Triveni Terrace Cafe

In a city where restaurants are jostling with each other to get noticed, Triveni Kala Sangam, Joseph Allen Stein’s 1963 jali-walled masterpiece, hosts a popular terrace cafe that all of the city’s art-loving crowd knows. It’s a rare pocket of old Delhi soul in the middle of New Delhi’s frantically paced Mandi House.

The kitchen manages an ambitious rotation of regional specials – Odia, Kumaoni, Maharashtrian – while continuing to work outside the dictates of Instagram. Its true anchors are the heritage classics. One must speak of the crispy and sharp palak patta chaat with deference, the bun kebabs and keema mattar have likely had weighty patrons, and if you’re counting your calories and that kind of stuff, there’s ragi toast and ragi idli (with gunpowder, of course). You can also order a decently sized thali under ₹500.

Ultimately though, you aren't just paying for the meal; you’re paying for the courtyard. Here, the noise of Mandi House dims, the sound of adda floats above the hum of the cooler and gallons of tea are consumed over unhurried chats about theatre. It looks exactly as it did ten years ago, and in this case, it’s a good thing.