In December I broke my streak of eating at Cafe Lota on every trip to Delhi in the last decade or so. I didn’t have so much time on that brief visit, which included a sojourn to Coonoor for a few days, to eat at all my favourite restaurants; and since we’d eaten at Cafe Lota as a family last March, I gave it a miss. But when I returned this March for two weeks I made it a priority to get back there. I met a friend for lunch there who I/we usually meet for lunch there. As it was just the two of us, we couldn’t do a whole lot of damage. But that’s not to say that we did not have much to eat. Here’s how it went.

Some years ago there was some uncertainty about the future of the Crafts Museum (in whose complex Cafe Lota is housed) and the restaurant. All of that seems to be in the past now. The restaurant has expanded and has expanded its offerings (they now sell sweets and preserves from a retail counter on the premises). And they’re still very popular—not just with regular civilians but also with politicians (a prominent member of parliament was eating at the table next to ours).

The menu has also undergone some flux over the last decade. Many of the original signature dishes are still on it; but they’ve been joined on each of our recent visits by some new dishes. And some things that used to be on the specials boards are now part of the menu proper. The menu still offers a tour of regional specialities, most passed lightly through a contemporary filter—sometimes in terms of ingredients, sometimes of presentation, sometimes both. We, however, had a pretty traditional looking meal.

We started by sharing an order of the Chef’s Special Dahi Vada (from the regular menu). I couldn’t tell you what the chef’s special touches might have been but I can tell you that this was outstanding dahi vada. The vadas were light and not rendered soggy/sodden by the whipped curd. And the chutneys and toppings were excellent as well. For our meal proper we each got a thali. I got the Kerala Thali and my friend got the Himalayan Thali—both are vegetarian affairs (I’m not sure why they don’t offer any non-veg thalis at all).

My Kerala Thali included the following: banana chips, inji curry (basically a sticky ginger chutney), beans thoran, avial, sambar (spelled with an “h” to enrage every South Indian who dines there), pineapple pachadi, payasam (not listed on the menu), Kerala red rice plus some ghee for extra artery cloggage. The sambar, I thought, was mid but I quite liked everything else. I particularly liked the inji curry and the thoran.

My friend’s Himalayan thali meanwhile comprised: siddu (steamed bread stuffed with chopped walnuts etc.), dal, aloo palda (potatoes in a yogurt gravy), sepu badi (urad dal dumplings in a red gravy), raita and salad (plus more ghee). I tasted everything on the thali and liked the aloo palda and the siddu the best. The sepu badi themselves were nice but the gravy/curry tasted a bit generic.

So, a good meal, on the whole, in the genre of comfort food. Oh yes, my friend had an apple kombucha to drink while I had an excellent aam panna from the daily specials. And my friend got a filter coffee to end. We were both so full from the thalis that we did not have room for the apple jalebis that we usually end our meals there with. Next time.

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

Service was very good. This is one of the rare places in Delhi in this price range where servers don’t hover. And the price? With included service charge and taxes we paid a total of Rs. 2506 or just below $30. That’s not a cheap meal in Delhi by any means but keep in mind that the thalis themselves were just Rs. 650 each.

Okay, next up on the restaurant report front will be a Thai meal that we are scheduled to eat in St. Paul in just a few hours. My next Delhi report will be of an excellent lunch at a new branch of a famous Calcutta restaurant. Before both of those, I will have a booze review tomorrow.