Restaurant Reviews

Visited lots of new food outlets in the past few days so need to post my reviews.

We saw a mention of a new dessert place called Whipped, right near the place we were gong to for Fondue, so decide dessert would be tried out there. Whipped is a cute and tiny little place, with lollipop stripes on the walls and just a few chairs if anyone wants to sit and have dessert. They have a tiny little balcony which would be useful in winter but I guess won't be populated in summer. They have a wide selection of dessert for such a small place, from homemade icecream in flavours like strawberry cheesecake and berries to actual cheesecake in many flavours, cakes and truffle cones - which are truffle chocolate swirled into icecream cones and topped with hundreds and thousands.

A chose the Bailey's cheecake and I, with my fondness for berried, picked the strawberry cheesecake. Puddi swithered between cakes topped with chocolate or fruit and finally picked a truffle cone. We found the desserts...very ok...not an overwhelmingly delicious experience, unlike Whipped's neighbour Gourmet Affaire which does a Tiramisu to die for. The cheesecake was as good or as bad as ones we had had elsewhere, and not a stand-out experience. Puddi's truffle cone was a nice, new thing, but she found it too much for her and it's still standing around in the fridge. The prices were middling...we paid about Rs. 350 for 3 desserts. But all in all, it's not a place I'd head to specially for dessert.

E 552, Main Road, GK II, Delhi

On Sunday we had dinner at Spaghetti Kitchen, which has opened its first Delhi outlet in Select City Walk Mall. The restaurant is very spacious and done up in a sort of nondescript modern style. It doesn't look particularly Italian or anything else, but is a soothing ambience.

Chubbocks and Puddi wanted Pizza so they ordered a thin-crust pizza with chicken and red and yellow capsicum. I and A ordered a Penne Vodka to share, and we ordered parmesan-rosemary creamed roasted potatoes.

The food came really fast, starting with the bread which came about five minutes after we settled in and followed by the potatoes in another five minutes. They had roasted tiny baby potatoes with rosemary until they were butter-soft and then coated them in a creamy, Parmesan sauce. It was a delicious starter, highly addictive in its soothing flavours, and even Bojjandi duly mopped up his share of it and more.

A and the kids relished the pizza while I dug into the Penne Vodka, which was a standout. I have a lot of pasta in tomato sauce since I prefer tomato/ pesto to cream sauces so I wasn't expecting too much, but this was a new taste experience. The Vodka sauce had a slight bitter base to the flavouring, which nicely offset the tang of the tomatoes, and they served ample amounts of sauce so I didn't have to ration it out to serve all of the penne, and even had enough to mop up with some crusty bread. Again, the flavours were lush and highly addictive.

The service was also great, as they quickly understood our need for a high chair and brought one out. The food was served fast and the waiter was assiduous in replenishing our water and our dishes, and extremely friendly and polite.

Overall, the Spaghetti Kitchen surprised us by giving us a fabulous experience in terms of food, service and speed. What's more, at about Rs. 1400 for the meal ( no drinks/ desserts), it's pocket friendly too. I thought, given how much Italian food we end up eating, that only places like Diva or Olive would be capable of delighting us, but this restaurant proved us wrong, and it's a place I'd definitely head back to.

Spaghetti Kitchen, 2nd Floor, Select City Walk Mall, Saket, Delhi

The Great Kebab Factory

This has been one of my favourite 'occasion' restaurants, since the day it opened in Delhi, many years ago. The then-new Radisson opened the restaurant sometime around '97, if I remember correctly, and claimed to have a nephew of the famous Tunde Mian of Lucknow fame as their head chef. The chef had come up with a repertoire of awesome kebabs including the then secretive Galauti Kebab. Rumour has it, an ancestor of Tunde Mian invented this for a nawab who was invited to a feast but had no teeth. The kebab therefore had to have its full meaty savour and flavour but be melt-in-the-mouth. So Tunde Mian's ancestor came up with a way of marinating the meat with raw papaya pulp, among other ingredients, that rendered it absolutely smooth, melting and fiber-free. Don't know if the story's true but the kebab is fabulous!

The first time I visited the restaurant, I wondered what a vegetarian would get and whether it would be worth the price ( Rs. 599 per veg setting), but I had no cause to worry. Their veg selection of kebabs including a veg Galauti made out of Yam is as delectable as their non-veg. How can I say this with good authority? Simply by virtue of the fact that I look forward to going to this restaurant as much as my very non-veggie husband.


The GKF, as we call it for short, later expanded into a franchised concept, with one outlet in Noida and one in Gurgaon with thankfully no let-up in the quality of food or service. The menu is a fixed one - you can order either the veg or non-veg meal, and within about fifteen minutes, with no sense of hurry, you will be stuffed to the gills with an array of fabulous kebabs and matching rotis. The rotis range from an ulta tava roti made with saffron to Bakarkhani and Sheermal, which here are made about the size of the palm, and less sweet than one would typically find at a Muslim wedding. The kebab selection varies, but the veg and non-veg Galautis are the signature dishes and always on the menu. They serve you one of each kebab on the menu at the outset and then you can keep calling for the ones which you preferred.


