DINING OUT: Cafe Delhi Heights Creator Opens A Terminus of Unfussy Palate Ticklers

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

QUICK BYTES

WHERE: Terminus 1, Second Floor, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj (Next to the Lifestyle store)

WHEN: 11:00 A.M. to 11:30 P.M.

DIAL: 011-40870755; (+91) 9643654033

AVG MEAL FOR TWO (MINUS TAXES & ALCOHOL): Rs 1,800

VIKRANT BATRA has food in his genes. It was 21 years ago when I first (and for the last time) visited the banquet hall his family has owned and operated in Naraina since 1989. It stood out then like an illusion in the middle of nowhere. In the years that have lapsed, it has grown into one of West Delhi's prominent marriage venues and Naraina has never been busier.

If he were less entrepreneurial, Vikrant would have happily continued with his annual, sleep-depriving routine of 520 (maybe more!) marriage banquets a year. Like Ajay Mago of Om Books International, his good friend who got us to meet over lunch, Vikrant chose to look for money and fame beyond his comfort zone, even as his mother, at 63, continues to oversee the central kitchen and commissary of the family's banqueting empire from 6 every morning, and his wife manages the bakery and patisserie.

The stripped-down interiors of Terminus 1 at the Ambience
Mall, Vasant Kunj, give the newbie restaurant a New York
look. Newspapers in ornate steel trunks are a cool idea.

Ajay has added the power of publishing to his family's old (and thriving) business of bookshops. Vikrant ventured into the business of stand-alone restaurants six years ago and he has scripted the success of Cafe Delhi Heights, whose breakfast and Juicy Lucy Burger are the two unmissable favourites on the list of any discerning patron of good eating. To this success story, he has added Terminus 1 (T1), which may be at one neglected corner of the second floor of Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, but has all the positives of a restaurant that will make waves even in an overcrowded market.

Creamy onion soup with cheese and croutons:
nourishment at soul-satisfying prices

It has the stripped-down, New York-inspired industrial look and Spartan furniture that seem to define the new design favourite of young restaurateurs, but it has other engaging features. A TV screen that zooms in on the chef preparing or plating a dish that's been ordered, for instance. Or menus that are designed like books with covers inspired by immortal titles, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Eat Pray Love. Or newspapers rolled up thoughtfully in an ornate trunk, instead of being tucked away on a soulless standee.

Such eye candy however cannot satiate your hunger or the curiosity of your alimentary tract. For that, you have to turn the pages of the menu and admire the creative touches of the head chef, Ashish Singh, a soft-spoken, smiling man who has to be goaded to let out the fact that he has spent some years working in London restaurants. The beauty of the menu is its delectable unpredictability. You could start with the sublimity of Applewood Smoked Chicken, Corn and Raja Mircha Chowder, where the infusion of the world's hottest chilli is delicately balanced by the residual sweetness of corn, and then transport yourself to the simple pleasures of the ISBT Makhni Maggi, though the 'instant' noodles that can never be made in two minutes, could have done better with less of makhni gravy.

The idea of digging the Railway Cutlets was too tempting, but I had to tear myself away from it because I wanted The Butterilicious TOAST (the capitals are theirs, not mine) -- a plump, melt-in-the-mouth piece of bread gratinated for eight minutes with butter. On the other side of the cholesterol spectrum, the Sous Vide BBQ Chicken Green Salad should do well with the ladies who lunch -- it's light, refreshing and conducive to conversations about daughters-in-law. Heartier appetites will naturally gravitate towards the Kimchi Bacon Quesadillas -- the bacon is crispy; the Monterey Jack connects instantly with the soul.

It's a menu that has something for every pocket and taste bud -- as you'd expect at a terminus. I'd recommend the Grilled Sea Bass, crumbed with sesame and peanuts, and served with wild rice, eggplant and cucumber dashi veloute. Someone else would go for Halloumi Eggs or Cauliflower and Hazelnut Risotto. Diversity of the palate is what we celebrate at T1, but count yourself among the losers if you leaving without having the Batter Fried Mars Bars or the Karachi Halwa Brownie Cake.

Indigo Deli Wows Delhi in its Opening Weekend; Its Wafer Thin Pizzas are the Show Stoppers

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

No-nonsense comfort food: Indigo Deli's
Eggs Benedict comes sitting on two
generously proportioned slices of ham

I WAS at Delhi's first Indigo Deli on the opening night with a young man who has spent a considerable length of time in America. It was a night when a freak dust storm had wreaked havoc on the city, turning trees and street lights into mangled skeletons. At Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, where Indigo Deli is located on the third floor, one of the three air-conditioning plants had broken down because of the storm and the roof above Kylin Premier's popular Sky Bar had blown away. Indigo Deli had arrived with a storm in its wake, and as we were to find out later, it has taken Delhi by storm.

