanilla ice creams we get everywhere now. For most of the time i would always order either their sandwiches or the Chote Miyan ki biryani(which is a killer in itself. for some of my friends its the ultimate in biryani). But couple of months back i went with a friend and his wife there after watching a late night movie. The friend has stayed in Mumbai so he knows the Keema pao from there and We ended up ordering Keema Pao in YBR. Having styayed in Pune my main problem with any place in Delhi which claims to serve Wada pao, Pao Bhaji or Keema pao is that people think of Pao as those round buns and we never get the real deal. Mercifully YBR gives authentic Sqaure Pao's. It is smeared with a bit of keema on the inside and shallow fried in butter. The keema is also done perfectlly with Peas and not overtly spicy or oily. My vote goes for this since we don't get such food easily in Delhi and we will understand that there is very good non-veg besides Butter Chicken.
Thadi-Hauz khas village-For those who have studied or lived in Maharashtra would know what Thadi means..for the rest of India Its the Teal stall or roadside eatery which in always present outside the college walls which serves delicious food albeit hygiene of the food has to be compromised. These places would normally serve Maggi, Egg Bhurji, Bread Omelettes , Bread pakoras, Tea, coffee etc. Normally the college students would spend more time at the Thadi's than in the classrooms. When I heard about a new place in Hauz Khas village named Thadi i was intrigued. As with all the restaurants in Hauz khas village finding this place is a pain. This is actually a Barsaati(for non Delhites this means a room on the terrace) of a building. Which means that one has to climb at least 4 floors of normal stairs and one flight of steel stairs in order to reach the top of the building. After 5 minutes of gathering your breath you realize that the place does look interesting. Its run by 4 engineers who are continuing their day jobs while running this place( the ultimate urban fantasy). its just a small room with mattresses and some basic chairs, offers free Wi-fi. There are no menu cards,The menu is actually written on a Whiteboard with markers. The place offers 5 different kinds of Maggi, Home made pizzas, Egg Bhurji, Omelettes etc. Basically the kind of food you would have in the Thadi outside your college. We ordered something called Thadi Omelette,Egg bhurji on toast, chicken pizzas, pakoras and some cold shakes. The omelet was certainly nice, the pizza was something that we would normally make at home with Amul cheese and the pakoras were well made. I would recommend primarily for the experience. Its a very laid back(literally since you are lying on the mattresses) and the food is something that will remind you of your college days or your early office days when your favorite food was Anda bhurji and full meal was Maggi with vegetables. Also more importantly we need to support these guys who actually are trying to live out our favorite fantasy
as an add on i want to write about couple of places I had written about in my lst blog. I was scared that places like Kunafa and Rara Avis are flash in the pan and would close down once the initial euphoria dies down. Thankfully i have been proved wrong. Both the places are continuing to do well. We went to Rara Avis for my sisters birthday and this time it was Jerome who was there. My niece ordered a Baked Lobster meat. It was heavenly and now all of us have to go back just for that. Kunafa continues with Nasser in Lodhi colony market. So my initial observation of Delhi becoming a more global city in terms of food still holds true.
1) Veg Soya Chaap in Butter Sauce-Mitra di Chaap-Mayur Vihar phase-1 near the metro station- One feedback I got was that my recommendations are all non-veg. So I tried to do some research on interesting Veg food( Many of my friends consider " Interesting Veg Food"as Oxymoron) and I found Soya Chaap in Butter sauce. This is an exact replica of the Tandoori chicken in butter sauce from Darya Ganj which i had mentioned in my first blog. After speaking to the owner I discovered an all too familiar story. The original shop was actually selling Tandoori chicken only, but after visiting a Babaji or some astrologer he was told that he has to give up Non-veg to achieve success in fact he couldn't even touch it. So using the great Indian Jugaad, he replaced the Chicken's on the sheekh with Soya chaaps. Apparently Soya chaap is the veg equivalent of Chicken(we can debate on the same). Anyways the change has not been bad for business. He gets quite a huge crowd on Tuesday and Thursdays when many people cant have non-veg(but they can drink which I have never understood).
