There is a particular kind of craving that hits around midday in Delhi. It is not for something quick and forgettable. It is for something real: slow-cooked, properly spiced, served with a hot roti that was pulled from a tandoor moments ago. The trouble is that the restaurants that do that kind of cooking well are usually set up for long, leisurely dinners, not a brisk weekday lunch. Baluchi at The Lalit New Delhi has solved this problem rather elegantly with the Baluchi Express menu, a concise, carefully designed offering that delivers the kitchen's full capabilities without demanding two hours of your afternoon. It is one of the most sensible things a hotel restaurant in Delhi has done in a while.
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The Setting: A Room That Does the Heavy Lifting
Baluchi, located in The Lalit New Delhi, captivates with its atmosphere, blending Indian and modern elements without falling into a generic hotel style. The décor is rich, using traditional Indian design without clichés, with warm lighting and a generous space that makes guests feel welcomed. As a pan-Indian destination, Baluchi redefines authentic Indian cuisine with vibrant dishes featuring rare herbs and exotic spices. The Naan'ery, an iconic bread bar, offers artisanal breads baked in an iron tandoor, enhancing the dining experience. The Express menu provides a focused version of Baluchi, maintaining its high standards and rich flavours.
What the Express Menu Actually Is
The Baluchi Express provides a complete Indian meal with efficiency, available in three versions: Gosht Pardah Biryani, Murgh Pardah Biryani, and the non-vegetarian Makhani Express. Each meal includes a welcome drink, main course, and after-dinner paan, removing decision fatigue. You just select your protein, and the rest is managed, showcasing efficient and respectful hospitality.
The Pardah Biryanis: Gosht and Murgh
The star of the Express menu is the Pardah Biryani, available in mutton (gosht) and chicken (murgh) versions. The theatrical reveal of a pardah biryani, sealed beneath a thin pastry dough and slow-cooked, never loses its appeal. When the crust is broken, steam rises, perfuming the table. This method keeps the rice moist and the meat tender, enhancing the dish's flavour.
The Gosht Pardah Biryani is a traditional choice, with mutton that is long-marinated and slow-cooked, layered with par-boiled rice finished in the dum style. Whole spices throughout add depth to each spoonful. The Murgh Pardah Biryani offers a lighter chicken option, well-seasoned and moist, with rice carrying the same fragrant depth. Both versions come with Burrani Raita, a garlicky yoghurt that balances the biryani's richness, or plain curd for a quieter side.
Accompaniments include Kachumber Salad, achaar, papad, and chutney. The kachumber adds crunch and freshness, achaar brings heat and tang, and papad offers a necessary textural contrast. This is a thoughtfully assembled meal, not just a main dish with added elements.
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The Makhani Express: When Simplicity Is the Point
The Makhani Express, the third non-vegetarian option on the Express menu, exudes quiet confidence. It features Murgh Makhani and Dal Baluchi, served with choices of Butter Naan, Tandoori Roti, Lachha Parantha, or Steamed Rice, along with Kachumber Salad, Achaar, Papad, and Chutney.
While Murgh Makhani and Dal Baluchi might seem common, Baluchi's versions highlight why these dishes are cherished. The Dal Baluchi, a blend of black lentil, ginger, and garlic simmered over charcoal overnight and finished with cream and butter, stands out. This slow cooking results in a thick, velvety base infused with charcoal smoke, with cream and butter enhancing rather than masking the dish. It's a favourite among Baluchi regulars.
The Murgh Makhani receives similar attention. The tomato base is rich and sweet, the butter seamlessly integrates into the sauce, and the chicken is tender. Together, they offer a comforting experience that only well-crafted food can provide. These dishes are satisfying, a testament to their quality.
Baluchi's bread is consistently praised, and the Makhani Express includes it all. The Butter Naan, fresh from the tandoor, is as good as diners across India claim, while the Lachha Parantha offers a delightful, flaky texture.
To Finish: Kesar Pista Kulfi, Gulab Jamun, and Paan
The Express menu ends with a choice of dessert and a paan, which is the right way to end an Indian meal and a detail that most restaurants of this type forget to include.
The Kesar Pista Kulfi is the more interesting choice. Dense, slow-frozen in the traditional style rather than churned, it carries the fragrance of real saffron rather than the synthetic sweetness that passes for kesar in lesser kitchens. The pistachio runs through it in rough, green flecks rather than as a paste, giving it a pleasant textural variation. It is not a small dessert; it arrives as a substantial, satisfying finish. The Gulab Jamun, for those who want something warm, is the more classic end to a North Indian meal, and Baluchi's version is soft and properly soaked without being cloying.
The paan arrives last, fresh and neatly folded, and it performs the function that a good paan always has in Indian dining: it closes the meal cleanly, leaving you feeling done rather than heavy. It is a thoughtful final touch on a menu that is full of them.
The Service and the Value Proposition
The service at Baluchi has been described by diners as efficient and knowledgeable, yet genuinely friendly and welcoming, with the word "perfect" used more than once. The Express format puts that service under a different kind of pressure: a lunch crowd needs pace and attentiveness simultaneously, not just warmth. On the whole, the team handles it well. The menu is explained clearly, the food arrives in good order, and there is no sense of being rushed even when you have a meeting to get back to.
At INR 1,800, the Express menu sits firmly in the premium lunch bracket. For what you receive, which is a full meal at a genuinely fine kitchen in one of Delhi's better hotels, including a welcome drink, a substantial main course, all accompaniments, a dessert, and a paan, it represents good value for the experience. It is not an everyday lunch; it is an occasion lunch, the kind you book when the meeting needs a proper venue or when you simply want to eat well without making an entire afternoon of it.
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Why Express Menus Like This Matter
The Baluchi Express is a small thing in the grand scheme of restaurant innovation, but it solves a real problem. Hotel restaurants in India too often present themselves as events rather than restaurants, places you visit once a year for a birthday dinner rather than returning to regularly. The Express format invites a different kind of relationship: it says, come on a Tuesday, eat well, get back to your day. That is a confident position for a restaurant of Baluchi's standing to take, and it is the right one.
The Gosht Pardah Biryani, the Dal Baluchi, the naans from that iron tandoor, the kesar pista kulfi and the closing paan — none of it is revolutionary. All of it is excellent. And the offer to receive all of it in a single, well-priced set menu, at lunch, in one of Delhi's most quietly beautiful hotel dining rooms, is one that deserves to be taken up far more often than it probably is.