Eating away the summer
18 May 2014 4:25 PM GMT
Highway on your plate
One of the first things that struck me about Delhi, when I moved here, was the profusion of dhabas in and about the Capital and the NCR.
I was almost convinced, and still am, that the concept of dhabas comes from Delhi, Punjab and Haryana - primarily.Â
Thanks to Bollywood and the little that I have travelled, dhabas come with a very fixed set of ‘what-it-must-have’ - khatiyas (beds made from rope and wood - also used to sit); trucks - especially colourful ones with whacky, misspelled messages at the back; over-sized steel plates and glasses; perhaps a hand pimp and some cows and spicy and decadently oily food that hits the spot and feel free to throw in some strong beer or desi tharra and you are set.Â
My university campus has several dhabas of its own. And no - they are nothing like the Bollywood or highway dhabas, they are simply food outlets that serve up their own variations of Chinjabi (a term used liberally by a friend which basically means Punjabi Chinese food, better known as Indian Chinese) and Indian food in general.Â
This includes rolls, kebabs, shawarmas, momos and even your regular dal-chawal and macaroni (not the fancy pasta) and of course - copious amounts of tea.Â
However, over the years dhaba cuisine has almost fallen into a fixed menu of sorts. You will get your kebabs, the dal, the rotis and the spicy curries.Â
They will come with a serving of chillies and sliced onions and of course the pickles and you must sit outside on the khatiyas and eat with your hands with some Bollywood blaring from the radio in the background as trucks and cars thunder by. The simple life.Â
Dhaba food has also long left the home and hearth and stepped into the cool portals of fine dining.Â
When people crave something they can sink their teeth into, something meaty, greasy and filling, the odds are that if you are north Indian in heart and tongue, you will order your dal makhni and tadoori chicken - champagne or no champagne. I remember (albeit with ample embarassment) ordering chicken kebabs, dal makhni and roti in Colaba’s more-famous-than-Shantaram Leopold Cafe. Sad but true.Â
But then Claridges decides to take on the concept of the dhaba and upgrades it by a good few leaps to give you Dhaba by Claridges. And ladies and gentlemen - if you love your desi khana, this is not a place to be missed.Â
Nestled smartly on the second floor at DLF Place in Saket and first floor of DLF Cyber hub at Gurgaon - Dhaba by Claridges makes you feel right at home the very moment you walk in through the doors with their old Bollywood posters, nimbu-mirchi lights, set-up of a truck and quirky sign boards that say stuff like - ‘Humare pyaare customer aapka dhyaan kidhar hai? Sharab ka theka idhar hai!’ We were already quite in love. Just what Bollywood  showed us and just what we recommend!Â
They can safely boast about having the coolest open kitchen with the baltis, the patilas and degchis and the best serving bowls (that include baltis and steel tiffin boxes) and the adorable condiment holders that come in Hari, Halki and Teekhi to mark out which chutney it contains.Â
We started off with the dhaba chicken, tandoori bhune alu, galouti kebabds, paneer tikka and the best part of the evening - the cocktails!Â
The tandoori alu and the melt-in-your-mouth galouti kebabs get our thumbs up (the kebabs are available in vegetarian and non vegetarian varieties).Â
Now, these guys are very determined to give you the absolute dhaba experience so the cocktail comes to you in pauva bottles and then gets poured over ice in proper glasses. As much as we wished we could keep those bottles, we settled for being very entertained instead. We also must point out that they have an incredible bevy of people who help you choose your poison just right.
Dhaba also serves their own bevy of desi cocktails so take a pick from Toofan, Gulabo, Narangi, Santari, Basanti, and Dhaba’s very own take on the much-loved Bloody Mary – the Laal Pari.Â
Toofan was our favourite and thankfully these guys had no problems in slipping me the recipe (here’s to some great house parties!). For the teetotalers there is Ruhani Lassi, Aam Panna, Thandai, Aam Sutra and cutting chai.
