ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Restaurant Name: Pickwicks: The Claridges, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road
Phone: +911139555070
Address: The Claridges, 12, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi, India
Time: 12:00 Noon – 01:00 AM
Meals for two: Rs. 3,500
Cuisines: Beverages, European, Continental, Shake
Facilities: Breakfast, Home Delivery, Wheelchair Accessible, Wine, Valet Parking Available, Indoor Seating, Table booking recommended, Romantic Dining, Luxury Dining, Wifi
Pickwicks: The Claridges, New Delhi: Decor
Charles Dickens’ eponymous novel, The Pickwick Papers, was about unhurried travel and observing the minutage of life that included eating and drinking, among other things. And the latest renovation pays homage very consciously to that. The antique map of the world that adorns the modest-sized all day diner underscores the Dickens connection (sadly missing in the previous neither here-nor-there avatar) and the sofas and chairs manage to straddle the chasm between comfortable and timeless. Compact and cosy, the best tables are the ones near the windows that overlook the gardens. Claridges, by its very name and age conjures an image of a hotel for the cognoscenti and slowly, with every successive section that is undergoing renovation, a butterfly is emerging from a chrysalis. Full marks for striking the right chord in the decor: colorful without being either pallid or garish and atmospheric without being fussy or old-fashioned.
Pickwicks: The Claridges, New Delhi: Food
The vast majority of items on the menu are from the UK, and even here, the accent seems to be on favorites of yesteryear. The London mixed grill (₹1495) was served on an iron grill plate and consisted of a perfectly cooked lamb chop, eggs and bacon, chicken breast, chicken sausage, jacket potatoes and sauteed vegetables. One of the most popular choices in Pickwick’s (the menu owes little to the previous iteration except for the sizzlers for which the restaurant has always been known). A very worthy choice, but my opinion is that perhaps some choice of add-ons could be given: my companion, for instance, wished for an extra lamb chop but there was no option on the menu. My own soup was no short of a masterpiece: called jocularly ‘sore throat soup’ (₹495) in the kitchen, it is a clear soup made with white pepper and ginger and is given to guests who ask for “something for a sore throat”! I ordered toad in the hole (₹995): a British classic consisting of your choice of pork or chicken sausages in Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy and peas. Yorkshire pudding is a savory batter: useful as a plate filler to mop up gravy.
Plus & Minus:
Light years away from the amorphous ‘one size fits all’ menus of a hotel coffee shop.
