{ India Tours } -- { Delhi
Travel Guide } -- { Places To Eat }
Places To Eat
Delhi has an excellent array of places in which to eat - from dhabas (snack bars), with dishes from Rs 15, to top-of-the-range restaurants where a meal for two can easily top Rs 3500.
Connaught Place
There are many fast food places - Western and Indian - around Connaught
Place. Here you will find McDonald's along with Wimpy, Kwality, Pizza Hut
(t 3738626) and Dominoes Pizza (t 1600-111123). Nirula's (t 331 6694), a
Delhi-based chain, is very good and has Indian, burgers, pizzas and ice
cream (the best in Delhi, and you can try before you buy). The advantage
of this area is that the establishments are clean and they serve good food
at reasonable prices. However, most have nowhere to sit - it's stand, eat
and run. More upmarket chains such as TGI Friday's and Pizza Express are
also appearing.Cafe 100 (B-Block, Connaught Place) is a very popular semi self-service place that's giving Nirula's a run for its money. There are Indian snacks, burgers, a wide range of ice creams and an excellent buffet upstairs (open from noon to 3 pm and 7 to 11 pm).
There are dhabas opposite L-Block on the Outer Circle, above Palika Bazaar and near Ringo Guest House. Nizam Katri Kabab in H-Block is the place to head if you fancy a quick meat-on-a-stick fix.
Berco's is one of Delhi's most popular places serving Chinese and Japanese for about Rs 150 per dish. Don't be surprised if you have to queue.
DV8 (t 3361444) on the corner of Connaught Circus and Sansad Marg is a place that keeps re-creating itself to attract the 'in-crowd'. The scene of Delhi's first disco (now closed) back in the 1960s, today it is a welcoming place to chill out while enjoying a drink or some pretty good fusion food. Upstairs you have the opportunity for fine dining, while downstairs the mood is more relaxed with leather couches, a library and pool table (Rs 125 per 30 minutes). The menu, with a large and varied choice, is the same in both and a meal for two will cost around Rs 800. If that's beyond your budget, but you can afford Rs 70/150 for a coffee/pitcher of beer, take the time to linger and enjoy some cool tunes while reading the paper. It's open from 11 am until late and sometimes has live music (cover charge).
Rodeo (A-Block, Connaught Place) is a lively restaurant serving good Tex-Mex and Indian food; it's worth visiting just for the sight of waiters in cowboy suits. Dinner for two will set you back about Rs 400. After 8.30 pm a Rs 175 cover charge is applied, unless you are dining, and there's a singing and organ-playing duo to entertain. It has cocktails and Mexican beers.
Gaylord (Connaught Circus) is one of the priciest, plushest restaurants on Connaught Place, with big mirrors, chandeliers and excellent Indian food. Main dishes are around Rs 200, but the high quality of the ingredients makes this a worthwhile splurge.
Parikrama (Kasturba Gandhi Marg), a revolving restaurant, is an interesting place to eat. Unlike many places of this ilk, where the Ist-class views are supposed to distract you from decidedly 2nd-class food, the fare here is excellent but pricey. Main dishes are around Rs 150. It's open daily for lunch and dinner, and for drinks from 3 to 7 pm.
The Embassy (D-Block, Connaught Place) has excellent veg and nonveg food. It's popular among office workers; meals for two cost about Rs 350.
Kovil (E-Block) is one of the best places for South Indian vegetarian food, costing about Rs 150 per person.
Coconut Grove in ITDC Hotel Indraprastha is good for more of a splurge - don't be put off by the hotel's rather depressing institutionalised appearance.
Vega, at the Hotel Alka, specialises in vegetarian food cooked Delhi style (in pure ghee but without onion and garlic) for about Rs 200 per person.
United Coffee House (E-Block, Connaught Place) is quite plush with
a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, good food and some of the best coffee in
Delhi for about Rs 100.The Host (F-BIock, Connaught Place) serves excellent Indian and Chinese food. It's extremely popular with well-heeled Indians, but it isn't cheap.
Keventers on the corner of Connaught Place and Radial Rd No 3 is a small milk bar around the corner from AmEx that has good fresh milk.
