Chef at Large

I’d never been to the Delhi Gymkhana before, but assumed it was going to be similar to the Madras Gymkhana, which used to be a frequent haunt. It was - with a nice old world atmosphere and long serving waiters it got me feeling quite nostalgic.

As Rohit and I agreed, the USP of the place would probably never be the food. He did however, have some choices which he’d grown up with, like the Chicken fingers and the Chicken sandwiches. The ‘fingers’ were really deep fried spicy, thin, minced chicken patties that were nice. I did like the sandwiches - they reminded me of this shop called ‘de pauls’ (?) that’s just off the Janpath street shopping stalls. We would never miss having their sandwiches whenever in the vicinity. Stuffed with chicken and mayonaise and priced quite low, those sandwiches are an indelible part of my ‘food’ memories. These sandwiches while not quite so large, were simply made - shredded chicken drenched in mayo and mustard. I liked them - the wife wasn’t so hot about them though. Did I tell you we chose to be in the lawn area? Like all old clubs, children weren’t allowed in most of the dining rooms and the only one they were allowed in was full. I do like some of the rules - including this one.

Sticking to a ‘light’ theme for dinner, we munched on Nizam’s (yes, they have a counter inside) Mutton Rolls and Paneer Tikka, everything washed down with cold beer. The rolls were typical - nice, thick paranthas with a layer of egg within and stuffed with spicy, double fried mutton - served with green chutney and raw onions.

A nice end to the evening was my new GPS guiding me home quite accurately.