Delhi – Food

As those of you who have previously read this blog know, we like to write a little about the places we have been to eat. I tend to rate restaurants on Tripadvisor but it takes a little time to get around to this – I have got a life, even though it sometimes appears not to be the case. Rather than write about the places we ate in Delhi as part of the main posts we decided to compose a separate one – nice to be a little different sometimes.

Anyway, here goes. India, like France, Italy, China etc. is all about the quality and variety of its food, so, being lovers of the curry, we decided that we would eat as the locals do. For breakfast the choice was either masala dosa (a thin rice pancake with a thin layer of dry veg curry) or aloo paratha (similar to chapati but stuffed, in this case with dry potato curry) served with pickles and yoghurt. Other variations and choices are available but we haven’t got round to these yet.

For lunch, as it is so hot and we tend to be full from breakfast, small portions of street or cafe food are the order of the day, kebabs, grilled meat, bread, momos (steamed or fried Tibetan dumplings), bel puri etc.

Sunday lunch we ate at the famous Karim’s in Old Delhi, near the Jama Masjid mosque. We ate tandoori seekh kabab and mutton burra with butter naan. A very tasty lunch eaten cafe style. A cultural experience too as we were joined by a group eunuchs who were dressed as women, as is the tradition.

Then on to dinner.

On our first night, and by way of easing us into the curry we visited Pind Baluchi, a chain restaurant just off Connaught Place, or CP to the locals. There’s the biggest flag I have ever seen in the middle of the place – very atmospheric when all lit up at night. The food was good but very similar to the curry we get at home in the UK, except it was not really spicy enough for me. However, I have been warned that I will find Indian food a little light on the chilli.

Our second and fourth nights found us being a little lazy and simply wandering down the road to the Embassy, which is a rated restaurant near our hotel and the Civil Lines metro. It serves a range of tasty Indian classics, including a very tasty lamb rahrah. It was agreed that our first visit was better than our second. Must have been a different chef.

The third night was best of all. Jess’ room mates accompanied us to the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan Canteen in the Andhra Pradesh cultural centre. This is a canteen run by the state serving regional food. You pay your money (5 meals for £5.50), sit down, and are given a compartmentalised thali tray. Into this tray the waiters slop daal, raita, a couple of curries, and roti (bread). They then fill it when empty until you have eaten your fill. Delicious, filling, and very cheap. The ambience of the place leaves a lot to be desired – a brightly lit, institutionalised room – but certainly an unforgettable experience. Perhaps our best Delhi eating experience.

Delhi – Transport

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The first thing you notice about being a road user in Delhi, and the rest of the places we have been so far, is that you only need to know one thing to be able to drive in India – how to use your horn! Lesley and I thought we were used to the sound of car horns, the Gambians love to use theirs, but the Indians take it to a whole new level. Apparently driving schools instruct pupils in the art of the horn as a warning device. Therefore, every time a vehicle approaches another vehicle, rickshaw, or pedestrian the horn is sounded to warn them that they are there. It’s not as though using your eyes is enough, you have to be aurally assaulted each time you venture near a road. It is also recommended that Indian drivers sound their horns when approaching junctions. Just imagine the cacophony. Jess reckons you get used to it, but Lesley and I are not at that stage yet. In fact it really pisses us off when walking along the road some idiot blasts their horn (which are clearly made to be much louder than any we’ve heard before) right in your ear.  Indians love their cars; it is their absolute right to occupy the road, and everyone else should just get out of their way.

Calm!

Anyway, transport in Delhi is not really about cars. You would have to be really foolhardy to drive anywhere in Delhi. Thousands do, hence the smog and traffic jams, but as a visitor there are better options.  It seems no-one walks anywhere in Delhi either; partly due to the heat. This has led to a proliferation of transport options, which are combined to convey Delhi-ites to their destinations without the need to walk more than a very few feet.

The Metro.  Air conditioned, swift, regular and frequent with a clear map and announcements so you know where you are and where you’re going.  It’s also very cheap.  The first carriage of each train is for women only, a civilised retreat for two of the three of us when the other carriages become packed.  Slightly strange is the level of security at Metro stations – all bags are x-rayed, every passenger has a security check that involves walking through a security portal and having a wand waved over your body, and there’s often an armed soldier crouching behind a pile of sandbags. Not that they do anything when the scanner sounds an alarm.

