It was a cold and foggy night. I needed something that would warm my soul. And my thoughts naturally turned to food. I had been getting calls from a delivery outfit, and decided I’d try their dishes out. To give away the conclusion of my story, the food was excellent, and I had a great meal that blew the winter blues away.
The delivery outlet is called Heritage Food, and it has two subsections: Indian Heritage and Orient Heritage. It is based in Malviya Nagar, and delivers food to neighbourhoods in south Delhi (through Swiggy and Zomato). But it also runs a catering service, for which orders have to be placed in advance.
The food came neatly packed in well-sealed boxes. I enjoyed their rainbow vegetarian sushi — nicely flavoured rice rolls with bits of veggies tucked into them. The rice was soft, and the veggies were crunchy. The Thai water chestnut dim sums were not bad either, though I think the casing could have been a bit thinner. But the filling was delicious, and I enjoyed their fiery chicken dim sums, too.
Their menu is quite comprehensive and includes everything from the Andhra Chicken 65 to Chicken Ghee Roast, Vegetarian Chettinad, Aviyal and Thai Red Chicken Curry. I thoroughly enjoyed the curry, which had the delightful flavours of galangal and lemon grass. The gravy had been nicely thickened with coconut milk, and I actually had it with some flaky Malabar parottas.
The catering service has on the menu dishes such as the Kashmiri Rogan Josh, Crispy Palak, Nadru and Haaq as well as Punjab’s Sarson Ka Saag and Amritsari Fish. It has Delhi’s Chaat, Shami Kababs, samosas, Bedmi Kachori and Rajasthan’s Lal Maas, Dal Baati Churma and Mirchi Vada. Gujarat’s Bajrey Ki Khichdi, the Parsi Dhansak and patrani machhi— it has the choicest of dishes from across the country, including many from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
I love southern Indian food, so I tried out the Mangalorean Chicken Ghee Roast. The chicken was soft and moist, and had soaked in the flavours of the spices and the aroma of ghee. But another old favourite of mine — the fiery Andhra speciality Chicken 65—did not impress me much. I found the chicken a bit too dry and salty. The Lemon Rice was not bad, but it was a wee bit dry, too. I love it when the lemon rice is moist.
The delivery services (Swiggy and Zomato) right now have the old menus, but I am told they will soon include all these delightful dishes — Sushi Rolls, Chinese Chilli Chicken with capsicum and onions, tempuras, Dim Sums, Chicken Korma, Dhaba Chjcken, Aviyal, Vegetable Chettinad et al.
To end your meal, I would suggest that you get some Kheerer Singara — samosas prepared with sweetened and thickened milk – from New Annapurna Sweets near Yusuf Sarai. My brother-in-law sent some across, and I thought they were the most delicious sweets I had eaten in a very long time. That, to my mind, was the best way to end a meal on a cold winter’s night.
The writer is a seasoned food critic