Wenger's (A-Block, Connaught Place) is a cake shop with a range of little cakes that management will put in a cardboard box and tie up with a bow so you can selfconsciously carry them back to your hotel room for private consumption.
Paharganj
There is a whole band of similarly styled restaurants catering to the hungry traveller along Main Bazaar. The menus are a fairly standard mix of Indian, Chinese and continental fare with the odd Israeli, Japanese and Korean specialty thrown in. Service is conducive to lingering and you can eat pretty well for around Rs 50 to 100. Some places will even serve beer if you're discreet about it. Most travellers' cafes have a subsidiary service such as a travel agency, bookshop, clothing shop or baggage store attached.
Diamond Cafe and Grand Sindh Cafe have cassettes and CDs for sale - greai places to relax and sip coffee while picking out some souvenir tunes.
Khosla Cafe and Madan Cafe on Main Bazaar have pavement seating, which can be either pleasant or a nightmare depending on the time of day you're there. Sitting in the mid-morning or late afternoon you're going to be pestered by beggars, hawkers, dogs and who knows what else.
If you want the fresh air but without the hassle try Satyam next to Hotel Payal, which has a rooftop terrace overlooking the vegetable market.
The place for South Indian food is Sonu Chat House - it's very popular with locals but also caters to travellers' tastes with banana chocolate dosas.
Appetite German Bakery, next to Hotel Vishal, has a small selection of tempting cakes accompanied by new age music, chess and a small library.
Gem Restaurant is a new, and therefore clean, place with fluorescent lighting and large 1st-floor windows - goldfish would feel at home here.
Golden Cafe at Nehru Bazaar offers a change of scene with some outside seating, and dishes that include Korean specialties. If you want a really good feed and don't mind paying a few rupees more than normal, Malhotra Restaurant, behind the Metropolis Tourist Home, is the place to go. Popular with tourists and locals alike, it rarely disappoints.
Those in need of a vitamin C burst should stop at one of the juice shops dotted around; those close to Diamond Cafe are popular.
Many guesthouses and hotels have their own restaurants, some of which are on rooftop terraces (see Places to Stay for details). There are alcohol shops on Desh Bandhu Gupta Rd and at Gole Market.
Old Delhi
The ISBT Workers' Canteen, in the Kashmiri Gate Inter State Bus Terminal, has good food at reasonable prices.
Karim's, down a lane across from the south gate of the Jama Masjid, is very well known among Delhi-wallahs for its excellent nonveg food. In this large restaurant there's everything from kebabs to the richest Mughlai dishes, and prices are reasonable.
Moti Mahal Restaurant (Netaji Subhash Marg, Daryaganj) is a licensed open-air place with live qawwali (devotional chants). It's particularly noted for its tandoori dishes.
Chor Bizarre in the Hotel Broadway serves tasty Kashmiri and Indian fare in quirky surrounds. Bizarre features include a vintage car, still in working condition, that serves as a salad bar, and for those planning a romantic liaison, there's a four-poster bed table. The menu makes great reading and not just for the excellent dishes; it recommends you go for a thali (meal), which gives you a good range of tasty dishes for Rs 225/295 for veg/nonveg). If you can get eight people together, take advantage of the Kashmiri feast eaten on the floor around a large platter (Rs 585 each).
Ghantewala (Chandni Chowk), near the Sisganj Gurdwara, is reputed to have some of the best Indian sweets in Delhi. The stalls along the road in front of the Jama Masjid are very cheap.
New Delhi
There are some good eating options in the area south of Connaught Place, but you'll need a taxi or transport to get to most of them. At Pandara Market, which is a shopping centre near Bikaner House, are some good-value mid-range places such as Ichiban, Pindi and Chicken Inn, plus several others popular with middle-class Delhiites. They all cost around Rs 300 to 400 for two.
Khan Market also has some good restaurants, including China Garden and China Fare, for a little less than the Pandara Market places.
At Sunder Nagar Market, Sweets Corner has tasty pure veg food, including South Indian, and has outdoor seating. Next door, Nathu has more of a fast-food slant.