Last night, we went there with my cousin's family, visiting from the US, and my parents. Sadly, my cousin and her husband had had a rather filling lunch at IHC during the day, which they kept lamenting later on, as the GKF went to work. The meal started with a fruit salad served with a strawberry dressing. Then came the Galautis, served with the saffron rotis. Then a meltingly soft paneer kebab, served with a bun-like roti. The tandoori aloo was relished by my picky niece and nephew. I unfortunately had to eschew one of my favourite kebabs - the tandoori fruit. The spices add a brilliant touch to the sweet, tart pineapple and pear. Then came a shish-kebab which in my opinion did not live up to the high standards of the restaurant - too much ginger in the marinade, methinks. And finally a methi-corn kebab topped with a thin slice of orange as the perfect contrast. The roti and kebab combinations are well-chosen to create a harmonic counterpoint between the two.


As predicted, we were stuffed within about fifteen minutes but couldn't stop eating as the food was so good. The guys looked enviously at my dad who'd had the good sense to come dressed in a pajama kurta and thus able to comfortably let his waist expand, while they squirmed in their firangi trousers. Once the endless parade of kebabs was over, they brought us two kinds of dal, an aloo sabzi and biryani. The fragrance of the biryani was fabulous, and their dal makhani with its tinge of bitterness superb. I sated myself with only dal since I was really full and only had space for dessert :)! But my cousin and her husband did full justice to the entire meal.
The dessert course started with a delicious kulfi for everyone. Usually when you order Kulfi, it's either too frozen or too melty, but this one was at just the right temperature to be refreshingly cold but melt in the mouth without freezing one's teeth off. Dad went overboard on the moong dal ka halwa and had two bowls of it - and he's usually the most restrained of eaters, just at GKF that he goes overboard. Last time we had been here, he had had four bowls (!) of it, but then, that was in winter. My BIL started out trying to play it light by having only the rasmalai but we insisted he have a spoonful of the halwa, which then drove him on to finish off a full cup of it. I had a tiny bit of warm GJ but I prefer the way they make GJs in the South - very full of khoya, and less sweet. A relished the halwa as well, while mom had the chenna payesh - delicious again.

You can imagine what a good time we had, because not only did I forget to take photos of the food but we were supposed to take some family photographs as a memento but were so busy eating that we forgot all about it. The meal was capped off by meltingly soft meetha paans on the way out. The meal amounts to Rs. 1000 per head including taxes, but without drinks. A must-visit when anyone comes to Delhi. My cousin was relishing the memory of the food all over again the next day!

Restaurant Reviews

It has been a while since I had time to blog. However, in the last ten days, I've been out to lunch at 3 restaurants and thought I'd review all three of them in one post.

Kwality is one of Delhi's landmarks. The restaurant has been around sicne the 1950's and serves north indian cuisine, including, I am sure, butter chicken and tandoori chicken and various kinds of paneer. My best friend and I used to regularly have lunch at Kwality when both of us worked in Connaught Place, but since shifting to gurgaon, I hadn't been there in years. I and a colleague were in CP for a meeting a couple of weeks ago around lunchtime so I decided to take my out-of-town colleague there.

The restaurant looked the same as ever, mirrored walls, somewhat over-the-top Punjabi Baroque decor with its serving staff in maroon uniforms. As always, it was somewhat dimly lit inside. I decided to let desire score over discipline and ordered the chole bhature - the restaurant specialty and my colleague's favourite dish - along with a serving of Stuffed potatoes ina tomato gravy - Bharwan Aloo. I asked for 2 plates of Chole bhature, but the waiter convinced me to order one bhatura each and re-order if we wanted. We also wanted Jaljeera to combat the heat and humidity outside.

The order arrived in about 10 minutes, and looked delicious. The bhature were huge - each a perfect circle, about the size of a steel thali, crunchy on top, soft on the bottom. I was thankful the waiter had advised caution. We dug into the chole - pindi style, i.e. without gravy but with a mix of spices including black rock salt etc ( I have a pet recipe that I will blog about some other time) - and the aloo. the chole was amongst the best I've ever had, soft but not mushy and bursting with flavour. The Bharwan aloo was a little hard to cut through, despite being fully cooked, but tasted great - stuffed with spiced paneer and soaked in a light, non-spicy tomato-onion gravy. By the time each of us had finished our bhaturas we were stuffed, much like the aloo! The service was perfect - unobtrusive but highly attentive and tuned into what we wanted rather than what they could sell. All in all a terrific experience, and we rued having to work the rest of the afternoon as we rolled on out of the restaurant. Kwality restaurant, Sansad Marg, CP.

