Saravana Bhavan restaurant

New Dehli -  Our second visit to this Southern Indian Vegetarian restaurant - Saravana Bhavan.   It near to the India Gate and at the time of our lunch, there was not much crowd. 

This is my lunch Thali...

This was Lesley lunch - Masala Dosai...

As we left the restaurant, the huge lunch crowd was gathering outside the restaurant entrance.

India Gate

New Dehli - India Gate is a national monument of India and situated in the heart of New Dehli.   When I saw it, it reminded me of Arc de Triomphe in Paris - looks similiar.    This prominent landmark commemorates the 90,000 Indian soldiers of the Indian Army that lost their lives fighting for the British Empire. 

That's Lesley and me

Surendra and me....

Burning in a shrine under the arch of India Gate since 1971 is the Amar Jawan Jyoti (the flame of the immortal soldier) which marks the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The shrine itself is a black marble cenotaph surmounted by a rifle standing on its barrel and crested by a soldier's helmet. Each face of the cenotaph is inscribed in gold with the words "Amar Jawan" (Immortal Warrior).

It was a very hot day - 36c and the ice-cream man is out in full force...

I took this picture of 2 waste bin that sits near the India Gate that says ' Keep India Clean' - whilst the place was strewn with litter.

Satvik Restaurant

New Dehli - We walked to the nearby mall - Select CityWalk to have our dinner.  Just next to Sheraton Hotel, there is a side gate which opens to the mall.   I walked around and came to this Indian restaurant - Satvik.  Once we sat down and look at the menu, we found a food item amiss - where are the meat dishes.  So, we called the waiters and were told this is a vegetarian restaurant, but since we opened a bottle of mineral water - might as well continue.

I would say the food is really delicious and the ambiance is great.  We had Dal and another vegetarian dish plus Galic Naan.  The Garlic Naan was so good we ordered another round.   This dinner cost Rp 1120 (S$ 27).

Barrique restaurant

New Dehli - We spent our morning in meetings at Cyber City Gurgaon and later went to lunch at Barrique - a fusion Indian and Western restaurant.  This restaurant serves Tex-mex, Italian, continental and Indian cuisine.    Surendra, Lesley and I had a taste of every type of cuisine.  For apetitiser, we had Vegetarian Quesidilla.  Lesley ordered Penne Murano - which according to Lesley was below average.    Surendra had Grilled Chicken Pizza - tasted good.  Whilst I had an Indian dish - Chicken Makhni Platter.  

It tasted very delicious and I like this dish.   The desserts that we ordered were also below average - Chocolate Chiffon (which does not taste anything like chiffon) and Apple Nut Pudding.

Busy with meetings - Saravana Bhavan restaurant - House of Ming

New Dehli - I had breakfast at the Sheraton executive club floor but the spread was so sparse.  The view from the executive floor.

Our meeting would start at 10am and was picked up at our lobby @ 9am.  It will be quite a journey to our meeting place furthermore we are expecting heavy traffic jam.

Our lunch location was a popular Southern Indian Vegetarian restaurant - Saravana Bhavan.   It was crowded during the peak lunch time but the waiting was not too long.

A big lunch crowd gathering outside this restaurant.

Thaili dish of Southern Indian vegetarian dish...the price is very cheap @ Rp200 per person (S$ 5).
Dinner, I wanted to try a good chinese restaurant.   I surfed Trip Advisor website and saw that 'House of Ming' restaurant had good reviews and one of the Top 10 restaurants.   It was quite a distance away about 30 minutes via taxi and located at Taj Mahal Dehli Hotel.  

We arrived @ 7pm and was told that the House of Ming opens at 7.30pm so we sat at the Lobby and wait and water.   The waitress walked to our table when the restaurant opened and showed us our table - very professional.    When we were looking through the menu - the Chef Zhang came to our table and spoke to us in Mandarin and we ordered our food 'customized'.

Bowl of cantonese style spicy and sour soup with prawns and slices of bamboo shoots - taste was good.

This chicken dish is stir-fried with fermented been curd, onion and green peppers.   This dish was too salty, we left half the dish unfinished. 

Brocolli and slices of carrots stir fried with garlic - the best dish of choice.   It was presented nicely but this photo was taken after a number of prices of brocolli was eaten.

Seafood fried rice using basmati rice - the fried rice was too dry and would have tasted much better with Thai rice.   Chef Zhang said using basmati rice is better; well this time he is wrong....
Expensive for this standard of food - visit once is good enough.

2nd Trip to New Dehli

New Dehli - I had a SQ flight to New Dehli but I nearly missed my flight.  The check-in counter allowed me to board the flight with only less than 30 minutes to spare.  I was literally running to the gate and reach it within 5 minutes, panting and catching my breath.  

The flight was uneventful as I was seated in the middle of 3 seats, fortunately it was a very new plane of 777 and the seats were wider.   It was a full flight to New Dehli.    I manage to catch a movie - War horse - a good movie directed by Steven Speilberg.

Lesley arrived 1 hr earlier and waiting for me at the airport.   He already booked the airport taxi and it was extremely small and the ride was bumpy all the way to the airport.

My porter....haha, Lesley carrying the bags.    The taxi driver cannot speak a single word of English and do not know where Sheraton New Dehli Hotel is but know the road the Hotel resides on.  I had to call Hotel reception for the taxi driver to speak to them.