Tailor-Made Gastronomy At The Darzi Bar...

The Darzi Bar, located in Connaught Place is one of the places in Delhi's F&B space dedicated to providing a bespoke culinary experience.

Simply put in the words of MasterChef India Season 2 Winner Shipra Khanna whose brainchild Darzi is, as clothes are custom-made for the body, the dishes plated at Darzi are custom-made for the belly.

Located up a flight of stairs with a designated neon-lit trial room at the entrance overlooking a wall full of thread bobbins, the interiors at Darzi stay true to the theme from the word go.

There are neon-lit banners across the outlet, the bar counter is bordered with an inch-tape like inscription, there are tailoring machines for lamps, and life-like tailoring scissors put up on the walls.

Coming to the nomenclature of the dishes on the menu, that too is inspired from Master Ji's dialect and tailoring terms strewn across.

On the whole, the menu has a good variety to offer across Indian, Oriental, Italian, and Continental cuisines and it would be best to go by Chef's recommendation.

Here's what you must try when at The Darzi Bar & Kitchen...

Beverages:

Eye Blinker, a concoction of kokum, chili, mint, lime, and cumin, making the eyes blink in the first sip, true to its name.

Peachy Zipper was a grainy blend of peach and watermelon.

Inch Tape was a pineapple and lavender beverage presented in a vial of smoky liquid nitrogen.

Soup & Salad:

Mexican Tomato and Red Kidney Bean is the classic tomato broth done the Darzi way.

The Original Greek Salad tossed in vinaigrette is done right at Darzi with a hearty mix of tomatoes, olives, feta, and onions finished with oregano.

From the All Day Menu...

Kuliya Ki Chaat was reminiscent of Old Delhi in being a bite-sized fruit and vegetable chaat that had scooped cucumber, apple, and tomato stuffed with an eclectic mix of pomegranate seeds, boiled chickpeas and chaat masala.

ISBT Makhani Maggi was also prepared the street food way with cheese and makhani gravy.

Appetizers:

Kandhari Paneer Tikka is a Darzi specialty and a true must-have, with soft cottage cheese cubes being marinated in beetroot and topped with a couple of pomegranate seeds.

Veg Quesadilla was a true-blue Mexican style platter with salsa and sour cream on the side. The tortilla was crisp, the filling was ample too.

Dahi Ke Kebab was the authentic hung curd snack prepared right at Darzi.

Amritsari Machchi was the classic Fish 'n' Chips platter done right with crisp fish fillet - mustard tartar dip and crinkle fries on the side.

BBQ Chicken Wings rendered in hot barbeque sauce with crinkle fries on the side.

Sulemani Anda is the ultimate egg dish at Darzi, being a one-pan meal with minced egg filled inside a baked egg preparation.

Main Course:

Achari Paneer Pizza at Darzi is a thin-crust veggies and pickled cottage cheese pizza.

Desserts:

Shahi Tukda Croquants were rendered in a pool of Rasmalai, topped with a scoop of Kesar Pista ice cream and garnished with chocolate chips.

Pineapple Halwa is a good break from the run-of-mill Moong Dal Halwa at Darzi.

All in all, I had a great time at The Darzi Bar & Kitchen. :)

Stumping The Lounge At Sixth Empirica...

Sixth Empirica is one of the popular party places situated on Punjabi Bagh Club Road. Spread across two floors with a dedicated elevator, it is a moderately / dimly lit place and the in-house DJ is the most popular entity at Sixth Empirica, more than even the dishes on the menu, I suppose.

The seating is comfy and the couches and overall decor give a premium lounge-like feel to the outlet. The overall service was good. There were Bollywood Chartbusters being played throughout our meal, so much so, that the music would stop in between for the crowd to complete the song. That's when the modulation in amplitude could be felt.

Coming to the food and beverages, the Menu has a good amount of variety across Indian, Italian, and Continental cuisines and you can conveniently ask the steward at hand if a dish of your liking is available or otherwise.

Here's what I tried at Sixth Empirica. The meal was a mix of hits and misses on the whole, yet the overall vibe of the place is good enough.

Among beverages, you can try the Iced Tea, Appletini, Tangerine Mojito, or Cold Coffee as per your liking. While Appletini was a mix of apple and pineapple juices with a green apple topping on the side, the mojito had a hint of citrus in its taste.

While Fish Amritsari had soft fish fillets done with a hint of Indian spices, Fish Orly had a crunchy crust to go well with the tartar sauce.

There is another fish dish with Sabudana crisps, so just to try the crispy Sabudana, I went ahead. But there was a disappointment that those were not authentic Sago crisps but the South Indian style poppadoms on which the large fish chunks had been placed. On its own, the preparation of the fish was all good.

There is also a Bit Bites platter on the Menu that supposedly had bite-sized snacks but I feel that its presentation can be improved and the repetitive elements on the dish can be removed, as one of the elements on the menu, i.e. Golgappas were missing.

The vegetarian platter is one of the good appetizers with Chef's selection passing the litmus test. The platter that I tried had five appetizers - Soya Chaap, Kalmi Vada, Paneer Tikka, Dahi Kebab, and Seekh Kebab - all were nice taste wise.

If you are a cheese fanatic, you can try the Paneer Tikka Parmigiana that had parmesan cheese stuffed in cottage cheese chunks.

Among Salads and Soups, you can opt for Multiple Mushroom on the Indian side, Manchow on the Oriental side, or Trois In Un, that is a corn chowder.

We went for the Red Melon Feta and Mint Salad, that had a scooped Watermelon shell containing balls of melon, with a handful of feta cheese. The proportion of melon to cheese can be improved as there was a lot of melon as opposed to feta as garnish.

From the Oriental section, we also tried the Crystal Chicken Dimsums, though the flavor was nice, I feel that the nomenclature and preparation did not match as the outer shell of the dumplings was not transparent, as is the case with the term 'crystal'.

For the Main Course, we opted for the Fungi Risotto which was the nicest dish of the meal, both aesthetics, and flavor considered.

Among Desserts, we went ahead with Brownie & Ice Cream that was missing the chocolate balloon presentation (mismatch), though the walnut brownie was soft.

I also tried the Pineapple Halwa that had an appealing aesthetic with the almonds and caramel net, and it was not too overboard with the sweetness, which I liked.

On the whole, I had a good meal at Sixth Empirica, though I believe that if they improve on the minute shortcomings, they have a long inning in the F&B space ahead of them. :)