Delhi Welcomes Bombay!
CP, New Delhi
Bombay Brasserie has finally opened its doors in Delhi’s Connaught Place and it’s upped the ante like how! Locally-sourced ingredients make for regional dishes that stand out in a menu full of surprises.
Swaths of turquoise & white welcome you to an open space with high ceilings, signature to Central Delhi, a snazzy bar & some flaura and fauna. We were seated on a white marble top table with high chairs. Some Himalayan pink salt & their in-house beetroot powder welcomed us. A well-informed server who knew exactly what we meant by what’s best here gave us just the right suggestions without being too intrusive; it’s an art.
We started with their chicken & almond broth which came in a large cutting chai glass and was poured on the table, very mumbaiya! The soup was thin, flavourful and had actual almonds.
We followed it up with their chilli cheese kulcha. It’s an ode to the Bombay chilli cheese toast & came on a tiny grill tray. Basically tiny Naan bombs, these were so flavourful but had to be consumed at a specific time when the cheese wasn’t hot enough to burn your tongue but not cold enough for the cheese to get rubbery.
Then came the Goan Pao. Fried Pao stuffed with minced mutton that was the definition of umami, it was served with a chilli vinegar from Mapusa. A friend had highly recommended the Tamil street chicken so that’s what I ordered after the server insisted; it was one of the best dishes on the menu. It was flavourful and the chopped Malabar Paratha in it was still crisp. I would’ve however liked the paratha and the curry served separately. Maybe, I’m just old school like that.
The highlight of the whole meal was the Naga Pepper Wings. Those were the best chicken wings I’ve had in this part of the world.
Accentuated with authentic Bhoot Jholakia from Nagaland, these wings were cooked just right and doused in the special spice. The first thought that came in my head when I tried this, was that they really know what they’re doing! I could’ve polished off the whole portion myself.
A huge shout-out to the concept and to whoever executed it! The fact that every single dish was presented in a different way symbolising its origins or inspiration showed that the passion went deeper than just the dish. The flavour, the ingredients & the region it belonged to make a telling story. The only downside was that I felt like going through their product selection which was for sale but the shelves were behind other tables & a little out of reach for me to view their products. I would definitely repeat the experience just to try the Bread & Butter pudding because I just haven’t had a good one in a very long time.