My young dinner-mate had said he would judge Indigo Deli by the standards of New York. At the end of the meal, he declared with a little touch of drama: "Indigo Deli has brought New York to New Delhi." I agreed. Like the minestrone soup, which I polished off with the hungry passion of Oliver Twist, Indigo Deli owes its reputation to its ability to serve the simple joys of life without compromising on authenticity.

The pastrami in its Reuben sandwich (the original recipe has corned beef) is cured at the restaurant for 21 days and is teamed up with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, and then grilled in rye bread with Thousand Island dressing and gherkins. It's a New York specialty, though there's also a theory that it was invented by a German immigrant in Omaha, Nebraska.

The bagel and lox is prepared just
the way it is served in New York
 

I was reading a delightful article on this subject by Craig Claiborne of The New York Times, when I realised that the famous food critic of his generation named his column De Gustibus, which is also the name of the company created by Indigo Deli's first couple, the gregarious Rahul and Malini Akerkar. It reminds us of the famous Latin maxim, "De gustibus non est disputandum" (In matters of taste, there can be no disputes). All gourmets must make this the motto of their life so that they just enjoy food and not split hairs about it!

That's what Indigo Deli lets you do. There's a congeniality about the place that draws you in. It lets you engage in a meaningful conversation with friends as the warm yet unobtrusive waiters, whose smiles come naturally, serve you your order. It is comfort food that you get, but done with care and affection.

The Eggs Benedict sit on a pair of fat slices of ham and nicely toasted English muffins, bathed in a generous dollop of hollandaise. The juicy BBQ chicken in the Seriously Sloppy Joe, which comes in a baguette, complements the molten cheddar and the Deli's priceless mustard -- diverse tastes and textures make a great tag team in each of the Deli's top-sellers. The BBQ sauce works its magic on your taste buds one more time when you order the spare ribs and the meat just melts in your mouth -- perfect with the warm and welcoming corn bread it comes with. Talking about the condiments, each sandwich or burger comes with a little pot of honey mustard on the side that'll make you want to buy the entire stock. Yes, you can buy breads, and more, after you've had a meal at Indigo Deli.

But the show stoppers, without doubt, are the wafer thin pizzas. We ordered the Deli carbonara with crispy sage and molten parmesan and we just couldn't stop drooling over it. At another table, people were behaving in the same way with their pizza topped up with Parma ham, asparagus and scamorza. The menu has been engineered in a way that it gives you multiple reasons to keep coming back -- one time for breakfast, the next time for sandwiches, then for the pizzas and ice-cream, and then for the more serious stuff, like the 250gm chunk of char-grilled filet mignon with red wine sauce.

Akerkar will be flying in and out to inspire his Delhi team ("I'll be busy collecting frequent flyer miles," he says); his A-team from Mumbai is here to ensure that we are not denied the original Indigo Deli experience, so there are more waiters and the service is super-efficient; and Jaydeep Mukherjee, a Taj product who has been with Akerkar for 13 years, has come down to help the kitchen tide over its startup issues. Indeed, Indigo Deli is indulging Delhi. Let's savour our special position while we can, and give Akerkar the rousing welcome he deserves.

Get Ready to Welcome Indigo Deli at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, But What Happened to Indigo?

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

Mumbai's star restaurateur,
Rahul Akerkar, has not had the
smoothest of starts in Delhi,
but he's hoping to make up
for lost time and keep his
staff morale intact by launching
Indigo Deli at the Ambience
Mall, Vasant Kunj

IT'S A PITY most people assume that Indigo Deli, which is formally opening tomorrow (May 30) at the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, is Indigo Delhi. If Mumbai's star restaurateur, Rahul Akerkar, had the freedom to act according to his Delhi expansion plan, he was to launch Indigo, the restaurant that's won every award and accolade possible, sometime in mid-January.

He was to make a grand opening at the urban renewal project, an arts and entertainment space that was to have transformed what used to be an open drain opposite the Hyatt Regency, in the shadow of Netaji Nagar. And he was to roll out Indigo Deli, starting with the second floor of Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, in the space formerly occupied by Zambar, only after Indigo settled down as "a 'back-to-basics' address that will serve up eclectic modern European fare, coupled with an expansive bar and a private dining section". Indigo Deli will be next door to Pizza Express, which is the next high-profile opening to watch out for at Ambience Mall.

But for some mysterious reason, the area, which was blessed by the Sheila Dikshit government and is being developed by the father-and-son duo of Sanjeev and Samegh Batra, has been in suspended animation ever since Dikshit got a drubbing in the Delhi Assembly election, even though Delhi Metro has been constructing buildings next door at a frenetic pace. Was the previous government's showcase project not a priority for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation that followed? If that were the case, why did Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung not push it after the fall of AAP? No one is ready to share the real story.

