Dawn & Al escapades to India - Day 1

We arrived in Delhi at 1.30pm to a newly refurbished airport and were secretly disappointed that it had lost the craziness with the hustle and bustle that we remembered. A brand spanking new airport was built to accommodate the recent Commonwealth Games.

We got a lift from the airport to the hotel in a Hindustan Ambassador (my favourite car) which is basically the shell of an old Morris Oxford with a more or less up to date engine and a few mod cons, got bags of character and was until recently the preferred choice of the Indian Prime Minister.

As soon as we checked into the hotel all feelings of jet lag disappeared and we were itching to get out of the door. We met up with Punit who is a friend and contact of Vivek Singh from The Cinnamon Club as they worked together at the Oberoi Raj Villas in Jaipur, and is now Viveks main spice supplier and soon to be ours which we are very pleased about. Punit took us to The Delhi Haat Market which is a Government Market show casing the many regional cottage industries through out India in order for him to understand the sort of things we were looking to source for the restaurant interior and kitchen supplies.

The first thing we headed to was the Chai Stand as Delhi was going through a cold snap which we had not bargained on (Punit lent me one of his jackets which Dawn found amusing… see picture!). The chai was served in a the traditional terracotta cups and was a warm welcome, we then moved onto the next stand for some Aloo Chaat. It was a giant iron plate with a perfect moulded potato ring with a spicy redness. The vendor cut off a wedge and placed in the middle, fired up the flame below, then added water and reheated until bubbling, this was spooned into a plastic bowl and sprinkled with chopped onion, coriander, green chilli, gram flour noodles and topped with a spoon of yoghurt and a drizzle of tamarind and a pinch of chaat masala. A great combination of texture, flavor and heat and a nice start to our Indian food journey. After refueling we walked around the market and pointed out some of the typical bits that we would be looking for and had a good chat with Punit about The Chilli Pickle so that he had a much better understanding of what we are all about.

The next stop was Nizam Kathi Kebabs which is famous in Delhi for its wonderful Kathi Kebabs. On getting there this was obvious as the place was heaving, we made our order and took our number and waited patiently for our number to be called. Dawn had Paneer, Punit had Mushroom and I had Chicken with egg. All of them were amazing and I was particularly impressed with the bread although a little oily, had a flakiness to it. If the wait hadn’t been so long another round would have been in order!