New Places. Innovative Concepts. Latest trends. The restaurant business is ever evolving, with each new outlet attempting to be more contemporary and sophisticated than the previous one. Driven taskmasters and a challenging audience ensure that the whizzing F&B industry practically never sleeps; there’s no denying that we love the outcome!
Whilst we love presenting the debut gems on the city’s culinary scene, there are few things in the world that are instant soul warmers – a mother’s hug, your winter razai, and comfort food. Taking cue,we share the capital’s old school hit-eateries, restaurants that have charmed Delhi with their simplicity and lip-smackin’ food through the years. Hustlin’ in Defence Colony this week, here are the hood’s five food legends (you’re not a certified Delhiite unless you’ve binged at least three of these).
Kent’s Fast Food
Image: defcol.com
Established in 1985, this cracker of a snug 20-seater restaurant has been doling out ’Indian’ fast food for over 30 years now. Serving burgers, footlongs, cutlets, ice cream sundaes, and more, they’re reminiscent of the fast food of your childhood. But nostalgic taste buds is not the sole reason why this Defence Colony veteran is always packed – they’re zero on fuss and full on flavour and have had Delhi hooked for three decades! Whether it’s your first visit or the 26,487th one, the affable cashier outside & the staff treat you like family, once again making you smile with the old school hospitality. We at the DSSC HQ never round off an order unless their homestyle cold coffee and chicken burgers are championing the list.
The affable peeps at Kent’s tell us what makes them favourites:
Q. What is the hotseller on the menu?
A. The Chicken Burger and grilled sandwiches.
Q. What’s kept Kent’s Defence Colony’s favourite corner through the years?
A. We still use the same recipe for our burger patties since day one, keep our food fresh, and provide swift service – we believe these add up to the customers liking us.
4S
Image: lbb.in
Easy-on-the-pocket alcohol and feel-good Indian Chinese food, need we say more? This watering hole features as the star of many a alcohol-coming-of-age stories of folks from all over the city. Their affordable price point and banter-ready service staff (Guard Bhaiya FTW) makes it the go-to drinking place for college grads and post-work tipples. A favourite of the advocates working near the hood, they pair the drinks with classic “chin-jabi” fare, the perfect alliance of comfort hooch & nibbles. Doing IndoChinese how it should be done for longer than our memories, their Crispy Lamb Sesame Seed, Crispy Honey Chilli Potato, Golden Fried Baby Corn, and array of beers are staples on our weekly orders. #MayThe4sBeWithYou
Here’s what the 4S folks had to say:
Q. What keeps people coming back to 4S?
A. Same service, same hospitality, and the cheap booze – that definitely helps!
Q. Most memorable incident till date?
A. We’ve had quite few, from arguments to marriage proposals! The nicest one has to be the surprise proposal, definitely.
Q. Favourite dishes of your patrons?
A. They love the lamb and pork preparations, especially the Chilli Lamb.
Colonel’s Kababz
There’s no old school if there’s no quintessential Mughlai on offer. One of the pioneer chains of Mughlai cuisine restaurants across Delhi NCR, the parent branch of Colonel’s Kababz in Defence Colony has aced this feels-like-home fare for 25 years now. Their kebabs, rolls, tikkas, and biryani have held their own over the years and will take you back to childhood’s big family dinners spread across long tables. In tandem with those times, they’ve kept up with a takeaway window, happy to serve you in your car. Picking up a roll is our DSSC trick to calm ‘em nerves as we zip from one meeting to another!
We got talking to one of the Colonel’s servers and here’s what he shared,
Q. What is the USP of Colonel’s Kebabz that’s made it popular for 25 years now?
A. Since the beginning our quality and quantity of dishes has remained the same, we haven’t succumbed to competition or let rising prices affect our patrons.
Q. Which dishes have emerged as most popular over the years?
A. We have quite a few dishes for which people come from far ends of Delhi, like the Mutton Seekh Kebab, Chicken Haldi Ghati, Chicken Malai Tikka, Rara Ghost, Chicken Mumtaz, and Chicken Bhayankar.
Sagar Ratna
Image: sagarratna.in
Housing another parent branch of an #awesomesauce restaurant chain, Defence Colony market sure has something up its sleeve! Demystifying South Indian cuisines for Delhi NCR and giving us easy access to the same, Sagar Ratna redefined food from the South for us folks up north. 30 years later, it continues to roar with its uncomplicated selection of idlis, vadas, dosas, and uttapams. High on taste & low on trimmings, it reminds us of the origins of dining out in the city when the main focus was sumptuous, quality food. If you see Paper Masala Dosa, Medu Vada, and filter coffee being served in excess, feel free to suspect some DSSC activity.
The man manning the station at Sagar Ratna speaks to us whilst we gobble up a plate of dahi-vada:
Q. One motto that Sagar Ratna lives by?
A. Customer is always right for us!
Q. Patrons can’t get enough of Sagar Ratna because…?
A. We simply try and do our job right, we attribute it to the customers’ love for that they keep coming back.
Q. The most loved dishes on your menu?
A. Onion Rava Masala Dosa, Dahi Vada, Rava Idli.
Defence Bakery
Image: defencebakery.in
This wouldn’t be a feature about DefCol legends without a big shoutout to Defence Bakery. The granddaddy of the hood, this unpretentious bakery has been whipping up delish goodies for the capital for 55 years. Serving super cakes & bakes, they find a fan in all true blue Delhiites. From your everyday bread, to sourdough, hummus, quiches, cheesecakes, and a whole lot more, they cater to any & every bakery need of yours. Their consistency in serving on-point savour is nothing short of genius! Bagfuls of their lemon tart and demolished Chocolate Fudge cake boxes materialise at the HQ more often than we’d like to admit.
Here’s what the market’s most loved bakers had to tell:
Q. How’s Defence Bakery remained the go-to place despite fancy outlets dotting the market?
A. We’ve always been the neighbourhood bakery where people come to buy their essentials and we’ve stayed true to that identity over the years, that’s what works for us.
Q. Your bakes that are finished as soon as they hit the shelves?
A. I believe our pizza bread and tarts are a constant favourite.
We know where we’re headed for the next team outing! Have you decided on your fix of comfort food yet?
Featured Image Courtesy: delhirealestateguy.com
