In-fighting, bureaucracy and what it all means for spring gin-drinking. ♦ It’s that time of the year when rum gives way to gin, and Delhi’s barflies want nothing more than to sip beer on a terrace. But the city’s prime outdoor drinking scene has taken a big hit this golden month, with two rooftops collapsing within ten days of …
Rich flavours on pretty plates ♦ Delhi’s largest multilevel parking lot on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, which opened to much fanfare last year, is a desolate, glittering island between the hustle of Hanuman Mandir and the panoply of state emporia across the street. A digital display outside lists the impressive number of available spots, 1,408, less …
Authentic, not atmospheric ♦ It’s been 11 years since Sakura first opened in Delhi. Since then, the city’s self-proclaimed “first Japanese restaurant” has opened a branch in Gurgaon, won every food award in its category and, recently, revamped its original location and menu. The new Sakura at the Metropolitan Hotel remains fundamentally the same after …
A hidden gem ♦ This article is part of a longer story on Delhi’s museums. [cycloneslider id=”gargoti-mineral-museum”]Dark, mysterious purple amethysts, spiky crystals of chalcedony, rheumy quartz and brilliant blue cavancite line the shelves. It’s not hard to imagine a sighting of the Virgin Mary or an Om within all this lustre (there are, in fact, …
Khau gali ♦ New Delhi gives way to the old city as you cross the railway line northeast of Connaught Place. A little before Shahjahanabad proper, however, the area between Ferozeshah Kotla, Gandhi Market and ITO already feels more like Sheher than Nai Dilli. This is where the balance of traffic switches from cars to …
Help yourself to a slice of Delhi food history ♦ On a walk through Khan Market’s intestinal middle lane the other day, we came upon a basket of bread, next to the imported strawberries and grapes. The smallish, dark square loaves nestled in the large basket looked impossibly old-fashioned compared to the fluffy white or …
Where we’re drinking. ♦ Like many other Connaught Place venues, DV8 is an institution — but one that has changed with the times. In the late ’60s, this was The Cellar, Delhi’s first real night spot, which defined the decade to come for many people. With The Cellar’s passing went the hippies and the rockers …
There’s more to life with… ♦ Campa Cola was always a Delhi drink. Bombaywalas had Thums Up, we had Campa. If you pass by the Campa factory in Connaught Place, it looks like a representation of lndia’s dashed isolationist dreams. The windows are broken, the paint is peeling and the sign says “ama”. But if …
If you only have one night in Delhi… ♦ Delhi has a surprising amount of nightlife, but it can be difficult for a newcomer to dig beneath deserted city streets and Paharganj dens. Expats or upmarket tourists may never get beyond a stuffy hotel bar or an overpriced lounge, and even if you have guests …
Serving up a capital thali. ♦ Mumbai’s legendary Gujarati thali establishment opened recently in the NCR with two outlets, one in CP and one in Gurgaon. We ate at the CP restaurant, which is a basic place – aesthetically it’s the slightly fancier Gujju cousin to a Saravana Bhawan or Sagar Ratna. A man with …