"You know how officials work," was Sanjeev Batra's first response when I asked him about the delayed project. "But we will be up and running in a month," he added. Batra has been the man behind such significant heritage rejuvenation-cum-restaurant development projects at Mehrauli such as Olive Bar & Kitchen and The Kila, where blueFROG has re-opened, though after giving up the associated cafe and restaurant spaces.

Batra said that when it became clear the urban renewal project wasn't taking off according to the time-table they were working on, Akerkar came to him and shared his desire to launch Indigo Deli before Indigo. He had hired staff for Indigo and they had been trained in Mumbai, but they had no restaurant in sight, which was clearly a dispiriting prospect. He had to do something to retain his staff, which was why he fast-forwarded Indigo Deli, which is best known for its salads, burgers, sandwiches and ice-creams, and of course, its delicatessen.

"I feel a tinge of sadness, but when Indigo finally opens opposite the Hyatt Regency, the grandness of the setting and the cuisine that has given the restaurant its share of international acclaim will have their desired effect," Batra said, striking a hopeful note. For the sake of the city, we wish him luck! Delhi deserves an Indigo, as much as it can do with an Indigo Deli. Neighbouring Mistral's Mayank Tiwari has serious competition on his hands and even Chili's may experience some loss of lustre.

Gaon Ka Khana and the Dope on Punjab Grill Going Molecular in New Upscale Avatar

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

AFTER flagging off Punjab Grill’s forays into Bangkok and Dubai, the restaurant chain’s operator, Lite Bite Foods, promoted by Dabur scion Amit Burman and knitwear exporter Rohit Aggarwal, is now contemplating expansion to the United States. It is looking at Tysons Corner Center, the biggest mall development in the Baltimore-Washington area in Fairfax County, Virginia, as a possible location for the fourth international address of Punjab Grill, after Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai.

Sharing this information over a sumptuous Gaon Ka Khana spread presented at Zambar on Sunday by Gurgaon Foodies, a Facebook group promoted by Pawan Soni and Aalok Wadhwa of Indian Food Freak, Lite Bite Foods Chief Operating Officer Sharad Sachdeva also disclosed

(From left) Indian Food Freak and Gurgaon Foodies
co-founder Pawan Soni, yours truly and wedding planner
Nita Raheja at the Gaon Ka Khana lunch organised at
Zambar, Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, on Sunday

that Punjab Grill is going upscale and venturing into molecular gastronomy to wow its regulars.

The new direction of the restaurant chain’s menu will be first unveiled at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, where Punjab Grill is opening in place of Fresc Co along with a revamped Zambar, which has been going places ever since Arun Kumar TR, its low-key but hugely talented filmmaker-turned-master chef, took charge of its kitchens. A former GMR senior executive who powered retail concepts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Sachdeva clarified that Fresc Co is being nixed at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, on the suggestion of the mall operator.

Sachdeva, an IMT Ghaziabad MBA, also informed us that he has collapsed the traditional wall in restaurants dividing the back of the house and the front end by making the Punjab Grill cuisine consultant responsible for its profit and loss accounts as well. The chef de cuisine, in other words, has also become the custodian of the brand’s financial health — a bold experiment, but very much in sync with these difficult times when food costs are spiraling out of control.

Zambar, meanwhile, was packed to capacity with Gurgaon’s food lovers who enthusiastically dug the six-course Gaon Ka Khana spread that was accompanied by a steady flow of beer and wine. Arun Kumar said that feeding people who knew about food (and you’d expect such a gathering when it’s put together by the moving spirits of one of the most livewire restaurant reviews and recipes site) was a different experience altogether. They were inquisitive about the dishes and open to food innovations, the extremely knowledgeable Arun Kumar added.

Lite Bite Foods COO Sharad Sachdeva (standing) with Delhi
Gourmet Club member Pooja Sharma and yours truly

It was a happy afternoon, and though the service was not always up to speed, we never felt it because the wine flowed like water and conversation was strewn with laughter and nuggets of wisdom. I shared my table with Mr Old Monk and founder-member of the Delhi Gourmet Club (DGC), Rocky Mohan, who was with us for a short time but as always a gold mine of culinary wisdom; the gregarious Nita Raheja, a leading wedding planner and communications professional, and her husband; drummer and blogger about town Vivek Vaid; and DGC’s very well-informed member, Pooja Sharma, who had come with her husband, an automotive interiors specialist, and was regaling us with her stories of eating out in New York, especially at wd-50, a much-acclaimed Manhattan Lower East Side restaurant powered by Wylie Dufresne. When there’s good food, can delicious conversation be far away?

Photos: Courtesy of www.indianfoodfreak.com