This restaurant upstairs from Nathu Sweets in Sunder Nagar does exceptionally good food at a low price. You can’t beat their prices for an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Service is attentive without being fussy. The cuisine is essentially North Indian. Afterwards you can walk off your lunch with a tour of the interesting book shops, art galleries and antique shops in the...
Bengali Market got its name from its builder, a Bengali businessman by the name of Mal Lohia, who commissioned the market in 1930. It is no longer a market in the sense that the INA or Sarojini markets are, but a shopping precinct centred on a small roundabout. Bengali market is famous for its eating places serving chaat, North Indian...
The highly rated Bukhara restaurant in the ITC Maurya Hotel specialises in North-West Frontier cuisine (North-West – anywhere from Kashmir through northern Pakistan and into southern Afghanistan) which involves tandoori (clay oven) cooking. Let the restaurant describe its cooking methods “The food at Bukhara is cooked in clay ovens or tandoor in the traditional style of the Indian North-West Frontier...
A very unusual restaurant at the Hotel Broadway trading on oddness and quirkiness. Chor means thief, bizarre is self explanatory and when you visit you’ll see why. You can dine around a four-poster bed (bedding removed) or at glass covered tables revealing an astounding array of knickknacks gathered underneath. You’ll also see that none of the cutlery seems to match....
Dilli Haat replicates a traditional village market (haat) and presents a wide range of crafts from the different states of India. Some shops are permanent while others rotate on a fortnightly basis providing always something different to see. The range is not as great as can be found in the State Emporia along Baba Kharak Singh Marg or in the Central Cottage Industries Emporium...
Definitely the place for an important dining occasion. The Dumpukht in the ITC Maurya Hotel is named for a style of cooking that comes from the principality of the Nawab of Avadh (Lucknow), around 200 years ago. The cooking process involves slow roasting of the meal within a container sealed with a pastry dough. The slow cooking of the ingredients...
Govinda’s restaurant is part of the ISKON temple complex. It offers a “higher taste, or karma-free diet” without garlic or onions and is pure vegetarian according to Krishna devotees. Regardless, the food is good and the menu changes daily. Apart from just one lassi and one ice cream you can eat all you want. Metro: Nehru Place on Line 6,...
Easily recognised by its golden dome an orange-cloth wrapped flagpole, Gurdwara Bangla Sahib is the most important Sikh gurdwara (temple) in Delhi. Its importance comes from its association with the eighth Sikh guru Guru Har Krishan who lived here during his stay in Delhi in 1664. He was remarkable in that he was only five when he was appointed guru...
Habitat resides in a very large modern building on Lodhi Road housing an arts centre. Within the complex are several visual arts galleries, a cinema showing Indian and foreign films, and two restaurants. Eatopia is a food court offering global cuisine and the All American Diner needs no other introduction than its title. The centre presents talks on a large variety of subjects, music, dance...
Hauz Khas is a small village isolated from the continuous urban developments of South Delhi by a large parkland that also surrounds some important 14th-century monuments. It is this isolation that made it so attractive to trendy Delhiites who moved in and set up an upmarket commercial area with restaurants, art galleries, antique shops and designer-clothes shops. Its popularity peaked...
The ISKON Temple (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) can be found in southeast Delhi on the aptly named Hari Krishna Hill. Its shikharas or spires rise to 30m and can be easily seen from afar, especially from the nearby Lotus Temple. Until the opening of the AksharAkshardhamdham complex of temples this was the grandest temple in Delhi. The temple is...
Jalebiwala is a small shop selling jalebis. These rather sickly-orange coloured sweets are rather moreish if you like sweet things that go crunch in your mouth. A wala is a Hindi word that gets attached to somebody who works at a particular job. As a taxi wala is someone who drives a taxi so a jalebi wala is someone who...
Old Delhi’s most famous restaurant has been in existence for almost 100 years and traces its cuisine ancestry back to the kitchens of the Mughal emperors. Karim’s consists of several dining rooms centred around the courtyard kitchen. The menu relies heavily on mutton and chicken which is difficult if you’re a vegetarian. Karim’s has superb sikh kababs, Delhi’s famous paper-thin...
The Kwality is an old favourite just off Connaught Place, the food is usually good and well worth a visit. Their prawn masala, in season, is about the best in town as is their creme caramel but the coffee is very ordinary. The entrance is around the corner in Sansad Marg Metro: Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) on Line 2
Pandara Market has a number of mid-range restaurants popular with visitors. That popularity can be measured by the number of snake charmers, postcard sellers and other street hawkers you have to thread your way through to get to the restaurants. If a coach trip has just arrived before you and gone into the restaurant of your choice then choose another...
As you wander down Kinari Bazaar, and if you’re feeling the slightest bit hungry, you should turn right up the lane marked with a red post box at its entrance. This small lane, that does a dogleg half way along, is known as Paratha Walan or Galiparathewali. Most of the shops here specialise in parathas, an Indian bread dough stuffed...
Pind Baluchi, Connaught Place, is one of several branches of this restaurant chain. The decor is a faux open-air Punjabi village courtyard, complete with a banyan tree and overhead lighting to represent the moon and stars. To complete the rustic picture the furniture, cutlery and crockery are all Punjabi styled. The food is good being typical North Indian with every...
Central Delhi’s best drinking place is on the second and third floor of one of Connaught Place’s inner blocks. On the lower floor is a lounge bar with tables and sofas for relaxed and convivial drinking while the third floor leads out onto a balcony with views over the Central Park of Connaught Place. Seating places on the balcony are...
A fast food joint that is nothing like its Western counterparts except the quick service. It is that popular that sometimes you have to queue to get in. The food, South Indian, is simple, not too spicy and scrumptious. Do try the masala dosa, a rolled up 30cm length of pancake with a vegetable filling and served with a coconut...
The United Coffee House is a Connaught Place favourite. It is certainly popular with visitors who often comprise a quarter or more of the clientele. The restaurant retains its original 1930s decor and layout including chandeliers and painted ceilings. These buildings were put up before air-conditioning and so high ceilings allowed the hot air to drift upwards. Then a bevy of...