This meal represents one of the worst choices I’ve made in recent trips to Delhi. Not, I hasten to clarify, on account of the meal itself. No, the terrible decision was to make plans that needed us to drive from Gurgaon to Friends Colony on a weeknight. No one who lives in the Delhi NCR will be surprised to hear this but it took us more than two hours to get from DLF Phase 1 to Friends Colony. Total distance? 16 km or 10 miles. After this ordeal the dinner, at Inja in the Manor Hotel, would have needed to have been very good to not be disappointing. I am happy to say that it was indeed very good. Almost as happy as I am to say that the return journey took only 45 minutes. Read on for the details (on the meal, not the return journey, which was uneventful).

Inja opened in early 2023 in Delhi at the tony Manor Hotel in Friends Colony. People familiar with the Delhi food scene know that the Manor Hotel was the original home of Indian Accent. That’s where we ate our first dinner at Indian Accent (they decamped later for a much larger space in the Lodhi Hotel). You might say that boded well for the prospects of the meal. Though maybe you’d reconsider once told that the name “Inja” is a combination—a clever one in my view—of the names “India” and “Japan” and that the restaurant’s calling card is food for which the usual description is “fusion”. But if “fusion” usually involves a collision of cliches, this is not what’s going on at Inja. Here the approach is instead one of juxtapositions and harmonizations of complementary flavours and textures from two culinary palettes that don’t usually seem like they would work well together. Not all these efforts worked quite as well as others at our meal, but it was clear that the approach is thoughtful—and as a result, mostly successful.

As I said, the restaurant’s approach to “fusion” steers clear of cliches. This can be seen in its approach to the Indian side of the equation. Most of the reference points here are not the dishes or even regions that are most iconically associated with Indian food, especially in Delhi, where the restaurant is located. Yes, there’s a take on palak paneer and a chaat or two on the menu but, by and large, the restaurant steers clear of the North Indian—of for that matter, South Indian—restaurant all-stars. There’s no butter chicken ramen or yakitori-style tandoori chicken or tempura dosas or whatnot. I’m not saying dishes of that nature could not work or be interesting in their own right. But what’s notable is that the restaurant draws on dishes from a number of Indian regional cuisines, with a focus not on the recognizability of those touchstones but on their compatibility with its Indo-Japanese project. There is a curry udon on the menu, for example, but the curry in question is a Khasi-style black sesame curry.

Okay, let’s get to our dinner.

We had reserved a table for two on a Monday evening. Despite it being on the early side for dinner in Delhi (read before 9 pm), there were a fair number of tables occupied when we arrived. And after 9 pm there were more people still. We were first shown into a larger, lounge-like dining room. Our table there, however, was not to our liking. Well, the table was fine, but the seats were on couches that sank so low that it felt like it would be easier put our mouths at table-level and shovel the food in than to sit up and eat in a normal manner. We asked therefore if we could get a regular table in the smaller dining room in the front and they readily moved us there. Things were much better there—at least once I moved the shrubbery on the shelf by my chair so it wouldn’t be draped over my head. A lot of money has gone into the interior design at the restaurant but I’m not sure all the choices have been good ones (and don’t get me started on the rather ugly restaurant logo that greets you when you enter the restaurant).

Fortunately, things improved radically once the drinks and then the food arrived. They have a bespoke menu of cocktails that are organized around the senses they allegedly engage. I have to admit I didn’t pay much attention to that spiel and just got one that seemed not too fussy: the Satori Hi-ball. This comprised Irish whiskey, panch phoron cordial and a kombucha-green apple “bubble” crust around the rim of the glass. Okay, so I will admit that I also couldn’t resist the idea of panch phoron cordial. In a good portent for the meal, the panch phoron wasn’t over-loud and it was a nicely balanced (and refreshing) cocktail. The missus likewise liked her Sake Sangria with sake, white wine and various fruit.

On to the food.

The menu, like Gaul, is divided into three parts: “Cold, Raw & Maki”, “Small Plates” and “Big Plates & Carbs”. We ordered some from each part. From “Cold, Raw & Maki” came both one of our favourite dishes of the night and one that didn’t do much for us. The one we liked a lot was the Shiso Leaf “Banarasi Chaat”. This deploys perfectly executed tempura shiso leaves in the role that battered spinach plays in palak patta chaat and serves alongside a lovely salad of sun-dried tomato and pomelo with tamarind ponzu; crunchy jhukiya seeds go over the top. You place the salad/”chaat” on a shiso leaf and eat them together. A very fussy dish, exquisite to look at and it delivered on the palate. The Amritsari Spider Crab maki, on the other hand, was merely tasty.

From “Small Plates” came our absolute favourite dish of the night, and one of our favourite dishes of the year: Lobster Rasam Chawanmushi. A lobster dashi made with drumsticks (not chicken legs but the veg), curry leaves and kombu is steamed with egg and there’s some rasam masala in there as well. Nothing is forced, no component is out of balance. The only problem with the dish is sharing it with someone else. The best move is to get one order per person.

We got two dishes from “Big Plates & Carbs”. From the “Big Plates” sub-section came the lamb chops. The chops had received a resham patti and kimchi marination and were served with a pumpkin-coconut curry. The chops were cooked perfectly and the dish was conceived well but we were a little taken aback to receive just two chops in a plate priced at Rs. 3815 or $43. Should have stuck with one of the dishes whose main components didn’t fly to Delhi from a different continent. No complaints, however, about our “Carbs” selection. From the “Donabe Pots” subsection we got the one with the Bengali flavours: grilled seabass with bhaja moshla, mustard curry and aloo jhur jhuri (the classic Bengali comfort food dish of shredded and crisply-fried potato). As instructed, we moved the fish out of the way and mixed the rest up and it was fantastic. The fish was cooked very well too.

And, finally, dessert. There was no dessert section on the menu itself but we picked one of the (few) that were described to us by our server: a tart with bel. I ate bel constantly in my childhood in different parts of small-town India and I’d never previously encountered it in a restaurant setting. I was prepared therefore to be transported in some Proustian manner. Alas, what showed up was a tart dominated by the pastry; the fruit all but disappeared into it. It looked very pretty though. (Also, there was nothing Japanese about this that we could discern.)

For a closer look at the restaurant and everything we drank and ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for thoughts on service, to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next on the food front.

Service was a mixed bag. On the one hand, our server was perfectly solicitous without being overbearing, and, without hovering, was always available when needed. On the other hand, she didn’t have more than a very superficial understanding of the dishes and was not really able to answer questions about them beyond reciting their components. And so we stopped asking—which is why I don’t have as much detail in the descriptions of the dishes above as you might like.

Price? Quite steep. The total before tip was Rs. 18,325 or $213. That is pretty high for a meal for two in Delhi. Indeed, it was almost as much as we paid for lunch for four people the next week at Indian Accent. Yes, the meal was very good, and it was very stimulating, but it still felt like it cost a lot for what it was. As much as I enjoyed the meal, I don’t know that it’s a price I’d want to pay again. Your mileage may vary. By the way, they also do a tasting menu that needs to be booked a day in advance and which seems to be composed of dishes that are not on the regular menu. I believe that runs about Rs. 6000/head before drinks, hefty taxes and tip.

Alright, what’s next? More meals from our summer travels. I hope to get two more Seoul reports up before my next Twin Cities report next Wednesday.