Kheer

A celebration of India and its food Serves Indian Atmospherics: If you ignore the odd name, the space is huge and colourful with swirling Indian colours. Making a distinct statement against the current trend of serving modified Indian food in international surroundings, Kheer celebrates Indian design and the trademark ‘a little bit of everything’ to…

Dirty Apron

Serves: Eurasian When you want to laze away three hours, come here Atmospherics: Above the frenetically popular Piano Man (a bar with live gigs six days a week) is this compact café, filled with sunlight. The floor above it is a terrace, partly open and partly shaded with a glass canopy. While there is a…

Daikichi

Blurb: The tiniest Japanese restaurant with a Japanese chef Atmospherics: The L shaped eatery is strictly no-frills. Tables seat four except the tatami table (semi-private) that seats six. Daikichi is the brainchild of a hotel management graduate from a vegetarian community who spotted an opportunity in Gurgaon and has set up a wonderful little eatery,…

Curry Singh

Blurb: a one-woman band that creates serious music Cuisine: home-style Punjabi food Atmospherics: in the newest part of ever-expanding Gurgaon, Sector 50 has a couple of busy shopping complexes; Rodeo Drive will be just as happening in the next few months. Right now, you can sit outside the restaurant at dinnertime and conjure up the…

Dao

Cuisine: Thai Intro: It completes the bouquet of restaurants and cuisines in GK’s N Block Market. Atmospherics: This is where Dao and its cousin downstairs, Dimcha, win. Chic and sophisticated with an overtly Thai sensibility, the restaurant is crowded every day of the week, and one gets the impression that the interiors play a large…

Biryani Blues

Slow-cooked food, served fast ATMOSPHERICS Visit any of their outlets at mealtimes and you’ll probably have to wait for a table. The reason is the superb quality of the food, the authenticity of many of the dishes (except a few where they have chosen to tweak the recipe a bit) and the prices. Three people…

Sadia’s Dehlvi Cuisine

A few years ago, I had been invited to sample a food festival in a hotel. The theme of the festival was the Muslim food of Delhi. The young chef was explaining to a group of us food journalists about each dish as it was brought out. For every question we had, the chef had…

Ummami

Ummami is a fine dining restaurant built over a huge scale, in a building that is, as yet quite empty. It is in the corporate office area of Gurgaon and both times I have visited at lunch time, it has been full of corporate honchos having lunch meetings. The wine library is not just a…

Fish Curries of Peninsular India

All along India’s coastline, the staple diet of the locals is fish curry and rice. But, do you think that it’s a single recipe all the way through? No way. There are many dozens of different preparations, depending on which part of the coast you happen to be. Fish curry makes its appearance during breakfast,…