In a nutshell: Naga food stall in Dilli Haat that is a good quick introduction to YUMM but slightly toned down sub authentic Naga Food. Address & other details: Dilli Haat. Try to take the metro as parking is a big nuisance. Meal for 2: Rs. 400 onwards Cuisine type: vegetarian & predominantly nonvegetarian Short Description – in case u r in a hurry: We … Continue reading Nagaland Stall, Dilli Haat (Dilli Haat, opp INA Market, New Delhi)
Surely not for the faint hearted, this is a still undiluted, almost authentic & YUMM Naga food Restaurant with a magnificent view of Hauz Khas.
Dzukou
Address & other details: Too complicated to explain. Just call them, book a table & ask for directions. They respond well. Phone numbers that we called : +91 8447703774, +91 9873306174
A huge painting depicting Tribal people of Nagaland
The restaurant had something unique to it – It did not have professional service, had no tap water in the otherwise clean loo & we had to climb the stairs for I guess 4 floors (coz like all buildings in the vicinity, it did not have a lift). What the restaurant had instead was a very warm & efficient service – they were not very fluent at English but good enough to have a decent communication. The guy serving us had a smile on his face almost all the while & treated us as if we were a guest to his house. Most importantly, the Naga food was as ‘non Delhi-ized’ as possible. Super liked it & wud surely get back. Someone had the guts to serve super hot Naga food in Delhi – I guess almost same standard as that in Nagaland.
View from the balcony seat
The entrance to the building is thru a narrow ‘gully’ that had a carved wooden door. Before we reached the staircase, we saw a Latin Restaurant, a Japanese snack counter, a Frankie shop & more unimaginable variety of shops coexisting with each other. No one attempted to beautify the staircase. There were no signboards or arrows of the restaurant either, on the way up.
A huge painting of Naga women standing in traditional attire marked the entrance of the restaurant. As we walked in, we realized there were two sections – a closed Dining Hall with seating area & two additional seats in the balcony.
Painting of Naga women on the staircase landing area
On the floor above there was a marvellous open air seating (with a roof). Both the floors had abundant view of the Lake (For the uninitiated, Hauz Khas means Royal Lake. The word ‘Hauz’ means lake & ‘Khas’ means Royal. This lake came into existence at the time of Allauddin Khilji in early 1300s. Beside the lake, there r many 700 year old Historical monuments in this campus, including Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s tomb)
A view from the open top floor
The Dining Hall has traditional paintings & also Handicrafts made of wood & bamboo. The furniture is basic wooden.
An experience beyond imagination that wud leave foodies with an unforgettable memory – Cook ur own food at a restaurant after being taught the same by the Masterchef.
I walked into this place as a part of ‘surprise evening’ with a group of friends, only to realize that for the foodie in me it was beyond just surprise. We were at a top restaurant in Bangkok which serves super YUMM Thai food & is so famous that they sell their memorabilia – tee shirts, ‘blue elephant’ shaped piggy banks, candle stands etc & I was told people buy them as well. Thai Sauces, curry mixes etc were also being sold under the Blue Elephant Brand.
They have had famous people from around the world eat at their Restaurant including the senior George Bush – they had a picture of that event on the wall.
A guest presenting what he prepared
What differentiates them from the rest is that they impart classes to the guests on how to prepare a multi course Thai lunch or dinner post which the guests can enjoy the meal. Of course one can just walk in, order, eat & leave as well, like in all other restaurants.
For enrolling into the cooking class, one has to seek pre appointment. Post successful completion of the course they award ‘certificates’ as well. They give a ‘blue Elephant’ branded apron during the class which one can take back home as a memory.
Master of curries, paneer & vegetarian Kababs, one of the best of its kind in Delhi NCR, with scope for improvement in Indian Breads & rice section. Worth a 1.5 hr metro ride for me to get here, hoping that some day they will open a restaurant in Gurgaon.
The concept of food in the restaurant is ‘Food from the different places around the Indus River – From Rajasthan to Afghanisthan, North West Frontier food, etc.’ Though the river does not really touch Rajasthan or Afghanistan, some of the cuisines of those places have been included. Tibet & Ladakh have been left out.
