Ikk Panjab first opened in Rajouri Garden, a major Punjabi enclave in West Delhi, in 2018. Since then a number of shiny branches have opened all over the Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) as well as in Chandigarh. I have been vaguely intrigued for some time by their proffer—the food of undivided Punjab—but not enough to ever make the trek from Gurgaon to Delhi. However, a location opened last year in Golf Avenue 42, an incredibly garish commercial complex not too far from my parents’ place in Gurgaon. And so on this most recent trip, I descended on it with my nephews, both of whom are aficionados of Punjabi food. Here’s how it went.

As per this article, the original Ikk Panjab in Rajouri Garden did not package much of a story with their food or ambience. However, in the new locations they are all in on this story. The walls of the Gurgaon location are replete with what appear to be family photos (whether all of the owners’ family, I do not know). It’s very much a post-Dishoom aesthetic, here situated in a simulacrum of an old military club (though much shinier than any Indian air force club I ever visited in my youth). The introduction to the menu tells a story of life in pre-Partition Punjab that has been passed through the soft-focused lens of nostalgia, and our server likewise informed us that the restaurant drew on the owners’ family recipes and pictures and whatnot.

The menu includes a number of dishes familiar from the North Indian Punjabi restaurant repertoire. Others are tributes to dishes found in towns and cities in Indian and Pakistani Punjab. Other still are drawn from the home cooking repertoire. The idea is that Ikk Panjab’s menu offers a fuller view of Punjabi food than that previously represented in Delhi’s iconic Punjabi restaurants. In theory, at least, that’s a good thing. As we were just three people, we were not able to take the measure of the long menu, and so I am not really able to say if it truly delivers on that promise. While we ordered some dishes that were less familiar to us, none of us felt that there was anything very revelatory about anything we ate. Nor did the familiar dishes rise above versions available elsewhere in Delhi/Gurgaon.

What did we eat? We started with a few appetizers. Matthi Chhole presents spiced chickpeas on a spiced wheat cracker and is apparently one of their signature dishes. It looks attractive but didn’t really make much of an impression. The same was true of the Kufli Kabab, which is attractively presented on flat wooden skewers. As per the menu, the name comes from the Punjabi word “kufl”, which means to seal or trap flavours. I can’t say that the process resulted in anything remarkable. More familiar in the opening round were the Sarson Machhi Tikka and the Mutton Burrah Kabab. The fish tikka was excellent and the burrah kabab was fine too.

We only got two larger dishes to follow: the Ikk Panjab Butter Chicken and the Maah Ki Dal. The butter chicken was prepared with bone-in chicken—always my preference—and was quite good. Though I can’t say I’d pick it over the versions at Moti Mahal, Daryaganj, Made in Punjab, Punjab Grill, or a host of other Punjabi restaurants in the region. The maah ki dal, however, was excellent. It features urad dal rendered creamy over hours of low-flame cooking; there’s no butter or cream in it. The menu points out that this is not dal makhani but, in fact, this is how dal makhani is supposed to be prepared: the word “makhani” in the name refers not to the use of butter but to the fact that the dal is rendered buttery and creamy by slow cooking. It’s a different matter that most restaurants load their dal makhani with butter and cream. Of course, they did serve the dal with little balls of white country butter on the side and we were encouraged to add it to our portions of dal.

We mopped all of the above up with a mix of breads. The Rumali Roti and Butter and Garlic Naans were very good—as they always are in Punjabi restaurants in Delhi. None of us were enthused, however, by the Lal Mirch Roti, which sees tandoori rotis smeared with red chilli powder. It had a striking look but didn’t really do anything for us.

For drinks we stuck with Aam Panna (quite nice) and Coke. There is, however, an extensive menu of cocktails etc. for those who wish to partake; and the dining room at the Gurgaon location, at least, is anchored by an impressive bar.

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

Service was of the usual overly-solicitous expensive Delhi restaurant kind. And speaking of price, the total before tip was Rs. 7773 or just about $82 at the current exchange rate. For reference, our lunches at Moti Mahal and Daryaganj last year had cost $72 for four people.

Alright, I hope to have another report from this trip later this week. That will also feature dinner at an upscale restaurant in Gurgaon but the food will be South Indian. That should go up this weekend. Before that I’ll have a review of our recent dinner at Demi in Minneapolis (that’ll go up sometime tomorrow) and another Seoul report.