Lunches at Indian Accent’s New Delhi mothership were highlights of my eating out in 2022 and 2023. I ate the express lunch tasting there with a friend in March 2022 and in January 2023 the missus and I ate the full tasting menu at lunch. Both of those meals were excellent. And so it was a foregone conclusion that we would return for another go at the lunch tasting when we were back in Delhi for a bit last month. And so it came to pass. Well, it was another very good meal but the streak was finally broken: taken as a whole, it was not at the level of the previous two meals. There were some very good dishes but the second, heavier half of the meal didn’t really do it for us for a number of reasons; and the meal as a whole felt more than a little disjointed. Here are the details.

By the way, the meal almost didn’t come to pass. They seemed to be having an issue with their phone lines and it was almost impossible to get through. When I did get through I ran into the usual problem: not being able to make their required deposit as I don’t have an Indian credit card. Thankfully, my Indian phone number is in their system and so the person I spoke to was able to verify that on both previous occasions I had been allowed to make a reservation without a deposit and had not left them in the lurch. And so I got the reservation and we showed up again.

We found the restaurant busier at weekday lunch than on my previous two visits. The central dining room—where we’d been seated last year—had most tables occupied. We were seated this time in one of the brighter “arms” that radiate past the lovely water area. A number of the tables there too were occupied over the course of the meal. We perused the tasting menu options, verified that the non-vegetaran took our fancy and got down to business.

The meal started with a couple of the standard amuses: a mini-blue cheese kulcha each and a little earthenware cup of spiced carrot soup. Then began the progression of small plates. First up, was a course titled “Chaat from the Streets of Delhi”. This comprised cheffy takes on various classic Delhi chaats. All were tasty, all were executed very well but all also verified my feeling that chaat is something fancy restaurants should leave well alone: even when they pull off their “elevated” versions you’re left wishing you were eating the real, less fussy thing. So it was for me, and it should be said, also for the missus who doesn’t have my emotional/nostalgic connections to street chaat.

But things righted themselves immediately with the next course, “Kanyakumari Crab, Garlic, Tellicherry Pepper”. A sort-of take on crab butter garlic, this was a goodly proportion of crab, cooked and seasoned perfectly. Up next was an Indian Accent classic: Meetha Achaar Pork Spare Ribs. As always the ribs were brushed with sweet lime pickle and garnished with a slice of tart star fruit, and as always it was a great dish. The hits continued with the next course: Bihari Tash Meat, Ole Chutney, Sattu Roti. This was served like a taco with the pulled meat over a roti filled with sattu/roasted chickpea flour and worked very well. Then it was time for another enduring Indian Accent classic: the palate cleanser before the main course, which always comprises pomegranate and churan sorbet served in a mini-pressure cooker. There’s no point to the presentation except cutesiness and yet it melts my crusty heart each time.

It’s at this point that the meal began to feel disjointed. We each got one of the two mains. The Malai Chicken, Sarson Saag, Pickled Onion turned out to be a moist chicken croquette served on a puddle of sarson ka saag with various pickled veg. The croquette itself was done well but the saag puree did nothing for it and felt too heavy. The dish as a whole felt and tasted uninspired. The Sea Bass, Gongura Pickle, Coconut Barley was better, especially the barley, but at this point the rest of the accompaniments of the course began to assert themselves and they just did not go with this more delicate dish.

I am referring to the large portion of Dal Mash (with sun-dried tomato for no good reason) and the Gobi-Methi Chur Chur. Both were very tasty but felt like the anchors of a different, more traditional kind of meal. I had similar feelings about these components at our January 2023 meal as well but then both mains had been outstanding and so it had bothered me less. I do appreciate that Indian Accent has always anchored its experiments with Indian food in tradition but I think they need to find a more organic way to marry these aspects of the tasting menu.

Happily, things righted themselves with the sweets. Though before I get to those I must tell you how thrilled I was to once again be presented with what may have been my favourite aspect of my March 2022 meal: the completely ludicrous, phallic moist napkin presentation. Go enjoy it for yourself before reading further. Are you back? Have you composed yourself? Okay, let me tell you about the last bits of the meal. First was a pair of pre-desserts: Pistachio and White Chocolate Gujia and Winter Carrot Halwa Taco. I have to confess I am not the biggest fan of gujia in any incarnation but quite liked this anyway. The gajar halwa duo (one black carrot, one red carrot) was excellent as was the “taco shell” presentation.

Dessert proper was Banana Sticky Cake, Whisky Ice Cream. Once again they were kind enough to give me a slice of my favourite dessert from the regular menu instead: the Dodha Burfi Treacle Tart. The treacle tart was outstanding as always—next time I’m getting a full piece—and the banana cake was also very nicely done. I will say that the whisky ice cream was quite heavy on the whisky. Not a complaint, just an observation.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for notes on service, the meal as a whole and price/value, and to see what’s coming next on the food front.

Service was very good, though servers remain not very confident/confidence-inspiring in describing all the dishes. I’ll repeat my thoughts on the meal as a whole: each dish was very good (well, in the case of the chicken main, the main component was very good) but the menu didn’t come together to form a whole. Our feelings about this may have been heightened by the fact that we’d had three high-end meals in Seoul which also approached the marriage of tradition and modernity (in the context of Korean food) and all three pulled it off—in different ways—more successfully than this meal did. I’ve already reported on one of those (lunch at Mingles); if we hadn’t eaten the last (lunch at Kwonsooksoo) just a week before this meal would we have liked this more? Maybe.

Still it was a very good meal but, leaving Michelin 2* restaurants in Seoul aside, not at the level of the previous two eaten there itself. Price? With included service charge the total was Rs. 13,564 or just about $162 or $81/head. True, this is without any drinks but it’s still pretty good for food of this quality in this setting. It goes without saying that it’s a very expensive meal in Delhi.

Alright, this was the last of my meal reports from this brief Delhi sojourn in March. I will probably be back in Delhi by myself for another 10-14 days at the end of the year. I look forward to eating at some new places then. In the meantime, I do still have some 6-8 reports to go from Seoul and Busan. I hope to be done with all of those by the middle of May. And now that I’ve mentioned those high-end meals in Seoul again, I should probably report on another of those this week. Probably on Thursday. Let’s see how it goes.