Wenger's Deli, Connaught Place, New Delhi

Note - This place takes its last order at around 8:30 PM/8:45PM. You feel this is bad - this is actually much later than the legendary sister concern which shuts door at 7:45 PM.

Wenger's Deli, Connaught Place

Wenger's Deli is sister (and very new) concern of the legendary Wenger's. We all know about Wenger's, which is just phenomenal in terms of value for money it offers. Wenger's Deli is an attempt to get into next level - from Bakery to Delicatessan - but with same focus on 'value for money'.

It is located adjacent to Keventer's in A-Block (on the radial road), Connaught Place. With the legendary Wenger's two shops away, this place is rightly placed for attracting the crowd. But it gets a bit hidden due to its location. However once you step inside, you will find the same quality as Wenger's and will feel satiated with very less hit on the wallet.

Decor
Remember, this is a Deli - better suited for a pick-up or a quick bite between work. This is not a fine dining setup at all. Decor is very minimal. Actually, the place itself is very small - hardly 10 or 12 seats (bar stools, to be precise) are available for seating. During rush hours, the waiting can go long due to limited seating - best is to order first and wait or grab the food and step out. The seating is also much in a bar fashion with stools facing the walls (window) and fixed tables in the walls. The caricatures on both walls make the setting a bit light and makes it feel much like a Deli. Overall, seating is less but the decor is good (or maybe perfect for the venture).

Service
The Deli has an open kitchen - actually kitchen probably has same amount of space as the front desk and the sitting area. The kitchen is visible through an open glass panel. That kind of sets a good tone as you can see your order being prepared in hygienic way. The service is just about okay. I have found it to be very quick at times and then slow at other times. Also, it depends on the rush and orders in the queue.

Food and Drinks
Now comes the main part - Food.

Food at Wenger's Deli is amazingly fresh, cheap and quantity is good. This frankly stands out in whole of Connaught Place. After trying various items from their menu, here is what I would recommend

Salads - Cucumber and Grape one; really nice combination and flavor.
Panini - Go for Greek Hero or Vegan Delite (yes the one with aubergine) in vegetarian section or Peri Peri Chicken in non-vegetarian section.
Waffles - All of them are good; perfectly baked. If you are into waffles, try them here.
Smoothies/Shakes - Zacarito or Hawaiin (if you like it in Coconut milk)
Burgers - The non-vegetarian section rules here. Sorry for the other side but the classic Chicken burger or Mutton Shami burger are both awesome. They are very filling and have perfectly prepared patties in them. A bit on spicy side though. But we, Indians, love it that way. Don't we?

So, what is missing? In my opinion, coffee is surely missing from the menu. Well, no hot drinks till now on their menu. I fail to understand why. I hope they get this corrected soon.


USP
Three things - food preparation, food quantity and price. Perfectly sums it up.

Here are the ratings on different aspects
Decor - 3/5
Service - 3/5
Food - 5/5
Drinks - 4/5

Details
Wenger's Deli
A-18, Radial Road
Connaught Place,
New Delhi

Mumbai Matinee (The Bollywood Cafe), Sector 18, Noida

This review comes after a long time. First things first, I have decided to change the format of reviews to include different aspects of the place and give ratings to each one of them. Most common aspects would be - food, decor, and service but there could be other occasional things which are worth mentioning for a particular place like music, drinks or USP etc...

Mumbai Matinee (The Bollywood Cafe), Sector 18, Noida

Discovered by chance while roaming around in Sector 18 market and after being to this place three times, this place does not live up to its "name" hype. Well, for a place called Mumbai Matinee, one would expect blockbuster food - isn't that what Bollywood is all about. But Mumbai Matinee fails miserably in food department. Seriously, how can one go wrong with Vada Pav.

Decor
Nostalgic. Do I need to say more. For someone who grew up in 80s & 90s and had always loved the wonderful bygone era of Bollywood, this place is really nostalgic. It has posters from old movies - some of them which even I had not seen till now. And then it has the LPs (not the real ones but very much realistic fakes) on the ceiling. Plus it has famous dialogues from some of the movies in the outer room (on first floor). To complete the look, there are boxes created out of old cassette covers - remember those tapes we used to play in our cassette players. Now this one is old for some of the readers to understand:)

One thing which hurts me in the decor is the 'Wall of Legends'. It contains a small biography of legends of Bollywood. Nice concept but the hurting part is
- There is no mention of Dilip Kumar there. I mean - this is tragic!!!
- And then there is Parveen Babi and Firoz Khan. With all due respect to the latter, isn't this too much and then Parveen Babi - seriously ???

