Are you the kind of person that likes eating out? Are you fascinated by restaurants? Curious about the food they serve? Inquisitive about the chef? And eager to experience the delights of outside cuisine? If the answer to these questions is yes, then I think you’ll be keen to know more about a book I have recently been captivated by.
It’s called Table For Four: Delhi’s Dining Legacy and it’s an attempt to document the gastronomic delights the Capital has to offer. Its authors, Sunil Kant Munjal, Nitan Kapoor and Ajay Shriram, spent 15 years savoring the food presented by many of the eateries in Delhi. Their fourth partner, Deepak Nirula, passed away before they got around to writing the book.
Now, they have published their account of 27 restaurants. In each case, they’ve graded the food, described the ambiance, commented on the staff and even evaluated the loos, which they coyly refer to as rest rooms. So if you want to know what a restaurant would be like, their book will probably give you the best idea.
As Vir Sanghvi’s foreword puts it, “all four men were well-off and well-travelled … they approached each restaurant’s experience with an utter and complete lack of snobbery and no sense of we-know-everything-because-we-have-been-everywhere.”
I have eaten at many of the restaurants they write about. My favorite is probably the Indian accent. They rate it pretty highly too. The blue cheese nan gets 9/10 marks. The ash-roasted sweet potatoes achieved 10/10. The desserts, believe it or not, soar to 12/10. Obviously, the authors have a very sweet tooth!
I was quite taken by their description of the restaurant’s loo. After rating it 10/10, they add that the “signage outside the restrooms was not clear … when Nitan entered the gentleman’s loo, he found two ladies there!”
Way back in 2012, they visited Basil and Thyme. They were quite entranced by the place. “Would we return to this restaurant?”, they ask. “The answer is an emphatic yes, as one gets good food and great personalized service here!”
One of the joys of this book is that often it includes recipes of some of the dishes the authors have most enjoyed. It also has pieces by highly rated restaurateurs like Rohit Khattar, Ritu Dalmia and Marut Sikka.
My only criticism is the book is not critical and certainly not disparaging of any of the eateries they’ve experienced. Most of the ratings are above 7/10. And even when a visit to the loo is rated at just 5/10, the only verbal comment is of bland disappointment and the need for improvement. At times, I suspect, they err toward excess generosity.
Not, however, in the case of San Gimignano. I would say they’ve correctly described it as “probably the finest Italian restaurant in the city”, even if the mixed leaf salad with basil gets an average 7.5 score. On this occasion, the authors stuck to pizzas, which is a pity because the restaurant has so much to offer that’s so much better. Still, the pizzas got 10/10.
The other eye-catching part of this book is its many illustrations and line-drawings. They provide a visual illustration of the interior of the restaurants, which sometimes the authors are unable to adequately describe.
I received the book as a surprise gift from Nitan, who cheered up a flight to London last month by presenting it to me. I spent much of the journey flipping through its pages. Now, I’m determined to try out many of the restaurants it mentions.
Of course, not everyone would be open to the average guest. For instance, the Delhi Golf Club, where the Lotus Biscoff is called “a fantastic dish” and gets a rating of 10/10, is for members only and their invited guests. Frankly, it ought not have been in this book at all.
But that one quibble aside, if, like me, you enjoy eating out but you’re not quite sure where to go, this book is a handy guide and, I would assume, a reliable one as well.
Bon Appetit.
Karan Thapar is the author of Devil’s Advocate: The Untold Story. The views expressed are personal
