Whiling away one of my evenings in South Delhi, I came across the much talked about (in non-vegetarian food circles of course) Rajinder Da Dhaba at Safdarjung Enclave and stopped to give it a try. This unassuming dhaba serves some of the most delectable Indian tandoori I have ever come across and my nose told me that even before I ventured in. The name Rajinder Da Dhaba fits the place perfectly as it is not too off from the dhabas that one comes across on highways. The smell of the tandoori fare lures you in to give it a shot, and once you do give it a try, rest assured you will be hooked.

Now if you are looking for a pleasant evening at a restaurant with good hygiene and candle light, do not even think about going to this dhaba. Rajinder Da Dhaba is strictly for people who mean business when it comes to eating. As it has self-service, be prepared to sweat it out in the long queue, first to place the order and later to get it to your car or table. In true dhaba style you will have a chhotu to clean up before and after your meal; however, how “clean” does it really get is not something you should think about when you are eating out here.

Coming to the food, the place has an immense variety of non-veg tandoori and mughlai food and that too at very reasonable prices. Though it offers a decent variety of vegetarian food as well but who cares about that when you are surrounded with the sights and smells of roast chicken and mutton The butter chicken is simply awesome and once you begin to eat, it just takes you to a whole different place, though after eating I assure you, you will only be able to move in your head and not physically as it is pure indulgence. The rumali rotis and naans are a sinful accompaniment for the lovely chicken and meat dishes.

The chicken malai tikka definitely takes all the points for me as it is just so succulent that you can’t stop with one plate, a second round is a must to show your appreciation. Other great options are the chicken tangri fry, chicken malai tangri, tawa chicken and mutton korma. One of the mistakes made by me on my first visit was that I ventured in for evening snacks, trust me if you really want to enjoy the food at Rajinder Da Dhaba make sure you do so once you have built a good appetite or else you will not be able to munch down as much as you desire.

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Sometimes you are destined to have bad food no matter how many dishes you order in a restaurant. The same thing happened with me when I made a trip to Golden Dragon at DT Mega Mall in Gurgaon. I have been to the other Golden Dragon branches and it was never that bad. I had been to the one at Panchsheel many years back. At that time, I had found it a tad expensive in comparison with Berco’s. I had enjoyed the food at the one at Westgate Mall, Rajouri Garden but the service lacked quality.

Coming to the DT Mega Mall branch, I went there ignoring Berco’s which was a few miles ahead only because I wanted to save some time. My friend who was accompanying me also insisted on Golden Dragon. Only one table was occupied at around 2:00 PM, a good hint that Golden Dragon is not a popular place for lunch. Anyhow, we went ahead with our little adventure, unknowingly. We ordered Manchow Soup, Diced Chicken With Vegetables Sizzler and Chicken Kothe. First, it took ages for them to serve food. In fact, we had to gently remind one of the gentlemen there that we had ordered food some time back. It often happens that when the food takes time coming, you tend to assume that the chefs are working over time to prepare something extraordinary and the wait may just be worth it. That was not the case to be however.

Before I talk about the food, I must admit that I am a strict no-no when it comes to spicy food. I openly say that I find even bland food quite good. For the first time in my life, I found Chinese food bland. Tough to believe but that’s what the case was. I don’t know how you cook Manchow Soup, but it was nowhere close to what it should have been. My friend added salt, pepper and what all and what to not to be able to gulp the whole of it. I simply gave up after a few spoonfuls. Now, Chicken Kothes were supposed to be shallow fried and they served them steamed. Again, totally bland! It was like having maida with spiceless chicken. My friend asked them to re-work on Kothes but what they brought back were more crispy Kothes, and it went from bad to worse! Another item that I could not finish. The last hope Sizzler was just as disappointing. A restaurant will have to do extremely well to go wrong with diced chicken sizzler, and Golden Dragon did manage that. I don’t know what sauce they used, but it was awful, and I failed to complete another dish on that fateful afternoon.

The service was a tad better than the food. But the food was such a big put off that I did not care to order anything else to refresh our taste buds. My friend later argued that we should have ordered the conventional Chilli Chicken – Fried Rice combo but I am not too sure how much that would have worked. To improve my taste, I safely purchased a couple of coke cans from Dastak and gulped them down – it worked the other way also as I burped the stink of rude food out!

My advise to all of you: The best way to punish your enemy – advise him Golden Dragon at DT Mega Mall.  

I had heard rave reviews of Sahib Sindh Sultan from a very close friend. I generally do not prefer going to Indian restaurants, as I am quite sick of having various Mughlai preparations of Chicken since my younger years. Butter Chicken stopped fascinating me years ago. Sahib Sindh Sultan is one of the BJN Group restaurants that line up on Level 3 of Ambience Mall. Unlike Aromas of China, Fresco or Punjab Grill, Sahib Sindh served ala carte. That was fine because I was in any case too tired to get up and serve food for myself. Moreover, most of my friends were not in a mood to gorge as they usually do.

