Ikk Panjab, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi Restaurant

Restaurant Name: Ikk Panjab, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi
Phone: +919971114104
Address: J2/17 B.K Dutt Market, Block J, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi, India
Time: 12 Noon – 12:00 Midnight
Meals for two: Rs. 2,500
Cuisines: North Indian, Street Food, Chinese, Mughlai, Desserts, Beverages
Facilities: Home Delivery, Full Bar Available, Table booking recommended, Desserts and Bakes, Indoor Seating

When restaurateur Rajan Sethi puts together a restaurant, research – of the meticulous sort – is always the first step he takes. When he decided on a restaurant serving Punjabi food, he travelled to all parts of the state on our side of the border and read up as much as he could about the cuisine on the other side. What Ikk Panjab has turned out to be – decor, kitchen plan, menu, plates, humour, even the jalebis – is an amalgamation of months of painstaking research. Hence, some of the tableware is bell metal because that is what it used to be in undivided Panjab. Newspapers from pre-partition days were procured to be used as table accessories, and a heavy stoneware plate weighing 5kg is used for a single starter. When restaurants reopen, do look around at the accessories that line the walls on both floors: they’re all part of Sethi’s personal collection.

Ikk Panjab, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi: Food

Lahori Chargha (₹425) is a full leg of chicken marinated with vinegar, then grilled in the tandoor. Succulent, even after a long drive to my house, in this weather! Gosht Beliram (₹545) is one of the very rare masterpieces that was named after its creator, a khansama in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s kitchen, or so the legend goes. It is marinated mutton, slow cooked in the curd in which it is cooked for a powerful punch of flavour and not swimming in gravy. It is a dish that has distinctly Lahori flavors. Atta chicken (₹850) is the specialty of the small town of Kotkapura in Punjab. That too, it is the preserve of a single family whose forefathers are said to have come from Afghanistan. A whole chicken is marinated and coated with a dough of wholewheat (atta), much like the Chinese beggar’s chicken. Succulent and tender when the atta is broken open,it is a famous delicacy all over Punjab, with bus-drivers being commandeered to bring back a chicken or three from Kotkapura, on their daily run. This version comes fairly close to the real deal, besides being a masterpiece of succulence. Finally, do end your meal with Tarn Taran di jalebi rabri (₹215) an enormous jalebi,the prototype of which is sold near the Tarn Taran Gurudwara.

Plus & Minus:

Though my meal arrived hot and fresh, the pandemic has been less than kind to consistency here.