Craving for Purani Dilli’s Golgappas, Aloo Tikkis? How to dine out with restaurant discounts, order from cloud kitchens

Missing Dilli ka khana including tangy Golgappas and lip smacking Chaats? The taste of good food is an alluring one, as are the scents and flavours of food that take us on a nostalgic trip. In the new normal, cloud kitchens, fine dining restaurants look towards tapping into this as a viable business opportunity.

Summer or winter, Delhi is synonymous with its vibrant foodie culture. No matter how global cuisine catches our fancy, Indians love to go back to savour their roots especially when it comes to their own local cuisine and the taste of ‘home’ is one that remains most enticing.

How to dine out and get restaurant discounts

From dining out at Delhi’s food festivals, ordering from popular cloud kitchens to clinching a whopping 50 percent off on restaurant deals and more, check out all you want to know before you dine out! Even as you plan an enjoyable meal, it is important to make sure that you get the best deal too.

Crowne Plaza’s Dilli 6 Festival

Rolling out its 11th edition of its famed ‘Dilli 6 festival’, multi-cuisine restaurant Edesia Crowne Plaza New Delhi Okhla has curated a unique dining experience for guests. Typically, different themes are chosen for each year to let guests indulge in culinary delicacies that represent the Purani Dilli cuisine. This year, the theme is “From Ghalib’s Dilli to Lutyens New Delhi” with two eras being showcased, namely “The Last Mughal Emperor’ and ‘The emergence of British Raj’.

From Old Dilli’s iconic Chaats and Golgappas to innovations such as ‘Vodka Golgappas’, ‘Lehsuni paani’ (garlic flavoured water) and ‘Tarbooj pani’ (watermelon juice water), there are Old Delhi specials such as Kachori Chaat, Aloo Tikki, Matar Kulcha, Kuliya Chaat and much more.

Sumit Sinha, Director Of Food & Beverage, Crowne Plaza New Delhi Okhla told Financial Express Online, “Dilli 6 festival is the signature food experience at our multi cuisine restaurant Edesia Crowne Plaza. Every year, we select different themes and curate unique dining experiences for the guests to relish the culinary delicacies from Purani Dilli. For the 11th edition of Dilli 6, our theme is From Ghalib’s Dilli to Lutyens New Delhi. Our chefs have attempted to narrate those eras – ‘The Last Mughal Emperor’ and ‘The Emergence of British Raj’ through our ‘food stories.’”

Mughlai dishes, unique dining setups

Another specialty pertains to Mughlai dishes such as Biryanis and Quorma and an interesting variety of Anglo Indian dishes. Unique dining set ups such as Dilli Junction has been set up to resemble British Raj’s first class railway compartments and a Viceroy’s House.

Polishing off a spread that is rooted with delectable desserts such as Kulfi, Daulat Ki Chaat, Jalebi is sure to delight Delhiites.

“We also created unique dining set ups such as Dilli Junction, which resembles to first class railway compartments during British Raj and a Viceroy’s House,” Sumit Sinha highlights some of the key offerings from Crowne Plaza New Delhi Okhla.

Rise of cloud kitchens in Delhi

Yearning for more delicious Dilli cuisine at one go?

Cloud kitchens offer plenty of options for Delhiites.

Take for instance, Nawab Ke Kebab, offers Dilli Ka Khana with a menu that tucks in a range of mouthwatering kebabs that are reminiscent of old and New Delhi and listed on its website.

Yours truly Butter Chicken, a Delhi-based cloud kitchen, offers a personalised butter chicken experience. In addition, it also offers comfort food such as Dal Tadka, Gobhi Masala, Tikkas, besides a range of desserts with classic Indian flavours.

Dineout’s Great Indian Restaurant Festival

From 26th Feb to 31st March, Dineout’s ‘Great Indian Restaurant Festival’ offers a flat 50 percent on total bills for food, drinks and more. According to details on the website, the Dineout Pay enables customers to get an extra 15 percent off while using HDFC Bank credit cards. Customers can also use their PromoCash to pay their bills and also get a 20 percent cashback to save on their next bills.

Crafting innovative drinks, mixology a key trend

For restaurants, food is only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to rocking the quirky cool vibe. Now there’s a whole range of innovative mixed drinks and musical experiences that are also showcased to enhance the fine dining experience.

Colocal, known for its artisanal chocolate offerings, has added Cacao Sangria on its menu. Typically, the Sangria is made with red wine. However, Colocal rolled out its own innovation by using home made cacao for this new drink on its menu, which features other chocolate as well as coffee based drinks. Select spices and muddled fruits are added to this, left to soak overnight and this comes out as the flavourful sangria. To relish its distinct notes of cacao, Colocal serves this drink in a wine glass.

Notably, mixology is a trend that is gaining traction across Indian cities including Chandigarh.

Chandigarh’s restaurant ‘The Finch’ is presenting to guests ‘Punjabi evening with singing sensation Arjan Dhillon’ on February 27. Adding to this, the restaurant has stepped up its drink programs through its F&B master Ron Ramirez, a pioneer and a culinary mixologist. Ramirez is also known as Thailand’s The Magician of Spirit’ and termed as ‘Alchemist of Asia’ by the renowned ‘Town and Country’ magazine.

Meanwhile, for coffee lovers and those who want to lounge about and work or hold meetings while munching on something eclectic, Noida’s popular coffeehouse ‘The Haven’ offers an escape into an alternate world. Known for its wide range of innovative coffees, breads freshly made inhouse, there are easy bites and desserts to choose from as well.

Summing up, the famous words of C.S.Lewis springs to life, “Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.”