Indus Daal – served in a balti
Leaving Geography aside, the names of certain items are quite ‘for the sake of naming’. E.g. Harappan Aloo – Harappan Civilization existed approx 5000 years back & aloo came to Indian subcontinent as late as less than 250 years back.
A side of the Restaurant’s wall has a very well made Off white colored Mural map of the Indus Valley. The seating is bright Red high sofas, dark brown wooden tables & red seat chairs arranged in a row.
Mural Map of Indus Valley
Tables are a bit near to each other & there is chance that u wud hear the chat in the next table. However that practically is not possible due to piped instrumental music in the right volume – not loud enough to disturb a chat at one’s own table but loud enough to inhibit clarity of chat on the adjacent table.
Other part of the dining Hall
The service is good & it takes a while for them to get the dishes ordered. The finishing (if not fully) of every dish seemed to be done post placing of orders. That helped the food taste ‘freshly made’. The staff were constantly running around from table to table but they were keeping an eye on all tables as well.
The place was fully packed most of the time & I recommend doing a phone booking in peak dinner hours.
All the above aside, Food is the King here. I have never had so good paneer in Gurgaon so far except in very very few places in Delhi. The only vegetarian Tandoori platter I have had is the one at Bikanervala Gurgaon – The one at Indus Flavours is multiple times better than the Bikanervala version. I was told that Paneer is made inhouse & that makes a difference. It left a lasting impression on me – Anything paneer was good.
Staff at Work inside the lit area beside beautifully laid out Dinner table
Detailed description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
Run by two French Gentlemen & their Indian Partner, this two floor restaurant has a good ambience, serves mostly good & some very good food, offers good service & I am told, they have a good selection of wines as well.
Rara Avis – Tail of peacock, body of horse & face of lion
What struck me as soon as I entered the Restaurant was the warmth & hospitality of the hosts. The elderly Indian Gentleman welcomed us as if we had been to his house for an evening & showed us around the restaurant – the open air partially covered terrace floor with a good view & also the closed Dining Hall. Though the terrace was very attractive, we chose to sit in the Dining hall.
Dining Hall @ Rara Avis
The Dining Hall has a nice decor – paintings on the wall, wooden furniture , very interesting light bulbs & a cake shop counter at the corner. The terrace was half covered & half open – pretty nice place to hang out.
interesting light bulbs @ Rara Avis
The Gentleman mentioned above visited us twice during our Dinner to ask about the food & to check whether we were comfortable. The French Gentleman also came twice to check if all was fine & I was amazed to see that on one occasion he cleared the plates as well – quite unusual in India.
Tenderloin Carpaccio @ Rara Avis
The food was good in general & one of them was wow.
Loved eating paan at this unique paan shop (not a hole in the wall) that sells 41 different flavours of paan, hookas of endless variety, smoking pipes etc.
panchayat – the board outside
Address & other details: On the same footpath as Kake da Hotel, National Hotel, Royal Restaurant etc on outer Circle.
Meal for 2: Rs. 80 onwards
Cuisine type:vegetarian
Description:
After eating loads of nonvegetarian food at the adjoining ‘dhabas’ of Connaught place when it is time for dessert, this shop can be quite useful – in case u r willing to consider eating paan for dessert:).
This is exactly how I came to know of this place. After a dinner with our friends we were looking out for some dessert & came the suggestion.
Panchayat claims to be india’s first ‘Paan Parlour’. Well, at least u can enter this shop, stand in a queue to get ur paan & choose from a variety. For a change here is a paan shop where people do not have to beat the weather while trying to buy the paan.
Masters of Gravies, curries & fries, still a long way to go when it comes to tenderness of meats. Great place to try out traditional dishes that r seldom cooked at home these days but not a good idea to try basic day to day home food.
Bengali food is usually associated with fish, meats & everything non vegetarian. However there r some extraordinary vegetarian food items made from leaves, stems, flowers, roots etc that cost minimal but taste YUMM e.g. Mocha (banana flower), thor (the pith of the banana stem), oal (root), bok Phool (flower), kumro Phool (pumpkin flower), kochu pata (leaf), kochu (root), lau shak (leaf) etc. These have unique tastes & flavours and most of these r different from the mainstream usually available Indian vegetarian food.
