Bhawan

Unit 9, 32nd Avenue, National Highway-8, Sector 15 Part 2, Gurugram, Haryana 122001 

Mob: 0 81785 39537

Meal for two: Approximately Rs 2500

What do you get when a husband-wife restaurateur team open their nth restaurant? Bhawan is a nifty take on the state-run bhawans that sprawl all over Delhi’s tony Chanakyapuri area. Many, if not most of them date back from the era immediately after Partition and double up as state government guest houses and a dining hall. Most of the dining halls have fixed price meals, shorn of any frills and the menu is uncompromisingly that of the particular state.

So, Kainaz Contractor and Rahul Dua had a real-life template to follow, their restaurant Bhawan, like its templates in Chanakyapuri, is large and airy, no frills (bare floors, sturdy furniture) and the menu contains mostly street food and starters. Most of them are faithful reproductions of the original; a few are witty takes on them and a small percent are imagined riffs with ingredients that no street food vendor would ever use, such as the Portobello Mushroom Tikka gratinated with cheese.

Popular hits include Kanpur’s signature Gadbad Chaat, golgappas (with your choice of puris, water and filling), raw mango bhelpuri, ghee podi idlis and bhutte ki kees. The last named is a rare healthy snack first made popular in Indore’s Sarafa Street. It is a cream-style corn preparation that is surprisingly western, but no less delicious for being so. Gondhoraj Fish and Tandoori Andhra Prawns are good options to try in the non-vegetarian section, but this is one place where vegetarians are spoilt for choice. Their chole bhature is iconic and their mithai is of a very high standard.