As far as the taste goes its not bad. The Butter sauce is done nicely and the chaaps are chopped and smeared in the sauce. I found it to be a bit pricey for a Hole in the wall place but then Soya chaaps and butter are supposedly expensive ingredients. @Geetadi- since you were interested in the tandoori chicken you can try this. it does not have garlic and you can ask not to put in onions.
2) Keema Pao in Yellow Brick road, Hotel Ambassador, Khan Market- YBR is a landmark in Delhi. There is a fair assumption that everybody in delhi must have visited this coffee shop in Ambassador hotel at least once in their lifetime. This place used to be the favorite hang out for us after partying hard and going for a bite at 3 in the morning. Their Bulls Eye was the pre cursor to all the the Hot chocolate with Vanilla ice creams we get everywhere now. For most of the time i would always order either their sandwiches or the Chote Miyan ki biryani(which is a killer in itself. for some of my friends its the ultimate in biryani). But couple of months back i went with a friend and his wife there after watching a late night movie. The friend has stayed in Mumbai so he knows the Keema pao from there and We ended up ordering Keema Pao in YBR. Having styayed in Pune my main problem with any place in Delhi which claims to serve Wada pao, Pao Bhaji or Keema pao is that people think of Pao as those round buns and we never get the real deal. Mercifully YBR gives authentic Sqaure Pao's. It is smeared with a bit of keema on the inside and shallow fried in butter. The keema is also done perfectlly with Peas and not overtly spicy or oily. My vote goes for this since we don't get such food easily in Delhi and we will understand that there is very good non-veg besides Butter Chicken.
Thadi-Hauz khas village-For those who have studied or lived in Maharashtra would know what Thadi means..for the rest of India Its the Teal stall or roadside eatery which in always present outside the college walls which serves delicious food albeit hygiene of the food has to be compromised. These places would normally serve Maggi, Egg Bhurji, Bread Omelettes , Bread pakoras, Tea, coffee etc. Normally the college students would spend more time at the Thadi's than in the classrooms. When I heard about a new place in Hauz Khas village named Thadi i was intrigued. As with all the restaurants in Hauz khas village finding this place is a pain. This is actually a Barsaati(for non Delhites this means a room on the terrace) of a building. Which means that one has to climb at least 4 floors of normal stairs and one flight of steel stairs in order to reach the top of the building. After 5 minutes of gathering your breath you realize that the place does look interesting. Its run by 4 engineers who are continuing their day jobs while running this place( the ultimate urban fantasy). its just a small room with mattresses and some basic chairs, offers free Wi-fi. There are no menu cards,The menu is actually written on a Whiteboard with markers. The place offers 5 different kinds of Maggi, Home made pizzas, Egg Bhurji, Omelettes etc. Basically the kind of food you would have in the Thadi outside your college. We ordered something called Thadi Omelette,Egg bhurji on toast, chicken pizzas, pakoras and some cold shakes. The omelet was certainly nice, the pizza was something that we would normally make at home with Amul cheese and the pakoras were well made. I would recommend primarily for the experience. Its a very laid back(literally since you are lying on the mattresses) and the food is something that will remind you of your college days or your early office days when your favorite food was Anda bhurji and full meal was Maggi with vegetables. Also more importantly we need to support these guys who actually are trying to live out our favorite fantasy
as an add on i want to write about couple of places I had written about in my lst blog. I was scared that places like Kunafa and Rara Avis are flash in the pan and would close down once the initial euphoria dies down. Thankfully i have been proved wrong. Both the places are continuing to do well. We went to Rara Avis for my sisters birthday and this time it was Jerome who was there. My niece ordered a Baked Lobster meat. It was heavenly and now all of us have to go back just for that. Kunafa continues with Nasser in Lodhi colony market. So my initial observation of Delhi becoming a more global city in terms of food still holds true.
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