Music
For someone who has grown up hearing 80s and 90s music - don't laugh - this is a good place to enjoy those songs. Music is indeed good here - one can enjoy oldies as well as 80s/90s music. The volume can be tones down a bit due to the small place and closed interiors but then it depends on your mood as well.

Service
Overall pass-able. I have not waited too long for my orders ever - which is what matters. Plus the staff is courteous. Only thing which I noticed was the staff to be less knowledgeable. For example, if they cannot understand a demand for Pesto sauce pasta then something is missing. But then, Noida has always been devoid of good knowledgeable staff in restaurants. No surprises on this one.

Food
Coming to the probably the most important in a restaurant, food fails to make a mark to me at this place. On all my visits, I have tired nearly all items from their 'Mumbai Matinee Special' section and some pastas for my young one. Anything listed as 'Special' in the menu should be special but I am afraid they fail to make a mark. It is not that they are bad but they are just not special. I have tried Misel Pav, Vada Pav, Keema Pav, Pav Bhaji - nearly covering the whole 'Special' menu but none of them are outstanding. Moving on to pastas, they are very much 'Indianized' so to say. The sauces smell and taste very much Indian. Overall, food needs a huge lift in this otherwise good conceptualized eating joint.

Drinks
Well, this the part I have been there 3 times - specially their cutting chai. If you want to get a good cutting chai - this is the place to be in Sector 18. The cutting chai is just the right quantity of tea one would want to enjoy with the food. Made with perfect amount of milk and perfectly sweetened, it makes the food taste somewhat better.Perfect for a rainy day.

Here are the ratings on different aspects
Decor - 4/5
Service - 3/5
Music - 4.5/5
Food - 2/5
Tea - 5/5 :)

Details
Mumbai Matinee
J-19, Sector 18
Noida
National Capital Region (NCR)

South Indian Snacks Corner, Jantar Mantar

Important - Please note that this place is not open on Sundays.

For my first 2-3 visits to this place, I never asked the name of the place at all. Food is so yummy that you forget everything else. But then, during a visit, when I asked the name of the place from the guy who stands there taking the orders most of the times, he just said 'South Indian Snacks Corner'. The most generic name (and maybe most apt) one can have for such a place.

For once, this could be just another fill-in-my-food kind of place but run out of a small kiosk and its adjoining one for past many years - some say around 20 years, this place dishes out amazing flavors through its hot South Indian snacks on dirt cheap rates. I think the most priced item on the menu would still be of 70-80 rupees only. Even the parking in some of the malls cost more than this in Delhi. Dirt cheap does not mean low on taste. The preparation of food is awesome here - I have never ever eaten any hard Idlis here or over-fried Dosas here. Move over Sagar Ratnas...

The place does not have a sitting area at all and you can see utensils being cleaned in a corner. It is like an half open kitchen with a huge boiling cauldron of Sambhar just outside of the kiosk. If you are too much into ambiance, move on to CP. But if you want to enjoy Delhi food where it is best then this is the place to be. The popularity of the place can be seen anytime you go there with sufficient enough attendance but during lunch hours you can see hordes of loyal office goers from the neighbourhood for their value-for-money meals. The service is amazingly fast and you can enjoy coffee/lassi/shakes from other shops around.

Coming back to food, I do not know where to start from and where to end. You can pick any item from the menu and it would be wonderful in taste. Everything here comes with pure coconut chutney (no dal chana in there), hot Sambhar and the Red chutney. All of them are just rightfully spiced - nothing over the board. On the main dish front, Dosas are just appropriately filled with stuffing and are never over-fried. Idlis are appropriately steamed and soft to enjoy them being dipped in Sambhar. Dal Vadas are not much interesting but till now I have never eaten Dal Vadas which can just blow my mind. Sambhar Vada is one of my favorite here since they are appropriately fried and make wonderful combination with their Sambhar. And this is the only place, where I do eat Upma. Yes, the Upma is just amazing - no fancy ingridents there - just the mix of coconut and dal. They do have other varieties of Dosas and then there is a dish of the day as well. Maybe someday, I will get bored with their regular fare and would move to more dishes but as of now the regular fare is keeping me engaged. Having said that, Rava Kesari is a good way to end the meal here - no fancy stuff but an honest home-food feeling.

And I think "home food feeling" is the best description of this place.

Average cost for two would not be more than 120 rupees

Details:-
South Indian Snacks Corner
In front of designated protest area, Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar Road
New Delhi

Sona Sweets, Nehru Place

I remember Sona Sweets from my days while working near Nehru Place. Nehru Place has lots of wonderful small eating places - Sona Sweets is surely one of the best there. It is a small eatery joint which offers nearly everything in India fast food - from Chhole Bhature to Aloo Parantha, from Chaats to Pao Bhaaji, from Idli to Dosa and much more.