The auto-rickshaw. This is basically a moped with a rear cab, allowing 3 passengers in the back, plus one perched each side of the driver, if you are feeling adventurous.  Such rules of the road as exist do not seem to apply to the auto, however, as they travel on any side of the road and ignore traffic lights.

The traditional bicycle rickshaw. This is the original passenger transport option, and remains the cheapest.  Slower and guilt-inducing for those of us who feel we ought to get out and push when a small incline is reached.

The truly extraordinary thing about transport in Delhi is that we have not seen a single collision. The chaos just seems to work – unless you are stuck in a car in a jam.

Delhi 2

After spending the earlier part of this year in an African village, the hustle and bustle of Delhi was a bit of a culture shock, but much of it felt strangely familiar. The faces on the Metro and all around us could have been in London or Birmingham. Even the clothes did not really feel that unfamiliar. I suppose where Delhi does feel different is in the divide between different groups of people. The gap between rich and poor is immense and really obvious. This was clearly illustrated by the huge western style shopping mall positioned across the road from the slum area in which Jess had worked on her first visit to Delhi.  Its site had previously also been a slum area, but had been cleared to allow the wealthy of Delhi to shop and drink coffee.

Jess had warned us about the tendency of Indians to stare at ‘foreigners’.  However, it was still quite disconcerting.  It’s unrelenting and unashamed.  I guess this is a little bit of what it feels like to be a celebrity. 

Slightly more amusing is the tendency of Indians to take photos of foreigners whilst pretending not to.  The more creative will position a member of their family somewhere in your vicinity and pretend to take a photo of them whilst pointing their camera straight at you.  The more brazen will just snap away at you.  Some will ask to take a photo of you with a member of their family (usually, but not exclusively, a child), and so we have appeared in a few family portraits.  It does seem odd that people will be showing their family and friends photos of complete strangers, even odder that it’s us.

Security is a big issue in the city.  Lots of armed police around, the banks have security guards with shotguns that look as if they’ve been around since the 1950s, and a high level of security on the Metro.

I’ll be posting a further piece about transport and food in Delhi so watch this space . . .

Delhi 1

Qutb Minar

So on to India and the reunification of the clan. Africa to Asia is not really possible in one go so we had to choose our route carefully. Some involved several long layovers in places we had never heard of, whilst others took forever (24 hours via South Africa). In the end we chose to fly Turkish Airlines via Istanbul (15 hours including a couple of hours in Istanbul). Turkish, it turned out, are a top notch airline with seat back personal entertainment systems and the best food I have had on a plane.

After leaving Dakar at 07:30 GMT we finally arrived in Delhi at 04:30 Indian time (5hrs 30 ahead of GMT). It was just getting light as the taxi sped us to Maidens Hotel (See TA review), our base for the first part of our trip. The first thing we noticed was how many people were up and about at this time of day. The second thing, how bad the drivers were. We thought Gambian drivers could be a bit erratic but the Indians certainly take the prize – enough material here for a separate post.

Maidens Hotel allowed us to check in early so that we could have a couple of hours kip before the fun started. At midday sharp we climbed into the heritage lift to descend the four floors to reception. The doors slowly opened and there, perched on the lobby sofa, was our Jess. Reunited after nearly a year apart.  But it didn’t take long for us to regain our familiarity and take the piss out of each other as usual.  Happy days.

Time for the girl to show us her town. A few journeys on the Metro – nice and cool, much better than the London Underground. A couple of kilometres by auto-rickshaw – interesting (see later post on transport). A walk around, some masala dosa for lunch and then to Connaught Place (or CP to the locals).

I’m very impressed with the girl’s Hindi, she has picked up a reasonable conversational grasp, and was able to chat and give directions to the auto drivers.

Delhi is really hot this time of year, around 40C and 80%+ humidity, so as you can imagine we spent plenty of time trying to keep cool, in restaurants, on the Metro, in the hotel. However, we did manage to see some of the sights, the Red Fort, Qutb Minar, some of Old Delhi and its bazaars, Jama Masjid, and the Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib. And there’ll be plenty of time when we return to Delhi to play at being tourists for a few more days before flying back to the UK.

Jess also took us to the Swecha offices, where she worked as a volunteer during her ICS placement with VSO. They are doing some wonderful work with young people and the environment. Check out their webpages (also their commercial arm Green the Gap).