Our weekend in meals

It's easy to get into a rut of eating at the same restaurants and cooking the same foods. It's comfortable, it's delicious... but it can also close the doors on really exploring the city. One of my former colleagues at Katzenbach (which had the most intense "foody" culture if I ever saw one!) swears by hopping onto the 7 train in Manhattan, and getting off at any random stop in Queens -- you're destined to have the most amazing, authentic Thai/Korean/Afghani [insert ethnic cuisine here] food in the city.

Unfortunately, it's a bit harder to explore and try new restaurants in India. You rarely can just "pass" some place walking that looks really good. Rather, you need to know that a certain office building just happens to have a delicious restaurant on the top floor (like Angeethi, in Hyderabad), or a certain mall has a good restaurant that's worth the trek (and, worth being in a mall).

This weekend, Tyler and I discovered some new places, and also re-discovered some old, forgotten favorites. Our weekend in meals:

Bukhara:

Practically all good restaurants in Delhi are inside a five-star hotel, and Bukhara is no exception. We take a cab to the ITC Sheraton, knowing we're certain to get in a brawl with security, should we (gasp!!) try to bring our motorcycle helmets inside the hotel. The place is packed with paparazzi -- turns out the West Indies cricket team is staying there. We don't have reservations at Bukhara, but the place is empty as it's relatively early for dinner in India (around 7:30pm). We're happy to get a table, as momentarily, the place gets mobbed with businessmen, tourists, and large Indian families.

We have a perfect table in front of the tandoor grill, where giant skewers of kebab hang from the ceiling, and the chef doles out the most amazing dal. The cuisine is from the Northwest Frontier - now the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We order kastoori kebab - the most tender pieces of chicken marinated in ginger and garlic, spiced with peppercorn, half-cooked with flour and then char-grilled with yolk. Absolutely delectable!

Unable to decide between the tandoori aloo (stuffed potatoes) and tandoori phool (cauliflower), we end up getting a half order of both. Of course, no meal at Bukhara would be complete without an order of its famous dal bukhara - which takes 14 hours to cook (and involves simmering black lentils with tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and cashews).

It's "hands only" at the restaurant, and they supply a big apron for each patron to wear. We scoop up our food with naan bukhara and pudina (mint) paratha.

Hell Pizza, GK-1

Delhi is a bit of an insular place. Each (gated) community has its own market -- some better than others. After meeting our friend Rob in Gurgaon, Tyler and I head back to Delhi and decide to try a new pizza place (well, new to me!)

We missed Halloween by a few days, but the food more than made up for its ambiance. Red lights going up the stairs, "Scream" masks abound... and thankfully I didn't realize the severed hand next to my head the entire time I was there.

Tyler and I have a bet on who can make the better pizza. My half is the "Limbo": blue cheese, mushrooms, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and kalamata olives (needless to say, I'm completely shocked this place has blue cheese!)... while Tyler's half (the "Grimm") is apricot sauce, chicken, pine nuts, spring onion, cream cheese, and rosemary.

We both agree that my side wins, but it's clearly eclipsed by our "dessert pizza", the "Unearthly": chocolate and custard to replace pizza sauce, and berries and banana as topping. We take it to go, and eat it watching Rome.

South Extension 1, B-5

And last but not least, home sweet home... Tyler cooks a delicious Moroccan meal on Sunday: cous cous with chicken sheek, broccoli, mushrooms, and almonds. We each eat a huge portion, garnished with yogurt and sun-dried tomato pesto... with jasmine tea and oreos for dessert.

My tummy is happy.