Recently I got an invite to review a restaurant of the newly opened hotel Kempinski Ambience Delhi. First thing which surprised me the most was its address which says it is located in Shahdara. Second was a feeling of content that Delhi is undoubtedly the food capital too which is why one of Europe’s oldest luxury hotel groups Kempinski has opened its first independently managed hotel in India in Delhi.
Well, the Kempenski Ambience’s Indian specialty restaurant is called Dilli 32, named after the pin code of the area. As soon as I stepped in Dilli 32 one thing which attracted me was a shining wall which when I went closer I found to be engraved with silver and copper replicas of Indian spices – a nice innovative and thoughtfully designed wall. Its menu is quite simple and short having selected delicacies from the Mughlai and Awadhi cuisine.
Executive Chef Rohit Tokhi believes that when it comes to Indian food people have a tendency to stick to the basic combinations and dishes with which one relates easily that is why he has kept it simple. Chef Rohit started my dinner with the non vegetarian platter of starters. First came the Awadhi galawati kabab made out of finely minced mutton having a nice aroma and tenderness. Burrah boti kabab and murgh tikke both were perfectly succulent. After couple of minutes, vegetarian platter followed. Though dohra kumbh and chowk ki tikki were delicious but it was palak ki asharfian which needs a special mention. A nice smooth palak shammi stuffed with khoya and pinenuts.
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Now it was time to move to the next level and taste the main course. I ordered nehari gosht, dum ka murgh and nawabi gosht stew.
Nehari was made in Lucknowi style, a bit dark but having subtle flavours and tender pieces of mutton perfectly spiced and cooked on spit fire. Dum ka murgh had the flavours of masalas absorbed to its core and became succulent as cooked on dum. Nawabi stew was made in Rampuri style, where the mutton is cooked with brown onions and milk on slow flame. Dilli 32 also has variety of breads to offer such as the butter and egg stuffed Mughlai parantha or the sheermal to enhance the taste of food. One must dish from the menu is surprisingly a vegetarian option, shakahari kheechra.
My main course was sealed by a pan shot and I ended my dinner with rich badam ka halwa and shahi tukda.
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Meal for two: Rs.5000