Daryaganj Gold

A love letter and a provocation. Daryaganj Gold is propped up to be an elevated offshoot of the city’s well-bitten butter chicken dynasty, dating back to the Partition. Daryaganj the chain mops rotis and hauls up malls across Delhi, and as you settle into your seat at this Aerocity outlet, you could be forgiven for thinking the kitchen’s crossed a line with overly simmering ambition. After all, Daryaganj had first brought the Gold concept to Bangkok.

Pretty-to-look-at montages of history on small TV screens, and illustrated trails of the namesake neighbourhood in almost block-print style, are gorgeous decor, but also a potential reinforcement of the feeling. 

It was, then, particularly striking to see what I liked the most. Not the staple mains and breads that I’m bound to expect some quality from, but the bits that I imagined I would write off as shingling. Including, believe it or not, the Gold cocktails.

The Gold menu special to this outlet is – in the restaurant's own telling – a reimagination. Namely, of 1947 classics colliding with global ingredients and techniques. This framework is for a menu of pleasures and ribbons that spell ‘fusion’, rather than arguments for what’s good. But delicious pleasures are no small matter, especially not when they’re rigorously stirred nearby in huge pots – visible through a large glass window that permits, briefly, the feel of a loud, friendly North Indian kitchen.

This menu has, mostly, perfected fusion to the extent that it’s irritating. It’s at its playful best with what it calls its cold appetisers. Dahi Bhalla Bingsu, for one: a riff on the Korean shaved-ice dessert, soft lentil dumplings layered over what the menu calls ‘chilled fluffy yogurt snow,’ finished with tamarind and mint. The Palak Patta Chaat comes with fruit yogurt scoops. Both, naturally, are colourful to look at.  All the flavour, but impossibly light, texture-wise. I’m also amazed at how nonchalantly they’ve managed to pull off cold chicken tikka chaat (so much that I prefer it to their original) and incorporate avocado in bhel puri.

I’m not as taken by Daryaganj’s hot appetisers, save the salmon tikka, which is also unique to the Gold menu. In fact, even the usual mains – butter chicken, dal makhani, biryani – have been far outdone by the amount of innovation elsewhere. Nonetheless, one of the Gold-specific mains I adored was the nargasi kofta.

Dessert is where this kitchen relaxes again into playing around. Aside from the kulfi (obviously), two to try are the jelly fruit cream custard (the fruit caviar doesn’t stop its reliability) and the Chocolate Sphere, which conceals a besan badri mousse.

The cocktails? I had a go at four of them: Jashn E Daryaganj, Mango Gold, Do Rum, and Gulaabo. They’re all satisfyingly not showy, and excellent drinks. Clearly, Daryaganj respects its own past enough to not let time take over. (Or let it become too expensive.)

Time Out tip: While you might want to prioritise trying the fusion here, it’s also a good idea to come for the classics if you’ve never found unrushed seats in a Daryaganj outlet. It’s their biggest yet – and GMR Square has ample parking space.

Contact for reservations: +91 85888 70800