In a nutshell:

A century old hotel that captured the old world charm while being efficient and warm in providing modern day services, served very good food (compulsory part of the stay package).

Address & other details:  The Elgin

Meal for 2: 1000 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian & non vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

Do not have a bill for food as this was a part of stay package.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

This property came up in the early 1900s and was named New Elgin hotel as there was already an Elgin hotel in darjeeling (that one has shut down now). The hotel is a single large building with all facilities Inhouse, unlike the more spread out windamere hotel.

The curtains, the furniture, the paintings on the walls, all took us to a different era. It felt like we were walking thru the sets of a period movie.

The rooms had fireplace, large ‘easy chairs’ to laze around etc.

The floors of our room was wooden.

The bathrooms were marble and had beautiful old tap sets etc.

In the waiting lounge there were different kinds of darjeeling tea leaves. One could request for a tea of their choice.

In the dining hall there were beautiful chandeliers.

The cutlery was simple yet nice. They had the logo of the hotel on them.

Salt and pepper shakers were made of brass with ‘new elgin’ written on them.

Tea strainer was also retro – made of brass.

They had two lovely Russian dogs. They were very friendly with the guests & were readily posing for pics.

The manager in charge was a middle aged gentleman who was extremely warm and very helpful. He was talking good care of all guests.

The restaurant had a ‘sit in’ dinner for the appetisers and then we had to go to the buffet for the rest of our dinner.

Dinner was part of the ‘stay package’. Breakfast was a part of the hotel stay package as well.

Bread was  kept on a side and one had to toast on the machine that was kept in the corner.

No sausages / bacon were on offer. It was a Normal breakfast with lot of items listed, nothing memorable (unlike the breakfast at windamere).

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

They served us some buns and breads which were all good but nothing that stood out. rate them 3/5.

Chicken clear soup outstanding. Very clear, visually looked not very impressive, no chicken pieces but just outstanding broth. Flavourful, tasty and just too good. Rate it 4.5/5

Onion chicken kabab was chicken kababs accompanied with thick slices of onions. The way the onions were cut made a difference to the texture and the taste. They were crunchy yet had incorporated the flavours of the masalas. The chicken was soft and juicy. Rate it 4.25/5

Egg curry was again very good. It was robust and very good to taste. Rate it 4/5

Curry of seasonal vegetables was nice to taste. It was subtly spiced and good to taste. Rate it 4/5

Lahsoon bhindi was excellent. The bhindi was not slippery and garlic made its presence felt very well. Loved it and rate it 4.25/5

‘Cheese capsicum’ read the menu card. It turned out to b paneer and capsicum Bhurjee. The paneer was soft and very good. The capsicum had withered a bit due to heat. Rate it 4/5

Mushroom pie was really nice. It was juicy, creamy and Yumm to taste. Loved every bit of it. Rate it 4.5/5

Onion pulao was good. It had independent grains of soft rice. Rate it 3/5.

Mixed dal was excellent. It had different kinds of lentils including kidney beans. Loved the thickness of the dal and its texture in addition to taste. Rate it 4.25/5

Russian salad was again very good. Crunchy veggies tossed in cream. Rate it 4/5.

Chocolate mousse was very good. Soft within and crisp shavings of chocolate on the top. Rate it 4.25/5

Pineapple gyatho (read gateau) was good and old style. The cream was good and thick. Rate it 4/5

Pineapple ginger martini – fresh ginger and pineapple muddled and shaken with gin and dry vermouth. This drink was very good. It had incorporated the flavours of pineapple and ginger. The bottled magicians played their charm as well. Rate it 4.5/5

The other drink that we tried was Elgin beauty queen – fresh fruits, vodka, wine and Cointreau . This seemed to b a signature drink of theirs. It was unique, tangy & sweetish, tasty and nice. Rate it 4.25/5.

Overall rating of food at Elgin averages out to 4/5

I wud revisit just to stay at this place. Not that I did not NJOY the food.