As they say that the best food stops conversations. It takes even the juiciest news or most salacious confession to a halt: you stop, swallow and savour. This happened to me when I visited DEL at Roseate House, New Delhi. The experience started with a warm welcome with a doorman opening the door as you approach, followed by greetings from a team of smiling faces when you step into the restaurant. A long hall with square tables, some with comfy corner coves where it is a little quieter yet quite atmospheric. The entire restaurant is filled with loyal diners it seems - families eating fruit ice cream, corporates clinking wine glasses, clandestine dates in cosy corners - who clearly know that this is the good stuff.
Food And Drinks
The restaurant has an eclectic and interesting selection of items to offer on its menu. The menu has been designed by Executive Chef Gagandeep Singh Bedi, and flourishes with the kind of interesting flavour combinations. We started off with Arugula Salad, Pomegranate and warm Goat Cheese and SOI 7 satay (chicken). What I loved the most about the salad was the combination of warm goat cheese and arugula leaves topped with walnuts and pomegranate - refreshing and will ignite your hunger. Chicken satay, served with peanut sauce, was equally well done - one bite into the chicken piece was enough for me to become a fan of it. Next, to my surprise, chef Gagandeep sent one of my favourite dishes from the Italian kitchen - gnocchi alla sorrentina, and I couldn't wait to dig in. It was well crafted and filling - brownie points for the sauce! (For the unversed, gnocchi is a north Italian dish - a simple bake of potato dumplings, cheese and tomato sauce.)
I followed this with a plate of spicy avocado - a maki roll that cucumber, avocado, tanuki and spicy mayo - eye-grabbing, lured me instantly with its colourful pattern, and I admit, it met with my expectation in terms of taste too. From the Indian menu, I sampled some dahi kebab, murgh makhanwala (butter chicken), guncha-o-keema (broccoli and cauliflower florets tossed with onions, sweet peppers and tomatoes) and dal-e-dhungar (black lentil simmered with butter and cream). The Indian meal satiated to my heart's content. Brimming with rich flavours of butter and tomato, murgh makhanwala was the stellar dish from the Indian menu.
Desserts at DEL are suitably sweet. I had flourless chocolate cake - which was as light and quite satisfying. From the classics, I would recommend kesari rasmalai - an absolute delight. A nice end to a surprising evening.
About Shubham BhatnagarYou can often find Shubham at a small authentic Chinese or Italian restaurant sampling exotic foods and sipping a glass of wine, but he will wolf down a plate of piping hot samosas with equal gusto. However, his love for homemade food trumps all.