Bengali cuisine of today also has many Mughal influences like Kolkata Biryani etc. British influence shows upin the form of batter fried fish, orly, crumb fried chops, cutlets, fries , kabiraji (coverage), dimer devil (devilled egg) etc.
Bengali food also interestingly has influence from other unexpected Countries. E.g. Dolma came with the Armenians to Kolkata in early 1800s!!!!The Portuguese introduced Cottage cheese to Bengalis in 1600s& that is what gave birth to the famous chhena based Bengali sweets!!!!
Wow potoler Dolma
Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:
For those new to Bengali language, Hangla (pronounced ‘hyangla’) means Glutton. Ki Hangla essentially means – ‘oh, what a glutton!!!’
As I entered the restaurant, I realized it was a real tiny place but with very well done colourful interiors. There were 5 tables with a seating of 3 – 4 each. The Restaurant was neat & clean. A live roll counter is put up outside the restaurant, beside the entrance door – that ensures ‘roll’ customers can take away their rolls without entering the shop. Smoke from the roll counter does not get in the shop as well due to a glass wall that separates the counter from the Dining Room.
In addition to serving cooked food, the restaurant also sells Bengali snacks like Mukhorochak Chanachur & knick knacks like Jharna Ghee, naaru (Bengali style coconut gur laddoo), hojmi guli etc. The wall is adorned with covers of Old Bengali LP records.
Interiors of Ki Hangla
Home delivery seemed to be a large percentage of sales here as I cud hear the phone ringing quite frequently.
The Lady who owns this eatery manages the show herself & that makes a helluva difference. She gets live feedback from the constant customer interaction & that I guess helps her keep up the quality standard. We cud see that Quality of food as well as ‘home delivery’ on time was being directly supervised by her. When Love & Mustard restaurant opened in Galleria long back, the Owner’s presence meant the food was good & over time the food deteriorated as he started entrusting the shop to his staff members. I stopped going there after a series of average to bad experiences.
Ki Hangla serves traditional Bengali, British inspired food, Mughal inspired food, Bangladeshi specialities, Portuguese inspired sweets & of course Armenian inspired Dolma. The taste of some of the food reminded me of the food cooked by ‘thakurs’ (traditional ‘biyebari/shaadi’ Cooks usually from Orissa who were expert Bengali cuisine cooks) who are on the path to extinction after ‘Marriage Caterers’ have found their way into the Bengali ceremonies.
Ki Hangla also comes up with ‘special thalis’ & special menu for different occasions.
Special occasion menu @ Ki Hangla
Food is served in aluminium foil boxes – the same ones that r used for home delivery – A concept similar to Dominos Pizza where they serve on the home delivery box even if u r having it sitting at the store.
As mentioned above, gravies & fries r awesome at Ki Hangla but the meats r not well done at all – something that needs to be taken seriously by the Management.
Detailed description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
Perfect value for money proposition with some super YUMM, some just about YUMM & some ordinary food.
Kake da Hotel
Address & other details: Outer circle CP
Meal for 2: Rs. 160 onwards
Cuisine type: nonvegetarian & vegetarian
Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:
As most of my Indian readers wud know, ‘Hotel’ here refers to a restaurant.
keema kaleji at kake da hotel
If good ambience is a must for u stepping into an eatery, Do not go here. U might come across uncomfortable scenes like swarms of flies, a guy lying down in the first floor corner, loud co-diners , heaps of semi processed onions or worst, even a rat. However, if u wanna have good to great food at prices lower than imagination, check this place out.
A restaurant that has been around for 80 years, Kake da hotel has quite a following. Situated in the outer circle of Connaught place, the hotel, like its neighbours (National Restaurant, Royal Restaurant etc), has a tiny seating area on the ground floor & has a slightly spacious first floor. The first floor is supposedly for ‘family’ crowd but I prefer the ground floor as that shows the real character of the place.
