Ever saw the film – or the play – 12 Angry Men? I was reminded, well, not of the story, but of the title when we sat down to dinner at Rustom’s – a restaurant that serves delicious Parsi food in the Capital – a few nights ago. You could have named our table Seven Hungry Men and Women.
I was just making a list of all that we ate, and felt rather embarrassed. We ordered enough for a party of 15. And we finished up almost everything on the table. But let me start at the beginning. A dear friend from Kolkata was in town – ostensibly to see how I was doing. We were meeting her after a long time, so there was much to talk about. So we – a group of seven – gathered at Rustom’s.
Gourmet’s delight
Rustom’s has been around for a while in Delhi. I used to hear good things about it when it was at Adhchini. Somehow, I never went there, quite possibly because the traffic there could be manic. But I had been raring to visit the place ever since I heard that Rustom’s had moved to the Parsi Anjuman complex on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.
So we gathered there, and ordered chhanch and homemade raspberry soda (₹150 each), sev puri and dahi batata puri (both ₹175), Russian pattice (₹ 295), paatra ni macchhi (₹325), prawn kababs (₹ 325), salli boti gosht (₹395), chicken dansak (₹ 175), vegetable Parsi pulao (₹ 395), caramel custard and lagan nu custard (both ₹ 250) and Bombay kulfi (₹150).
I just had a taste of all the fried dishes – and they were delicious. The papri with sev came with a heap of crunchy sev over the papri which had been topped with chopped onion and tomatoes and chutney. The dahi batata puris had potatoes, onions, chutney and a delightfully spiced curd over it. The prawn kababs were again a great mix of mashed prawn and spring onion. But what I really loved was the Russian pattice – which was a mix of creamy cheese, chicken and mashed potatoes, coated with semolina and some cheese straws and then deep fried. It was – in one word – yum!
I had the fish without any guilt pangs. It was a telapiya fillet which had been steamed wrapped in banana leaf after being smeared with sweet, sour and spicy chutney prepared with mint and coriander leaves. I had it with the vegetable pulao and loved it. I am told the prawn berry pulao is a must-have there, but we had friends with a prawn allergy, so steered clear of it.
The salli boti gosht – mutton with a spicy tomato gravy topped with crispy potato straws – was nice and rich. I thought the chicken dhansak was just about ok. It seemed like a normal dhansak with minced chicken balls on the side.
But I loved the desserts. I thoroughly enjoyed the creamy caramel custard and lagan nu custard – baked with nuts and raisins (I could taste the chironjee). The Bombay kulfi got over before I could even look at it. The mawa cake came gratis but was avoidable, I think.
Way to go
So book a table and head for Rustom’s at the Parsi Anjuman or Dharamshala. This is the sprawling Parsi complex (ample parking space there) next to the Maulana Azad Medical College, on the other side of the road from all the newspaper offices (Phone: 09910060502 and 01133106353).
We left after the dessert but the other five lingered over coffee. And after eating and drinking all that, they eyed the food on other people’s tables and decided that the next time they are there, they will have a thaali. The vegetable thaali (₹ 400) has soya pattice, Parsi dal, tarkari ni curry, vengna nu achar, steamed rice, Parsi rotis and chutney. The mutton thaali is for ₹ 495 and the pomfret one for ₹ 695. We will wait for the friend from Kolkata to come for another visit, and the Seven Hungry Men and Women shall return.
