Tag: eating out in delhi

Andhra, Indian, Kerala, South Indian

Amravathi (18/2, Hotel Southern, Arya Samaj Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi )

masala prawns at Amravathi

In a nutshell:

Simple interiors, fast service & good South Indian Nonvegetarian food

the simple but well maintained interiors of Amravathi

Meal for 2: Rs. 250 onwards

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

the logo

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

The restaurant is located inside Hotel Southern & as the name suggest, this place seemed to be occupied only by people from the Southern states of India. The hustle – bustle of this place is seldom seen in any Hotel in Gurgaon. The restaurant has nice, neat & clean, basic interiors that is surely less spacious as compared to the number of people frequenting this place – resulting in queues. Unlike the excellent managed ‘token number’ based queue at Andhra bhawan, the queue here was managed just about OK. At times it felt that the guy who came in later wud get a seat earlier. Like at Andhra Bhawan, no one here gets a table just to themselves. The table needs to be shared with unknown guests. e.g. if u r 2 of u , u will have to share a table of 4 with another 2 people, if u r 3 people, the 4th seat will b oupied by a stranger….

South Indian Mutton curry

The service, as I mentioned earlier is fast. The people here were quite knowledgeable & answered almost all queries satisfactorily.

South Indian Chilli chicken at Amravathi

The menu card surely surprised us – we had expected pure South Indian Nonvegetarian but were surprised to find North Indian dishes as well. The menu card looked good & had a collage of food pics at the bottom. We stuck to South Indian food only, as per plan.
The food was good but non of them except the prawn were ‘wow, this is outstanding’. We tried 4 dishes – an Andhra style fish fry, a chicken of the day – chilli chicken kuttu (that is what I think I heard on the third attempt), mutton of the day – Kerala style mutton & a prawns masala.

menu card at Amravathi

If u r just nonveg hungry & are already around Central Delhi & do not really care for AC or ambience, Chandni chowk / Ashok & Ashok is a better deal for nonveg food. However, if u want specifically South Indian nonveg, this is a good choice.

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Asian Cuisine, vietnamese

Blue Ginger (Taj Palace Hotel, Diplomatic Enclave, Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri, Delhi)

In a nutshell:

Loved the Vietnamese food served here, in a romantic setting with some outstanding service & a unexpected chat with the Chef.

the superb interiors of blue ginger

Address & other Details: Blue Ginger

Meal for 2: Rs. 3000 onwards (without drinks)

angus beef vietnamese style

Cuisine Type: Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

U enter this restaurant thru a tiny dimly lit passage that reveals the Restaurant only after a point. As u stand at the door, u see normal restaurant seating in the middle of the hallway & the open kitchen at the background. On both sides are semi covered (circular shaped) cubicles that have a sofa seating , a round table at the center that has a revolving top. The only source of light in the cubicles is from a bunch of ‘electronic threads’ that descend from the ceiling whose tips emit a blue light – like a bunch of fireflies hanging up in the air (without moving though) – the look reminded me of a scene from the movie Avatar.

the only source of light at Blue Ginger

The sofa was for a group of 3-4 people but we chose the same inspite of being only two. The tabletop had a beautiful white flower vase & some superb white flowers on them. Quite a romantic setting.

flower vase on the table at blue ginger

The service, as I have mentioned above, was very good. Attention to detail, attention to guests without being intrusive, knowledge of products etc (except one instance) were commendable.
I have never been to Vietnam – so have not had the opportunity to eat there. All I knew of Vietnamese cuisine that it is influenced by Chinese, Indian & French!!! The food at Blue Ginger is Vietnamese. Some are original ‘almost as it is’ & some are fusion – European dish with Vietnamese spices, ingredients, flavours, tastes & concepts etc.

orange ginger creme brulee at Blue Ginger

The icing on the cake was a little chat with the Chef regarding our main course dish & a mind-blowing good dessert that she suggested.

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Asian Cuisine, bhutanese, nepali, North East, Tibetan

Yeti – The Himalayan Kitchen ( 50 A, 2nd Floor, Hauz Khas Village, Hauz Khas, New Delhi)

In a nutshell:

Quite interesting & different ‘Himalayan’ cuisine with some ‘too good’ & some ‘just good’ dishes.