For the main course we dug into Balti Meat, Dhaba Daal and rotis and wrapped it all up with Phirni. We were dying to try the Bailey’s Kulfi but that will have to wait for the next visit. And do not miss the paan at the end of it all.Â
The menu is separated into three parts; tawa, tandoor and patila. The restaurant also serves desi snacks like Vada Pao, Keema Pao, Pao Bhaji and Bun Omelette between 3 pm and 7 pm which we missed (we were there for dinner) and hope to size up next time.Â
A meal for two costs about Rs 2000 (with alcohol) and Rs 1400 (without alcohol) - both prices are without taxes, so do your calculations and head over. This is not a place you should miss, take our word for it!Â
Win, win, wino
Wine. The drink of connoisseurs. To ideally enjoy wine you have to know your wine. You need to know of the flavours, the temperatures and the glasses (if you didn’t know - all wines cannot be had from the same glasses). You can take classes, read books or alternately walk into a restaurant that specialises in wine and let them do all the hard work for you.Â
We chose the last option. And a rainy evening saw us walking into The Wine Company (TWC) at Gurgaon’s Cyber Hub.  The Wine Company , take it from us, is a must visit place at the Cyber Hub. This wine bistro is a wine shop and a restaurant all rolled up in one. Guests can pick from a wide array of wines and liquors available at the venue. They can buy and leave or they can buy and pair it up with some great food right at the venue. And the prices on offer are wholesale prices! Win win!
The Wine Company has some great offers for weekend brunches. We picked a weekday for dinner and were greeted with a full house. A full house is great fun as long as you have a place to sit and fortunately we did.Â
We started with the signature Sangria and the Carari Roti which, we were told, were favourites at the The Wine Company. We moved on to a yummy pizza (grilled chicken, sour cream, tomato, mushrooms and onions), lemon and garlic prawns and broccoli, fish and chips and lamb with a generous serving of mashed potatoes. All odds are forgiven if you serve me mashed potatoes. True story.
The entire meal was accompanied by an interesting selection of wines - both red and white. Connoisseurs will know that wine must also be paired correctly with food. Acidic wines go best with spicy food while lighter ones are best for the European palette. By general consensus, full bodies red wines can be paired with meats and lighter white wines are perfect accompaniments with salads, fruits and desserts. Our favourite was, and has always been, the rosé.Â
The Wine Company has an incredible selection of wines on offer, you can take your pick and open the bottle right there with your meal or if time permits (if it is not post 10 pm) - you can take it home. The last event I attended at the TWC had hosted a wine tasting in association with Fratelli Wines. The man of the moment - Alessio Secci, Co-promoter and Director of Fratelli Wines had pointed out that the market for wine has been increasing exponentially over the years, the Indian consumers are still hesitant about consuming wine while dining out because they lose out when it comes to pricing. Secci had pointed out that it was indeed a little difficult to pick wines that went well with the Indian palette but it wasn’t impossible.Â
TWC serves Italian and European cuisine so their wines are perfectly paired from their cellar. They also have a very well equipped bar, so if you aren’t a budding wino, pick your regular poison. But then it is always nice to try something new! A meal for two at TWC comes to about Rs 2000 (with alcohol but without taxes).Â
memories and lots of fun under the warm weather and sunshine. When: 15 March to 30 September. When: Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi Comedy Club is the 12th Edition of the very popular Comedy Club at Cooper’s Grill and bar hosted by veteran comic Jeeveshu Ahluwalia. Cooper’s hosts a stand -up comedy night once every month on a Wednesday. The cast and crew of the show are- Sindhu felt an overpowering desire to shape the world around us according to our ideas. More often than not, however, we end up among those nameless faceless people, trudging eternally from Delhi to Daulatabad. When: on till 29 April Where: Shri Ram Centre Ticket price: Rs 100-500 Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel invites guests to spend quality timeÂ
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