Elma’s Bakery, Cakes and Tea Room

Elma’s – owned by The Living Room couple – has plenty of the owners’ personality stamped all over it, from the old-fashioned glass ‘conservatory’ windows that look out onto verdant tree-tops to a white piano and a couple of pieces of furniture that date back at least 40 years. The olde worlde look has been…

Sampan

Now that the renovation is complete, Sampan has morphed into an attractive, sophisticated dining space with a menu that is bound to make waves. After all, teppanyaki, oriental salads, sushi, tempura, Thai, Chinese, soups all in one massive effort is no mean feat. Some of the items on the menu are seldom seen elsewhere; others…

Zaffrani Zaika

You can tell the sincerity of a restaurant by the quality of the freebies it serves. Zaffrani Zaika won’t give you store-bought papad. Instead, it makes a sort of baked matthi and serves that with three dips, all made in house. And here’s one place you needn’t be afraid of over-ordering: the waiters will tell…

Diva

This empress of Greater Kailash II periodically undergoes extensive renovation, but this time around, it has become a new restaurant altogether. The ground floor with its wood-fired oven and semi open kitchen has turned into a café, in the style of Café Diva in Greater Kailash I, N Block Market. Visibly less formal than Diva…

Eurail

The large, airy, light restaurant makes a mark in its interiors. Entirely glass enclosed, it is like being out of doors, except that whether it is cold, rainy, dusty or hot as hell, you are insulated from it all, though you are a part of it all the same. When I visited, the menu was…

Prima Kurien’s Kitchen

I have a confession to make. I hate avial with a passion. Whenever I have had it, it has seemed to me to be the most pointless, tasteless dish in the panoply of that glorious mélange of Kerala’s deservedly famous cuisine. A bunch of vegetable batons in a yellow, coconut-based gravy has never cut the…

Auma

Sleek and glossy, Auma is the country cousin of interior store Oma next door, having the same owner. Quite as glamorous as Set’z, which has been, so far, the only restaurant in DLF Emporio. Auma may not have the grand scale of Set’z, but it does have classy interiors and surprisingly good food. It also…

Trishna

Atmospherics: Most Gomantak/Mangalorean restaurants serving seafood are of the strictly no-nonsense variety. However, you cannot be in 1 Style Mile and still be no-nonsense, so the interiors (after a slightly grungy entrance) are stylish without being fussy. There’s an extremely popular terrace with gazebos, a small dining room and tables under the trees. Downstairs is…

On the Waterfront

Flavour is the motif of this brand new restaurant Set’z has a new sibling and it is at the Aman Hotel. On the Waterfront is centrally located; as well-appointed as the original with an identifiably different menu, with the same broad divisions. Atmospherics: You can opt to be seated in a different area every time…

Rara Avis

No sooner than Chez Nini opened its doors, in another part of South Delhi is Rara Avis, with three partners, two of them French. Simple, fuss-free food without pretentious flourishes. Atmospherics: The second floor restaurant is approached by a typically Parisian lift with two grill doors that have to be opened and closed manually and…