The signboard with most letters missing.

Address & other details: Yeti

Meal for 2: Rs. 400 onwards

Cuisine Type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

the interiors

Short Description- In case u r in a hurry:

The Himalayan Range is so vast that the word ‘Himalayan cuisine’ covers a plethora of cuisines of places situated on the Himalayas. Yeti serves Nepali, Bhutanese, Tibetan& North eastern Cuisine. Pretty interesting variety I wud say, for someone in Delhi – almost no one has thought about it before.

We heard about this place & decided to try Nepali cuisine. The menu card had precisely 99 items across the cuisines mentioned above. They include so far  unknown (in Delhi) dishes & also the already popular momos, noodles & thukpas. So to focus on one cuisine at a time was the best way to do justice to the lunch.

starter platter at Yeti

As we approached the restaurant, we saw the signboard & were surprised to see missing letters in it – in a new restaurant????

The restaurant is situated in the first floor of a building almost near the gate of the Historical ‘Hauz Khas’ lake. The interiors are nice with Himalayan motifs and masks all over. The music being played here is also folk tunes from different regions – played a bit louder than ‘enjoyable’. Space being a constraint, the tables are a bit close to each other. In the peak of lunch hour, the chatter from all tables & the music make sure that decibel levels are quite high – makes u talk louder than usual.

masks on the wall

Like many other theme restaurants, they can sell the music CDs that they play / small motifs masks etc as most of these r unusual to find in Delhi.  

The serving staff are quite well trained & warm. The one serving us always had a smile on his face. His understanding of the items on the menu seemed to be good & he cud answer all our queries regarding food on the menu.

Serving time might be an issue for ‘non thali’ items on the menu in peak hours. We almost waited for 30 minutes for a main course dish. However what came post that was a marvel as it was freshly cooked from scratch.

The coordination however seemed to be an issue. We cud see people waiting inspite of having empty seats inside. Make sure u book a table before u land up here are it is already pretty popular.Waiting without booking can b quite a harrowing experience.

The starter thalis are humungous & in fact the quantity is too much to the point of being silly. Two people with average appetite will be almost full after just having a veg / nonveg starter platter. A good idea can be to have ‘half plate / Full plate’ or ‘bite size sampler / Big bite sampler’ etc.

Not all items on the menu are ‘exotic’ or special. There are simple dishes like stir fried potato with sesame seeds or masala chana that taste good but r not the ‘oh my God, this is out of the world’ variety. Some others like chicken fry, goat lung fry, ‘wai wai’etc. are very good.

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Awadhi (lucknow Dum cooking), Indian

Review of Awadh Food Festival at Kainoosh, New Delhi, Promenade mall, Vasant Kunj

In a nutshell:

Awadhi festival – A memorable evening spent in a strikingly beautiful & romantic Restaurant having one of the best sophisticated versions of Awadhi food I have ever had. While describing this dinner, the expression ‘melt in the mouth’ will become so common that I will actually be comparing them with other foods like cheesecake, cream & ripe juicy mangoes!!!!

Restaurant homepage – See Menu, Contact details & pics gallery : Kainoosh

View of another wall

Short Description: If u r reading this in a hurry:

Outstanding attention to detail of serving staff, The Manager comes & discusses the menu with you & exchanges notes on the food – They reminded me of old world personalized Hospitality that is hardly seen any more.

The Mutton Seekh Kebab was so soft that the well trained serving staff could not land even one out of the six pieces in full shape & size – Sophisticated, masaledar, flavorful & deliciously drooling good. Mutton Biryani was actually & proverbially ‘melt in the mouth’. Last came Nihari – a spicy slow cooked mutton preparation where the meat tenderizes beyond expectations – the gravy was so good that we finished all of about 250 ml of it!!!! For desserts came the Shahi Tukra – terrific.

lattice work look-alike detail near the entrance

A must try – You just have to work out more next week to burn the extra calories off.

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