Dilli Haat (Aurobindo Marg), opposite the INA Market, is a great
place to sample food from all over India - many of the stalls devoted to
particular states have restaurants, and for around Rs 50 per person they
offer cheap value. This may be your one chance to try Naga or Mizo food
(from the northeastern region). There is a Rs 7 entry fee.There are lots of restaurants in Hauz Khas Village, nearly all of them mid-range places that charge around Rs 250 per person. The licensed Bistro Restaurant Complex includes the Kowloon (Chinese restaurant), Mohalla (curries in gravy) and The Roof-top (Indian barbecue plus live music and dance) and is very popular. Park Baluchi, within the nearby Deep Park, specialises in Afghan cuisine such as tandoori chicken wrapped around a sword.
Tamura, at the NDMC swimming pool in Nehru Park, is a licensed Japanese restaurant where most customers are Japanese. It has Japanese newspapers and the Japanese equivalent of thali; a meal for two should cost around Rs 700.
Basil & Thyme (Chanakyapuri), in the nearby swish Santushti Shopping Centre, has good continental food and excellent service. Meals for two cost about Rs 500 and it opens for lunch Monday to Saturday only.
Karol Bagh has some good choices for hungry shoppers or bikies. Dasaprakash South Indian does a good selection of dosas for around Rs 80 per person in clean and modern surrounds.
Mughal Hans Restaurant, opposite, is good for a more diverse range of dishes.
International Hotels
Many Delhi residents reckon the best food is at the major hotels.
The restaurants at The Claridges are very good value and they're interesting places to eat. Dhaba offers 'rugged roadside' cuisine, and is set up like a typical roadside cafe; Jade Garden serves Chinese food in a bamboo-grove setting; Pickwicks offers Western food, and the decor is 19th-century England; while outdoor Corbetts gets its inspiration from Jim Corbett of tiger hunting fame, complete with recorded jungle sounds. As might be expected, meat features prominently on the menu. All these restaurants are moderately priced - most main dishes cost under Rs 200.
Hotel Inter-Continental has a range of restaurants, including the Indian Baluchi, offering a biryani buffet on Sunday for Rs 500 (including beer), and the Blue Elephant on the rooftop, with Thai buffet lunches on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday for Rs 550 (including wine and soft drinks).
At Hyatt Regency, Delhi Ka Angan specialises in very rich Punjabi and Mughlai food. La Piazza has Italian food and possibly Delhi's best Italian wine list. TK's has Japanese and Mongolian buffet lunches. All places charge about Rs 1000 for two.
The Imperial is a great place for an alfresco breakfast in the pleasant garden. Spice Route offers mainly spicy Thai and Keralan dishes; it's very popular and very expensive (Rs 1800 for two). The decor includes a 'wealth section' with 24 carat gold leaves on the walls. At the Tavern Restaurant main dishes cost around Rs 200. Prices at the less formal Garden Party are 10% lower.
One of the best restaurants in the city is Bukhara at Maurya Sheraton . It has many Central Asian specialities, including tandoori cooking and dishes from the Peshawar region in north-west Pakistan. The dhal here is so popular they have started selling it in cans for Rs 150. Also at Maurya Bali Hi is a Chinese restaurant, and West View a European one. All three restaurants cost around Rs 1000 per person. Another restaurant here is the Dum Pukht, named after the cuisine championed by the nawabs of Avadh (Lucknow) around 300 years ago. The dishes are covered by a pastry cap while cooking, so the food is steamed as much as anything else. It's quite distinctive and absolutely superb, and is a little cheaper than the others at Rs 1200 for two.
Metropolitan Hotel Nikko's Sakura Japanese restaurant uses ingredients from Japan and has a 24-hour patio with fresh international fare.
Probably the best Thai restaurant in Delhi is Baan Thai at the Oberoi. Count on Rs 1100 for two; weekday lunch buffets cost Rs 550 and Mongolian barbeques start at Rs 475. It also offers the choice of dining by the pool.
Las Meninas at the Park is India's first Spanish restaurant. Dinner for one/two will cost around Rs 850/1200. Las Meninas is only open for dinner.
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