Later, I took my colleague to Wenger's - another Delhi landmark. This bakery has been around since 1926 and is amongst the best bakeries anywhere in the world. They refuse to franchise or have more branches for fear of reducing the quality they are famous for. You get an unbeatable selection of pastries, breads and more here, some varieties which one never sees anywhere else. They still import their flour from Austria, and use potato flour for various tarts and cakes to ensure the recipes followed are authentic. I love their French hearts, Chocolate Japs and mousses. At one time, my husband and I couldn't go to Wenger's and not have their chocolate eclairs, filled with whipped cream instead of custard - delicious. Their Shammi kebab and paneer rolls are excellent too, and amongst the most popular items ordered by regulars. My favourite from their menu is their fresh fruit cakes - mango or strawberry, in season. These are heavenly - absolutely heavenly! Wenger's, Block A, CP Inner Circle.

In Bangalore a week later, my boss took us all out to Sunny's, an italian restaurant walking distance from office. There is a story behind this restaurant - apparently the owner is gay and outed himself many years ago when India was much more conservative. He was working at a restaurant at the time and suffered a huge backlash and couldn't find a job anywhere for a while. he later opened his own restaurant which eventually turned into Sunny's and hires mostly gay men. A good place to hang out and watch some of the most handsome hunks - especially if you don't want any trouble to go with that! We sat outside to enjoy the grey, rain-filled clouds, and were even hit by a drizzle but it added to the charm.

Sunny's used to import many of the ingredients in its search for authenticity, until recently. We ordered the black pepper wild mushroom fettucine with sundried tomatoes and cream, spaghetti with saffroned onions, a lasagna with spinach and a chicken fettucine. They served restaurant-baked bread and sage butter for starters. Their bread was amazing - crusty on top and soft inside, and went really well with the fresh sage butter. The wild mushroom fettucine was one of the best I've ever had, full of the delicate flavour of the mushrooms, punctured by the piquant chunks of sundried tomatoes. The saffroned-onion spaghetti didn't work so well, as the flavours didn't meld together, and the dish tasted mostly of spaghetti itself. The lasagna was excellent though, with its spicy sauce of tomatoes perking up the bland creaminess of cheese and spinach. Their lemonade with mint and ginger was also pronounced excellent.

Service was a bit patchy - the waiter got the drinks mixed up all around and served everybody the wrong thing. It also took a while for them to serve the starters, though the food came pretty quickly. All in all, an experience well-worth repeating, if only to ensure that I have space for their Philadelphia cheesecake next time, which my colleagues assured me was worth breaking all diets for. Sunny's, Vittal Mallya road, Bangalore.

Lastly, as you may know, Delhi has taken to Italian like maa ki daal and Italian restaurants abound. One of the newer entrants to the scene is Baci, in Sundar Nagar market. We had heard a mix of reviews and finally decided to drop in on Saturday after errands in CP. Baci is in the main market of Sundar Nagar, a market dominated by antique stores. The shops carry an amazing array of products ranging from authentic brass urlis to inlaid vases and plates to lifesize brass stags, furniture, art and silver and brass figurines.

Baci has a narrow and non-descript exterior - we would have missed it if we hadn't been looking. There is seating on 2 levels, and the style is modern-minimalistic. The ceiling was chocolate brown, while the tables were dark wood, as was the floor. The walls were white with a collage of colourful kisses on beige fabric, and the lighting was rather dim. We had opted for the ground floor, and later my husband told me the first floor was better lit and brighter. It is the kind of place that makes you very sleepy - as proved by our skippng the art exhibit we had planned to visit post lunch, in favour of a snooze. They have a nice selection of magazines and books, including Jamie Oliver's Italy, and newspapers if you are interested.

We ordered one amaretto, a rocket salad with mango and feta cheese in raspberry vinaigrette, white onion soup, gnocchi in a tomato basil sauce and mushroom fettucine.

The onion soup was ok - a bit bland for my tastes. I have a great recipe for onion soup which I make in winter and will blog about some day - this was no match. The gnocchi was excellent, very light and encased in a lovely sauce. I found the mushroom fettucine a bit dry, especially in comparison to the one at Sunny's but it was tasty. We actually decided to splurge more calories on dessert as well. A and I shared a hazelnut gelato while our son opted for a coffee semifreddo. The Gelato was a bit too sweet for our taste but the Semifreddo was awesome. Tasted like a Tiramisu minus the liquor.

The meal came to about Rs. 2000 which isn't very expensive given that we had a 4 course meal. On the other hand, there are much better restaurants for Italian food in Delhi - including Flavours - which come a lot cheaper. So all in all, worth one visit, not more. Baci, Sundar Nagar Market, New Delhi.

PS. I do have photos which I will upload one of these days!