A section of the Ground floor dining room & the stairs for going to 1st floor
Very Few ladies cud be seen on the ground floor that is usually packed with individual / groups of men. Unknown people share tables due to lack of space. The area is quite crammed – u can hear almost every word that is being spoken in the table next to u.
The entrance to the Restaurant is beside a Glass front that has become smoky. Behind the Glass wall are a row of 8 – 10 dekchis (huge metal containers) on which meats of different kinds r constantly being slow cooked.
People walk in, order a curry, eat that with as many rotis they want, ask for just gravy coz that costs less (than ordering a full repeat of the dish with meat).
butter chicken at Kake da hotel
As soon as order is placed, the curry is picked up from the dekchi to serving plate & served immediately. The gravy is usually all over the plate & no one bothers to clean that up before serving to the customer.
There are several types of rotis on offer & Roti takes a while to make & serve – ‘garma garam’.
All food is made from pure desi ghee – proclaims a writing on the wall. In some dishes that comes out very clearly, in some others it does not.
By Delhi standards the prices r a steal. Price of the curries is approx. INR 130 – 140 per plate & rotis start at INR 5 per piece!!!
Menu card on the wall of Kake da hotel (click on the picture to see enlarged image)
Service is as fast as it can get. Waiting staff have been around for years & some of them have become numb. They r obviously not ‘Hotel Management trained’ like their swanky restaurant counterparts – just being a normal nice human being yields good results. I tried asking our waiter for a recommendation. ‘All is good’ was the answer. I tried 3 times with interval of 10 – 15 minutes. Answer was consistent. He was however very attentive of the way we were finishing up. As soon as we were left with 25% of the roti, he wud appear – Do u want another one?
Detailed description – In case u have the time to njoy reading:
This is located on the main road between Motinagar Metro station & Ramesh Nagar Metro station. If u r facing Motinagar, the shop is to ur left.
Meal for 2:Rs. 250 onwards if u eat fish & Rs. 100 onwards if u restrict to chicken.
Paramjit Machiwale’s fried Fish
Cuisine type: Nonvegetarian
Description:
I am yet to forget the taste of tandoored fish at ‘Makhan Fish’ in Amritsar. Years back, that was my first introduction to Punjabi style fish shops. Then we discovered Pappu fish in Gurgaon & found it very good till two days back my friend mentioned Paramjeet. We did not waste time & the next day we were at Motinagar driving all the way from Gurgaon. Unlike Pappu fish who sells fish in the winters onlty, Paramjeet’s fish is available round the year.
……………… & let me tell u – it was worth it.
The shop has a chicken shop, a chai shop, a liquor shop & a paan – soft drink shop as its neighbours – As perfect a symbiosis as it can be.
The row of shops
We stuck to the fish menu only as the portions were large + good chicken is available in many places but good fish is hard to find.
The minimum order size for fish at Paramjeet is 250 grams. That meant two dishes between the two of us = half a kilo of fish!!!!
This is a part of the series ……. For the Chef in u
Contributed by YUMMRAJ’s favourite Chef ANONYMOUS
Rum n mutton
Super easy to make & Super good to eat……………
Once upon a time Rum came home – for no reason or rhyme.
Rumm
We started thinking what to do? Then came the idea of cooking some mutton with it & so did I. We then heard an applause from the ones we fed the mutton. ………………. & hence thot of sharing.
mutton
Needless to say, the quirky name ‘Rum Chhagol’ was suggested by none other than YUMMRAJ. Chhagol means ‘goat’ in Bangla.
Heat refined vegetable oil in a wok / kadhai. Add 7-8 whole black peppercorn, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 4-5 cloves & sauté for 10 seconds. Add 2 sliced onions (as shown in picture) & sauté till golden brown.
onions being sauteed, garlic paste & red chilli added to it
Add 1 teaspoon garlic paste & ½ teaspoon red chilli powder. Fry for 30 seconds.
sauteed browned onions
Add 1 kilo mutton pieces (I prefer front leg of the goat for this recipe) & keep stirring till the mutton pieces turn light brown from the original reddish brown colour.
