My very first Naga meal in Delhi was eaten at Dzükou. That was in January 2016. At the time Dzükou was located in the Hauz Khas market. We loved that meal and resolved to return on our next visit to the city. On our next trip to Delhi, however, we were disappointed to learn that the restaurant had closed. Still later, I got word that they had reopened, not in Hauz Khas but in Vasant Kunj. We had hoped to get there in January 2023 but couldn’t make it work; and in March this year I just forgot about it. I’m happy to report, therefore, that I did make it there on my brief solo trip to Delhi this month and that I enjoyed this meal almost as much as I had the first—the gap arising not from some lower quality at this meal but from the fact that I’ve eaten more Naga and other North Eastern food in the intervening period and as such there was less of the excitement of the new.

Not being located in the alleys of Humayunpur, the restaurant was easy enough to find. It’s up on the second floor of the building it’s in (that’s the third floor to Americans) but there’s prominent signage outside that’s hard to miss. The restaurant itself is quite a bit smaller than the original but is attractive enough. There’s a small dining room and bar as you enter and a patio with a few tables alongside. Even though the prospect of breathing Delhi’s polluted air straight from the source is never an appealing one, we opted to sit outside. The “we” was myself and my nephews, neither of whom had eaten Naga food before. We were the only people in the restaurant for lunch on a Saturday. One hopes/assumes they do more business at dinner.

Well, we may have been the only ones there but the kitchen was not slacking off. We started with the shredded buff (buffalo) salad and the pork ribs and both were rather goo with the lethal pounded chutney that came with them. For our mains we got two meat dishes: the smoked pork with anishi (a paste of taro leaves) and the chicken with axone (fermented soybeans). The chicken was very good, the pork was excellent. We also had two veg dishes alongside: Naga kholar (kidney) beans with fresh bamboo shoot and the alo etsuen, which featured boiled potato, beans, pumpkin and other veg. Both were quite tasty as well, especially the kidney beans (nothing like North Indian rajma). The two meat dishes came with steamed white rice; we also added on some Naga sticky rice. Oh yes, because we are gluttons for punishment we also got an order of the Naga morich/ghost pepper chutney with shredded buff. This was very tasty for the 2 seconds before the heat blew the top off my head off.

To drink, some soft drinks and a couple of beers: a wheat beer from Kati Patang (a Delhi-based outfit) which was barely adequate to the cause of diminishing the heat from the chutneys but was otherwise pretty good.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Service was very good: present when needed, friendly. Price? With tax and included service charge the total came to Rs. 5076 (of which Rs.1000 was the drinks). That’s about $60. Not a cheap meal in Delhi but well worth it for the quality. The only negative thing I can say about Dzükou is that they don’t offer thalis, which means it’s hard for a solo diner to make much of a meal there. Still, I think I’ll be back with the missus and the boys on our next trip together to Delhi; though there are also other Naga places in Humayunpur I’d like to try as well.

Alright, coming up next: another lunch in Delhi that did not feature thalis. That’ll be on Sunday.