It has a large (as per Nehru Place standards) open kitchen area where there are large stoves and large flat tawas. You can actually watch your paranthas or dosas being made right there (it is not a good experience watching though). The place is nearly filled each day during the lunch hours and you may have to squeeze yourself first to make an order (do payment and take a coupon) and then squeeze yourself more to get the food at your table. In the meantime, I forgot, you need to watch for a table as well. But let me tell, all this hardship is worth it. Truly amazing food at reasonable cost, especially the Aloo Parantha is tasty and filling - one is enough for me. But the best thing is Lassi there - served in a large (Punjabi) style glass, it is one of the best I ever had till now.

So, go there for Aloo Parantha and finish off with Lassi. Just make sure that you do not rush into lunch hours.

Contact Info:
Sona Sweets
G 1, 27 Saraswati House,
Nehru Place
New Delhi - 19
Ph: 91-011-26426777

Nirula's, Great India Place

Last week, colleagues in my office decided to celebrate an occasion with eating out. So, we decided to go to newly opened Pind Balluchi at Great India Place. Once we reached to this place, we were told there is around half-an-hour waiting due to some kitty parties going on. Dejected, we went to TGI Friday’s but discovered probably world’s only TGIF serving no liqueur leading us to once again looking for a new place to eat. Running out of options, we zeroed-in at Nirula’s. They have this so called multi-cuisine restaurant.

I have read somewhere that sometimes you take wrong turn in life and regret it later on. Going to Nirula’s on that day was surely such a wrong turn. It was the worst food, worst service, worst staff and worst value-for-money I have ever seen in my life. I have to Nirula’s other outlets in the past like the CP one or the one at Noida Sector-2, the food has been just about okay – nor too bad neither something to go ga-ga over. But the food at this place is worst one can make and even charge heavily for it.

Since we were in a group of 12 people, we nearly tried at least one item from each of their sections. We tried assorted non-veg kebabs, non-vegetarian kebab platter with dal / roti, chicken fillet burger, chicken chop, fried chicken, fried fish, non-vegetarian thali, mutton sausage pizza and non-vegetarian pizza - and nearly each one was equally bad. Only good thing was a starter called samosa sticks. I do not how one can consistently make each dish as bad as previous one – but it was surely done by the cook at this place. Also, the staff was aloof – not well trained and the place was full of flies all around. Water was warm, cold drink machine not working, food was served pretty slow and air conditioner was not working.

I hope somebody from Nirula’s upper management reads this blog or my comments with the local management at this place and do something about it. It is like killing a brand – if they continuously keep serving such stuff customer after customer.

Never ever go to this place.

Brahmputra Complex, Sector 29, Noida

This is road-side eating at its best - the evening food stalls at the Brahmputra Complex, Sector 29, Noida is just fabulous. The food at these around 15 stalls offers great variety while being not heavy on your pocket. You have to eat standing up or in your car but you will not regret coming here just for that.

In vegetarian food, there are momos, soups, chaat, aloo-tikki, steamed corn and bhelpuri. The aloo-tikkis are crisp and good on your tongue. Bhelpuri is also spicy and you would surely ask for second helping. In non-vegetarian food, the variety increases a lot. Numerous stalls offer different tikkas, seekh kebabs, boti kebabs, shammi kebabs, chicken/mutton korma along with roomali roti and chicken/mutton biryanis. The tikkas and seekh kebabs are specially worth trying along with mutton korma. But there is a warning here - some of the stalls serve very spicy food, so be ready to deal with it. And then there are two good juice shops if you feel to beat that heat on your tongue or in your throat. Plus, you can always try some sweets from Evergreen later on to complete your dinner.

Surely, worth a place for good enough food at reasonable price - provided you are not too keen on ambience.

Tea Shop, Sector 37, Noida

Tea Shop in Sector 37, near the telephone exchange is one of those hidden places which become popular only through word-to-word publicity. It is a nice little shop run by Capt. (Retd.) Mehra and his wife. It is quite popular among young crowd - who come out to chill, chat and smoke there.

The place has sitting arrangements in front of the shop. It offers great variety of tea and coffee plus grilled/plain sandwiches and other eatables like cookies, momos, corn etc... It is wonderful place - one which I have visited numerous times and still visit a lot. Order any hot/cold drink from their menu and it would be fantastic. All the sandwiches are also wonderful specially the traditional onion-capsicum grilled and the latest chicken-salami one. There is also a sweet shop nearby, offering wonderful samosas.

If you are in Noida, then it is a place to visit and relax in your car while having wonderful tea/coffee along with hot eatables.