Restaurants in Connaught Place and Central Delhi

Café 100 , B-Block, Connaught Place. Ice creams galore, plus pizzas, burgers and
fries to take away or eat in (standing). Long lunchtime queues; buy a meal
ticket before you reach the counter.


Don't Pass Me By , 79 Scindia House. Friendly, inexpensive and tasty veg and
non-veg Chinese restaurant just off Janpath, popular with travellers staying
nearby. Go early for full-on breakfasts. They also run a reliable travel
service.

El Arab , Sansad Marg. Great place for Middle-Eastern dishes on the corner of
Sansad Marg and the outer ring of Connaught Place, with prices ranging from
medium to high. Tasty hummus, baba ghanoush and Lebanese salads in an
excellent-value daily lunchtime buffet.


Gaylord, near Connaught place, Originally Delhi's top nightclub, now limited to
serving standard but expensive Indian dishes in plush surroundings lit by
glittering chandeliers.


Host , F-Block. Air-con relief from the Indian heat, and a good place to sit
with a beer, silver-service tea, or strong filter coffee. The standard
multi-cuisine, however, is unexciting and meals are overpriced.


Kovil , 2 E-Block, Connaught Place. Fresh, no-smoking restaurant and takeaway
serving exclusively south Indian veg dishes, with great dosas , and delicious
full thalis (around Rs150) at lunch-time.

Kwality , Regal Building, Sansad Marg. High standards of service and hygiene,
with good but unspectacular international cuisine; renowned for its channa
batura , a particular speciality of Delhi.


National , opposite L-Block, Connaught Place. The best of a bunch of inexpensive
sit-down restaurants, with great fiery curries, and an endless supply of
chapatis.


Nirula's , 135 L-Block, Connaught Place. Choose from the downstairs snack bar
(serving packed lunches), the Chinese or tasty multi-cuisine rooms upstairs, or
sample some of the fifty flavours of delicious ice cream in the parlour. A
second branch on N-Block, near the Wimpy , is a popular snack bar with smooth
ice-cream shakes.


Parikrama , Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Novel and expensive Indian and Chinese cuisine
in a revolving restaurant worth a visit.


Pizza Express , D-10 Connaught Place. An ambience and menu identical with their
restaurants abroad; so are the prices, which makes it expensive for Delhi,
especially their drinks menu.


Rodeo , 12 A-Block, Connaught Place. New-Mexican restaurant with Wild West
waiters, crooning karaoke, swinging saddle bar stools, pitchers of beer,
cocktails, excellent fajitas and moderate prices.


Sona Rupa , 46 Janpath. Good Indian and Chinese food, extremely popular with
families. No-nonsense prices, and dramatic dosa -flinging in the open-fronted
kitchen downstairs. Beer and north Indian food upstairs; buy a food ticket at
the till and present it to the cooks.


Spice Route , Hotel Imperial , Janpath. The beautifully decorated and expensive
restaurant specializes in spicy Thai and Kerala cuisine and is widely considered
to be one of the best restaurants in Asia.


Standard , 44 Regal Buildings, Connaught Place. Close to the Regal Cinema, with
two food halls, one for the best-value south Indian thalis in town, and the
other for north Indian and tandoori specials and chilled beer on tap.


Surang , Alka Hotel , 16-90 P-Block, Connaught Place. A minor treat - delicious
tandoori and Mughlai specialities. Vegetarians should try the Vega restaurant
(also in the Alka Hotel ), where the purest Indian veg dishes are served with
ginger kulcha .

United Coffee House , 15 E-Block, Connaught Place. Together with the Host , this
is a long-standing favourite, and does great coffee and cold beer. The food is
very good and portions are ample, but as a whole it's overpriced.


The Dhaba , Claridges Hotel , 12 Aurangzeb Rd. Designed to look like a trucker's
café, with a reconstructed truck to add atmosphere - for those who want really
good dhaba cooking without the grime of a roadside truck stop.


Fujiya , Malcha Marg Market, Chanakyapuri. A pilgrimage place for homesick
Chinese tourists and well worth the queues. Superb, piping-hot Chinese dishes
and fast service.


Karim's , Nizamuddin. Unmissable Mughlai cooking, although not as good as its
Old Delhi counterpart. The sumptuous food is very rich, offering much-renowned
specialities, plus kebabs, korma and rumali roti (super-thin bread).


Moti Mahal , Netaji Shubash Marg, Darya Ganj. On the noisy main road south of
Jami Masjid, this once smart restaurant, established in 1947, may have seen
better days but is still renowned as the home of tandoori chicken.


Natraj Bhalla Corner , Chandni Chowk. Right next to the Central Bank, midway
along Chandni Chowk. Cosy first-floor snack bar with a few window seats and a
limited menu comprising Indian, Western and Chinese options.


Paratha Wali Gali , Chandni Chowk. Opposite the Central Bank, down an alley that
leads behind Kanwarji Raj Kumar Sweet Shop. Follow the smell of rich ghee (the
lane's hallmark from more than a century dedicated to paratha -making) to any of
the several tiny rooms squeezed behind counters displaying pure veg food. Here
you choose a paratha to go with standard veg dishes, filled with anything from
paneer and gobi to mutter and mooli, all cooked to order, a culinary treat that
will set you back around Rs30.


Soni Bhojnalaya , Nai Sarak. First-floor restaurant at the top of a yellow
staircase opposite Bina Musical Stores, 30m off Chandni Chowk. Great thalis in
typically Indian unfussy surroundings.