Initially, it was a toss up between Sahib Sindh and Punjab Gill, but I had heard a lot about Sahib Sindh’s train theme, so it fascinated me more. Why I chose Indian? Because of my absolutely desi friends . What stands out in Sahib Sindh is the ambience and interiors. We were made to sit in a replica of a train coach. No, it was no ordinary looking coach, but a replica of Palace on Wheels, or something right out of European trains. Absolutely Royal and reminiscent of the Raj. The couch was comfortable and it was pitch dark outside one of the window glass, so it seemed the coach was going thru a tunnel. Such interiors can also fail miserably, but many salutations to Sahib Sindh for pulling it off successfully. The staff was dressed in uniforms and the main guy who took the order was being addressed as TTE. The cutlery was reminiscent of royalty.

Coming to the food, we ordered Chicken Peshawari which had red gravy and a saffron essence. The staff member claimed it would be enuf for three men, but we three ordered another portion of Hara Dhaniya Chicken. His only folly was that he was feeding giants, not men. Anyhow, the food was quite good, and since we were hungry, we relished the food all the more. The chicken was not finger lickin’ but good. Nothing much to write about roti or bottled beer!

The service was at par with other BJN Group restaurants. I can go there again, but would like to try Punjab Grill first. The USP of the restaurant is certainly its tasteful and outstanding interiors. A must one time visit for anyone.
S

People, don’t think I am just eating out nowadays. I have a family, and my mother cooks wonderful and customized food. It has so happened in the past few days that I have ended up eating out out of compulsion. Even innocuous informal meetings have ended up in lunch meets. Like yesterday, when I ended up meeting a client at Krimzon Café, hidden in Vipul Orchid Plaza in Suncity. It was just a meeting but happening at lunch time. Initially, I thought it would be a coffee shop like your regular Barista or Café Coffee Day. I was surprised when I read the on the signage – Krimzon Café, Bar and Kitchen.

Krimzon Cafe has small seating place. Since it is located in the corporate tower, away from the limelight, I assume it would be visited only by people working in Suncity. The seating was not too spacious, but you cannot call it cramped either. The interiors very average considering the kind of competition Krimzon Café can have from many other restaurants in Gurgaon. I chose to take a corner seat, but later we realized we were just close to the billing counter.

Anyhow, coming to the food, I chose to go for buffet. My previous buffet experience at Fortune was not so great, but I wanted to try this. The buffet had limited range of snacks and main course, preceded by the regular soup, which was better than I had at Orchid a week back. In snacks, I tried Chicken Tikka – and that’s it. From Orchid, I had learnt a lesson to try Indian cuisine at buffet. What I had also realized was that one is better off eating continental and Chinese at specialist restaurants. So, going by the thumb role, I had mutton rogan josh, gatta curry and dal makhani with Roti. The pulao was pretty average. The range of salad has nothing home to write about, but I liked the one which had lots of peanuts. One thing that was quite absurd was there was no labeling in the salad and dessert section.

Talking about service, it was quite good and we were quite well looked-after. The man at the door with a moustache seemed as if he was born to grin forever.

All in all, Café Krimzon would get 3/5 for food.

It was not planned to happen this way. I was passing by my cousin’s workplace and we decided to catch up. Since it was his birthday, we had a good reason to meet also. He asked me to come over to his office at Global Business Park, where finding parking is tougher than breaching the walls of Troy. So, we reached a consensus to meet at the Fortune Hotel which is right next to Global Business Park. Since I was very hungry and not had my lunch, we went to their coffee shop to gorge.

I have had a lunch buffet at their coffee shop and multi-cuisine restaurant called Orchid   also but that was long time back, and mantrablogs had not started then.

The coffee shop at the Fortune Hotel is a typical luxury hotel (Fortune is an ITC property) coffee shop, with well-laid out tables, and spacious. What surprised me the most was the pricing of the buffet. At Rs 500/person, it is surely a steal. There was not much for appetizers/starters. Since I was quite hungry, I skipped the soup and attacked the main course. The food menu had a mix of Chinese, Continental and Indian. In Indian cuisine I safely ignored the vegetarian preparations, and focus was totally on non-veggies. It was not a very elaborate buffet, and unlike the ones that spoil you with choices.

The fish hariyali was excellently made with a nice blend of Indian spices and gravy. Thankfully, it was not very spicy, and satiated the palates. I chose to have pulao which has nothing to write home about. The salads were nicely laid out but did not seem to be fresh. I just tried pasta and cheese salad and it was more than average. After Indian I moved to Chinese food, which was not really all that great a move. They had regular dishes in sweet and sour vegetables and lamb, etc. The steamed rice looked a bit stale so I settled for noodles, which again has nothing home to write about.

The buffet was not really all that great given that Future Hotel I was in a star property. I assume the Indian food was far better than the stale Chinese preparations. The service was average at best. Since it was a buffet, I can’t say much about the service, to be honest.