At Aanch, savour your moment with good desi food (IANS Food Review)

What is your idea of perfect lunch or dinner? If you want good food combined with soothing music, eye-catching interiors and a moonlit dining area where you can unwind with friends and family, visit Aanch, a multi-cuisine eatery, which also serves some of the best desi recipes.

Three partners - late Deepak Chadha, Bhuvnesh Bhalla and Brijesh Kapoor - started the multi-cuisine restaurant, their first venture in the hospitality business, in Rajouri Garden.

Spread in an area of 20,000 square foot, it has separate seating areas - XTC is a lavishly decorated lounge with designer armrest chairs and couches. It serves a mix of international brands of select spirits, wines and beers, while Majlis, apt for private-dining or small get-togethers, features designer chairs with eye-catching interiors, and Company Baugh is an open area where one can enjoy food under the starlit night.

They also had a hookah bar called Kash, but do not serve hookahs any more.

"When we were young, we faced this problem. It's the same problem with today's young generation. So, we thought of a place with sections divided as per choices of people to suit their moods," Kapoor told IANS.

The menu of the restaurant was chosen after an extensive research. From desi dal makhani to murg makhani, chicken kung pao to Thai fish curr, and a huge range of pizzas and burgers - everything was put up on the menu keeping in mind the demographic and food lovers' taste buds.

Kapoor said Delhiites love 'dal makhani and butter chicken', so they ensured customers were served with the best flavours of the two popular dishes.

"Our chef, Chef Ashish Massey, took 36 trials for our dal makhani and 30 for butter chicken. And it has paid off as these dishes consist 90 percent of our orders," he said.

Talking about the ingredients used, chef Massey said: "We use only fresh ingredients. Olive oil is basically used for the oriental and continental cuisine, for Indian cuisine we use mustard oil."

My meal at Aanch started with Punjabi tadka pizza, a crispy pizza with a Punjabi flavour. The pizza was accompanied with the fresh verybery strawberry shake.

Next up was Tandoori malai broccoli. Broccoli marinated in cream and curd with spices just rejuvenated our taste buds.

From oriental cuisine, I chose sizzling prawns, which is served with bean sauce or schezwan garlic sauce.

Then the chef served the dal makhani with missi roti. The combo was perfect for those who love typical Delhi food.

If you visit Aanch, dal makhani is a must, as it will remind you of your grandmother's cooking.

Out of the 12 desserts put up on the menu, which included mouth-watering gulab jamun and phirni, I chose coconut cigar, as it sounded different. And it was worth a try as the hot and creamy cigars, served with vanilla ice cream are to die for. Those who are fond of desserts must try it.

The restaurant does not offer any special nights, but it does organise events like mehndi, bachelor's party, birthdays etc.

Basic:

Location: 4th floor, above Shoppers Stop, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi

Cost: Meal for two (exclusive taxes) - Rs.1,400 (without alcohol), Rs.1,700 (with alcohol).

Timing: 12 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.