City Hangout – Udupi Café, Pratap Bhawan, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - April 16, 2019April 16, 20192 A summer oasis. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The window blinds are smothering out any hint of the day, keeping the hall in a cool delicious shade. Udupi Café in Central Delhi’s ITO (Pratap Bhawan, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) is an idyllic May-and-June oasis, permeated with the languid romance of a post-lunch siesta. Otherwise, the South Indian specialty eatery has the atmosphere of a messy canteen. This afternoon, the tables are filled with tie-wearing office-goers. The ceiling is echoing with the clattering of forks, spoons, and hushed banter. The air is scented by sambhar curry. Far, far away is the blinding white heat of the boiling city. Nobody in here can guess the extent of the summer atrocity lurking outside. While the dosas and idlis are as decent as in any Udupi restaurant worth its name, the real draw here is its sense of slow-moving time. With some 40 years on its back, this place isn’t sleek or modern. What it offers is non-distracting comfort to wind down briefly. The best spot for casual lounging is the corner table parked behind the soft drinks refrigerator; and where shapely shades of muffled day light beam onto the wall behind. With your back against that wall, you might well devote hours poring over your newspaper or novel. Or perhaps just discreetly inspecting all the other patrons at the other tables: who are these people and what their private lives must be like? Udupi Café is also a pleasing place for simply turning up on your own, after the lunch crowds have thinned. It helps you get closer to yourself, if that’s what you’re pining for. The filter coffee is excellent. A place for summer refugees 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. FacebookX Related Related posts: City Monument – Firuz Shah Kotla Ruins, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg City Monument – Khooni Darwaza, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg City Walk – Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Central Delhi Letter from Yangon – Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Tomb, Near Shwedagon Pagoda City Hangout – Café Goethe, Max Mueller Bhavan
Mayank, I am an admirer of and a regular reader of your column. However, you are way off in describing the quality of the Udupi eatery on the Zafar Marg service lane. I have worked in diverse offices on the lane since 1980 (and almost continuously since early 1983) and the place is a shadow of what it used tobe from the 1970s in this regard. At the time, it was actually run by Udupi people; it has changed hands at least thrice after and the name has been cannily retained. The coffee is, yes, satisfactory, not excellent; as for the idli and dosai you mention, both would get a C-grade at best from any South Indian; what the North gets in the name of idli, dosai, upma, sambar and chutney are execrable, as a rule, and so-so at best, honourable and occasional exceptions apart. Yes, the place is pleasant to while away the time, the staff is firendly and the ambience what you have said. The big let-down is the food. Which means it is a digrace on the name of Udupi.
I for one love Delhi’s makhani Sambar, tadka Rasam, tandoori Idli and karahi Upma. I’m a simple man; I see tasty food, I stuff my face with it. The sambar that we make at home has paalak saag and dollops of butter in it. Then there’s a spicy baghaar of zeera, green chillies and kashmiri laal mirch. It tastes great with roti/ paratha and raita.