Sometimes, to dine out, my only criterion becomes the ambience of a place with soothing music at the background where I can chill out with some old friends. But in Delhi, it’s hard to find a place which is not usually overcrowded, where one can have a meal over a conversation at peace.
A recent place I went to was 1OAK, a nice little café nestled at New Delhi’s Moolchand Market with a terrace and a fresco wall overlooking a park. Owned by a young entrepreneur, Kanishk Tuteja, the café had a very positive vibe about it. It was a bit windy that day, so I decided to settle inside. I started with a bowl of sweet corn soup which was slightly on the watery side but very well seasoned. A North African salad with couscous as its base was refreshing where the pine nuts and walnuts gave a nice crunchy texture to the dish. On a personal note, I love anything made with couscous and so I had not too many reasons to not like the dish.
The café menu is vast and offers something or the other for every age group. I ordered a couple of starters and was impressed by the speed of service. Italian cheese rolls and jalapeno fritters were good and would go well with the drinks as nice finger food for vegetarians. The keema pav in the menu seemed a good option to try out in that weather. Hot steaming pav with a nicely done keema was good enough to impress me.
Beijing chicken, another dish which youngsters would love as it had everything an average Delhite would love — fried, crunchy and on the spicier side — was tasty. Adding a bit of Sichuan pepper would make it even better.
Worth mentioning a dish was its chilli garlic prawns which had a nice crunchy texture and cooked to perfection.
For the mains, I decided to go with a lamb burger and its grilled basa Philadelphia. Both failed to impress me as the burger lacked juices though the flavour of the patty was quite good.
On the other hand, the fish was dry and under seasoned.
The accompanying risotto with the fish saved the dish as it was subtle and creamy which went well with the fillet.
Meal for two
Rs.1200 plus taxes
