Is what we asked at Delhi 6, a restaurant that claims to serve food from the streets of Chandni Chowk, but what we got was standard North Indian fare

When an eatery claims to serve "Moonlit square dining" aka food from Delhi's famous Chandni Chowk, you go there expecting chaat, paranthas, pani puri and other quick bites served hot and piping from the streets of Old Delhi. It was with these expectations that we landed up at Delhi 6, newly opened in Indiranagar (the other branch is located at Murugeshpalya) for their breakfast combos on a Saturday morning. But we were turned away by the closed sign on the door.

Delhi 6
Food: average
Service: indifferent
Ambience: plain


We returned for dinner and were pretty surprised to see a standard North Indian menu that listed kebabs, shorbas and curries. There was nothing remotely street food-like on the menu. The interiors are done up with just about basic sofas and tables and bring no atmosphere of carnival-like street food dining.

We started off with Chicken Achari Tikka (Rs 150) and Tandoori Kumbh (Rs 140). Though the restaurant lists fish and mutton dishes, none of these categories were available. Upon prodding, we were told that mutton and seafood had been discontinued because of no demand. The tikka came with a smattering of sesame seeds and had a spicy tangy taste and was grilled just right. The Tandoori Khumb, marinated and charred on the tandoor was a bit watery on the bite. While the starters were fine, the staff looked completely disinterested to serve us.

While we were still dealing with the indifferent staff and the occassional glimpses of the dirty kitchen that we could see from time to time whenever the staff went in and out with orders, our mains arrived.u00a0 The Nimboo Tadka Chicken (Rs 160) was the usual chunks of chicken dunked into a tomato gravy thickened by cashew paste.

What was strange however, were the slices of lemon cooked with the gravy. While we understand the sentiment associated with giving this chicken gravy a lemony twist, the slices of lime had been cooked and had become bitter giving out an odd boiled taste. Keeping the lime far away we moped up the chicken and the gravy with Keema Parantha (Rs 42) and Peas Pulao (Rs 85).

The parantha was stuffed with spicy chicken keema and garnished with fresh coriander and went well with the chicken gravy. The pulao was a disappointment though. We had expected long fragrant basmati rice cooked with ghee and green peas, what came instead was regular rice tossed with just a stingy, handful of peas.u00a0 Delhi 6 also offers a smattering of Chinese dishes (Chandni Chowk to China anyone?) and desserts like Gajar Ka Halwa, Moong Dal Halwa and fruit salads, but only Gulab Jamuns were available "fresh" according to the staff, on the day we visited.

More than the food here, it's the location that will work in favour of Delhi 6. Located at the busy Indiranagar and CMH road intersection, the restaurant is sure to always find a customer or two so what if the food is not really from Chandni Chowk.

At: Delhi 6, No 2, CMH Road, Indiranagar, 1st Stage
Call: 25219556
Meal for two: Rs 600

Delhi 6 didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.