Food Review: MOOLCHAND’S @ KAROL BAGH, DELHI

The snack counter

This restaurant serves only vegetarian food and snacks. They also have a counter selling sweets, namkeen and many different types of biscuits.

Vini and I visited this restaurant for lunch on the day we left Delhi to get back to Mumbai. This is situated very close to Hotel Jewel Palace where we were staying.

THUMBS UP 1: We ordered a Paani Puri (yeah, that’s what it was called in this restaurant, not Gol Gappa). They served it at our table with the puris, filling, sweet chutney and theeka paani separately, and we made our own paani puris. It was nice.

Jeera Rice, Dal Tadka & Kachcha Papad

THUMBS UP 2: I wanted to have Jeera Rice and Dal Tadka. The serving was a little more than I needed and so Vini had a few bites too. Both the rice and dal were delicious.

THUMBS UP 3: Vini asked for a Burger and she swore that she had never tasted bread that was fresher than there. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

THUMBS UP 4: We shared a Sweet Lassi between us. It was big enough for both of us and tasted very good.

Veg Burger

THUMBS DOWN 1: I asked for roasted papad along with my food. It was cutely rolled and served. But it was not roasted well. The waiter was not too bothered when I told him that it was ‘kachcha’ and made no effort to have it changed.

THUMBS DOWN 2: I was impressed with the array of biscuits and sweets. I ordered a few boxes after tasting. The sweet was good. But the biscuits I brought home were not as fresh as the ones we tasted. The restaurateur knew that we were not locals. We mentioned that when we asked for stuff that would last as we had to take them home to Mumbai. Despite that he gave stuff that was not fresh which made me realize that he meant to cheat. I would not want to visit this place ever again.

For those interested:

Moolchand’s,
2659, DB Gupta Road,
Karol Bagh , Delhi
Phone: 41546143 / 41546144 / 9868275992

Food Review: PIND BALLUCHI @ KAROL BAGH, DELHI

Vini warming her hands

Vinitha had been telling me a lot about this restaurant and we were keen to go there to have drinks and dinner. I don’t much care for hard drinks but I would not have minded having a rum and coke as it was tooooo cold at Delhi.

The Doorman

We went there around 8 pm and stood outside with the Sardarji who was serving as doorman as he was warming himself in front of an iron pot full of red-hot coal. It felt so wonderful as the cold outside must have been about 7 degrees at that point.

At the entrance

We got a table within 5 minutes and went in to a lovely ambience. It had the look of a village outdoor with an artificial tree right in the middle of the restaurant. The lighting was perfect and we sat down to have a look at the menu.

Not too keen on ordering hard drinks, we finally settled down to have cocktails.

Inside Pind Balluchi

Caprioska

THUMBS UP 1: Vini asked for a Caprioska and simply loved it. This had vodka, lemon chunks, sugar, crushed ice and soda. 

THUMBS UP 2: We asked for two Masala Papad. They were fresh and yummy.

THUMBS UP 3: We asked for Makkai de Kabab for starter. It was delicious. The green chutney served along with this was simply superb.

THUMBS UP 4: The Dal Makhani that we ordered was excellent.

THUMBS UP 5: We asked for one Tandoor Roti and a serving of Jeera Rice. These were good and that’s how we managed to finally finish our dinner at Pind Balluchi.

THUMBS DOWN 1: I asked for a Green Apple Martini. This was made of vodka, green apple juice, soda and ice. While the taste was good, it was too sweet. I had asked the waiter whether it will be sweet and he had said that it would be mildly so. Even after adding more soda, I found it too sweet for my taste.

Makkai de Kabab

THUMBS DOWN 2: We asked for a mixed vegetable for the main course. The first shock came when we saw it was a dry sabzi. We had not thought of asking beforehand. The taste was also very mediocre with very less salt.

THUMBS DOWN 3: We made a mistake of asking for one Khasta Roti and one Missi Roti. Both were horrible and neither of us could finish them.

Green Apple Martini. Cheers!

Despite the minus points, it was definitely worth a visit. We only need to be more careful about what we order after clearly finding out whether the vegetable had gravy, etc. We also made the mistake of trying to add salt to the vegetable ourselves. That did not make it better as it could not be mixed properly to the dry vegetable. We should have insisted that they take it back and add the salt.

For those interested:

Pind Balluchi Restaurant & Bar
2105, D B Gupta Road,
Karol Bagh,
New Delhi - 110005
Opposite Maruti Suzuki Showroom

Khasta & Missi Rotis; Dal Makhani and Mixed Vegetable

Phone: 011-45077777 / 9958292941
Email: kb@pindballuchi.com

Travel: HOTEL JEWEL PALACE @ KAROL BAGH, DELHI

The hotel front

While at Delhi, my daughter and I stayed at Hotel Jewel Palace at Karol Bagh. Luckily for me, it is not very far from New Delhi station. While the cab-driver was keen on charging me a bomb, I persuaded him to accept just half the fare.

Hotel Jewel Palace is a neat and comfortable hotel in the heart of the city and quite affordable. You can find details of tariff on their website mentioned below. The package includes bed and breakfast. What I really appreciated was the heater in the bedroom and piping hot water in the bathroom. I don’t think I would have survived this trip without those.

The sofas with a coffee table and the corner table with a lamp

The service is excellent with the waiters doing their best to please without hovering around to the point of irritation.

We enter a medium-sized lobby where they insist on seeing our identity proof. I believe an address proof is a must. I got away with using my Pan Card, but one might need to get used to travelling with their passport even within India, it looks like.

Our room was on the first floor and it was quite big by city standards. I was thoroughly pleased with the huge single beds and wardrobe facilities. There were also a number of big mirrors in the room. There were a number of lights to make the room quite bright and welcoming.

Totally comfy

One corner was taken by a twin-seater and triple-seater sofas placed adjacent to each other with a large coffee table in front of them. There was also a corner table.

Breakfast is usually served in the restaurant but can also be ordered in the room.

All in all, it was perfect for my short holiday in the capital and made for a great temporary home.

Food Review of the hotel will follow…

Details of the hotel for those interested:

Hotel Jewel Palace,
2622-24, Bank street,
Karol Bagh,
New Delhi - 110005
(Behind Karol Bagh Police Station)
Phone: 91-11-45950000
Email: info@hoteljewelpalace.com / naranggmhjp@yahoo.co.in
Website: http://www.hoteljewelpalace.com