My first brush with the restaurant was more than a month ago, when I noticed its construction happening on 12th Main, Indiranagar. The style immediately made me think of Mughal architecture, and thanks to the jam I was stuck in, I had this morbid thought of a memorial for someone who had given up on life while waiting for the traffic on the road to clear! Because c’mon, there was no way another restaurant could be opening on this road! But I was wrong, a few weeks later Delhi Highway opened its doors, (map) and promptly deceived me again – the smile on my face as my mind conjured up the vision of a Butter Chicken was wiped off when I saw the green dot next to the name.
I noticed a fun geopolitical-historical coincidence while trying to distract myself from going Hulk-green in rage at the thought of an all veg meal. Delhi Highway is neighbours with ‘The Dravids’ (yes, the very same) and collectively they look down on a pub across the street that shares its name with the British royal family. North & South standing against a colonial power, how delightful! And now that my terrible trivia has brought you to roughly the level of discomfort that carnivores feel when they find no meat, let’s begin reviewing the vegetarian fare!
In addition to the standard veg starters, the menu also features some house specials and fusion fare. We began with the Sizzling platter – an assortment of paneer dishes. It lacked the actual sizzle, but the paneer – tandoori, tikka and kabab – was delicious. The Naram Dil Kabab’s name made us go aww, and the combination of a soft potato, paneer and peas filling and its crisp covering worked very well.
The favourite of the day was the Makai sarso with fresh Buffalo Mozzarella – the flavourful sarso ka saag and the mozzarella richness with the superb texture of the makai roti base together created an absolute winner. The Indo Mexican Quesadillas, on the other hand seemed more like a forced marriage.
The Delhi Special Lassi was thick but a tad sweeter than we’d have liked. We also tried the Jumping Monkey – a banana based drink that was half a meal in itself, a superb Watermelon Mojito that lived up to its splendid looks, and a strangely titled Evil Princess that thankfully didn’t live up to its name! In general, you won’t miss a lot if you skipped the drinks.
The Kadai pasta proved a curiosity in many ways – we thought it would be a starter, but the portion size made it clear that it had more ambitious ideas! It was served with a naan, clearly some naan sense which none of us could figure out! The pasta itself was tasty, but we really didn’t get any kadai touch. The soft, fluffy Sheer Mal Roti was the only exception. Both the Kashmiri Dum Aloo and the Dal Delhi Highway failed to impress, and though we were impressed by the Paneer starters, the Paneer Delhi Style was quite out of form. The biggest disappointment was the Dum Biryani – it seemed as though the flavours in it were fighting with each other and had carved out their own fiefdoms within the dish. In my view, ginger won, and everything else was lost!
We had to try the Thali and thankfully had a volunteer! She was rewarded with some very fancy looking fare – gol gappas served in a shot glass, a chaat served in a papad that almost gave it a waffle cone effect, and in general courses that kept appearing even as everyone else watched in envy, since the rest of the main course was a disappointment.
The Anjeer ka Halwa had to be tried and the chances of you liking it are directly proportional to your relationship with the fruit because that flavour is very strong in the dish. So some of us loved it, and the others didn’t care a fig! But we all agreed that the Jalebi Rabdi was made really well.
A meal for two – a couple of starters, a main course dish with breads, and a dessert would set you back by about Rs.1800. Though the name might suggest a dhaba theme, that isn’t the case, and the ambiance does create a sense of grandeur through the style and the colours used. The starters made for a great beginning, but the rest of the dishes were inconsistent. The same can be said of the service – the person who took our order was pleasant and prompt, but the servers actually seemed to be sulking, making it all seem like Dilli dour ast!