Poulomi Deb

Not very long ago, exercising in Delhi meant a resigned jog around the colony park or a gym membership that peaked on January 3. On any given Sunday now, Delhi parks are doubling as Instagram content studios. Mornings see the Noida Expressway service road literally overtaken by runners in matching kits, and the Aravalli foothills are full of Gurgaon-ites who have discovered, somewhat to their own surprise, that they enjoy the outdoors.  Is this part of a new culture? I think it's just the chronically online iteration of our desire to touch grass – community in this form has ridden the boomer yoga wave, the millennial football-in-the-evening, the Gen Z looksmaxxing – it’s really something that I hesitate to call a trend. The appeal isn't necessarily about becoming an athlete, either. These clubs have made exercise feel less like another item on the self-improvement checklist and more like a reason to leave the house. A Sunday morning run can become breakfast with strangers, and a cycling group can turn a familiar stretch of NCR into a route you’ve never noticed. And there’s plenty to choose from. Delhi NCR now has running clubs for beginners and marathon hopefuls, cycling groups that range from leisurely rides to serious road training, and hiking and trekking communities that head out towards the Aravallis and beyond. Some are competitive, some are resolutely social, and some seem to exist primarily because nobody wants to make plans one-on-one anymore. Whether you want to r

Wake up long before September ends, please. We might not be talking about it yet, but the winter lull will be sooner than you think. Not that it’d stop us – but this month’s calendar is especially jam-packed with a bunch of stuff. Start with the music, because there's a lot of it. Ankur Tewari lands at The Piano Man touring Mr Faarigh, nine new tracks that lean into longing and travel the way his writing always has. Over at The Dome, inside a ballroom with fifty foot ceilings and enough Art Deco detail to make you forget you're in a hotel, an evening of Rafi classics is being staged with live vocals and a full ensemble. Purple Cassette closes out a nationwide tour on home turf with a garage rock set. And if you'd rather lose a few hours to something stranger, Mandragora's psychedelic house sets. The sheer scale of South Side Story will also happily oblige with some more range. The theatre asks for more patience this month, and rewards it. Virasat, staged at Sunder Nursery, spends four generations watching a family come apart, through cooking and cleaning and the small negotiations of daily life rather than any single dramatic moment. Malavika Sarukkai does something even rarer with Dance with Space: instead of just performing Bharatanatyam, she talks you through how it's built. Solanki, a former maths teacher who now makes a living being funny about fatherhood and gym delusions, brings his set to Kamani for anyone who'd rather laugh. Want to go somewhere that doesn’t involve

Through the humidity and the half-hearted rain, Delhi's at it with the overcommitting again. Jokes and laughter carry our city through a lot. Kunal Kamra's touring his newest set through two cities back to back, still mining current affairs for punchlines nobody else will touch, while Brocode is betting six straight hours of stand-up can hold a room's attention – ambitious, though not unheard of for this city's appetite. Varun Grover's take on mortality and a hypothetical ketchup apocalypse might be the odder pitch of the two, but it's the kind of odd that tends to be exactly what makes this city so endearing. Of course, there’s no Delhi without its soft spots. Punjabi folk kneels into something more electronic, four languages flutter in through one musical evening, jazz keeps a steady beat going… a beat that only grows louder when you bring devotion into the mix, with Bollywood, a live band, and bhajans packed into another night. The BWF World Championships return to Delhi for the first time since 2009. Dastkar's monsoon mela is also reopening its tents as a Turkish food fest and a Korean pop-up compete for your dinner plans. Here's everything happening in Delhi this August. We suppose it won’t slip away. The best of August in Delhi at a glance:   Best music show by an emerging artist: Rashmeet Kaur’s Punjabi folk Best for shopping: Dastkar Monsoon Mela Best comedy show: Standing Up by Kunal Kamra Best sporting event: BWF World Championships | Badminton Best for bites:

Longing, legacy, laughter, lattes. This week is speaking fluent alliteration, which we suppose is fitting for a calendar that’s optimistic for the monsoon. Ankur Tewari opens the month at The Piano Man with Mr Faarigh, with nine tracks dressed up as travel songs, because apparently even his suitcase has feelings. In the meantime, Bikaner House settles into Delhi Contemporary Art Week's ninth lap with some (timely) contemplations on climate and memory. Cross town and Maheep Singh's turning marriage into material at DLF Cyberhub, proving once again that nothing's funnier than in-laws when someone else has to deal with them. If your loyalties lie with caffeine over culture, Nexus Select Citywalk becomes a ground for competitive sport this week, with baristas, brewers and latte artists all elbowing for a ticket to Bengaluru, one flat white at a time. Find out more below.

Googly-eyed, with tongues occasionally flopped out. A swing of an engraved guitar into the air. At least four beer-stained chairs. Our throats are straining as something that sounds vaguely close to words hurls out. Oh well. It’s easy to let go. We’re all already slamming into each other, those of us in the ironic eye of the storm, the moshpit. But the second a glass breaks, or a kid wearing an Iron Maiden is trying to step on the stage, we break away, look out for them, and return.  What are we really doing at an ‘underground’ metal gig? Here’s a quick definition: distorted, screaming music, mostly heavy on every instrument used. Some call it evil. But those folks haven’t been part of a crowd of adults who’ve sat in a seconds-long formation to row a boat, made out of air, to the sound of Viking melodic metal on the floor. Nor have they been in happy tears, bonding with strangers over nothing but an album or a scream, or have enough breath for a Slipknot and Creed karaoke afterparty even when the clock’s struck 2am. Simply out of love. It’d been a while since I hit a metal gig, and as a regular goer of many years across cities, I kid you not: I felt something like comfort. Metal can be… childish. It’s vulnerable. You get creative with the insults, and then you grin. This was Delhi Underground Fest 2, part of the roaming Sick Tour by Kolkata Metalheads at Siyah Arthouse in Saket. Even though Delhi’s the capital, and independent music here is thriving like an ant in a cupcake,

Delhi in July is no joke (except for the literal onslaught of format-pushing comedy shows across the city). There’s a glimmer of hope for patches of rain, but you wouldn’t tell it’s just a glimmer from everything that’s going on across the city this month.  Theatre and art are holding their own. Rajat Kapoor's darkly comic Macbeth – Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, and enough meta-theatricality to give a literature professor a headache. Taj Mahal Ka Tender and Krishna Katha are doing their own interesting things a few doors down. Art that wants you to stay for hours, talk without filling your mouth with too much theory, and patiently flip through pages. Music fills in almost everything else. Jasmin Sandlas for the chaos. The Nizami Brothers for their devotion. Abish Mathew for the people who need their comedy to occasionally break into song. And you’ve got a few interesting organic markets and festivals too. But yes – the comedy scene is this month's real story. The familiar names are back – Abhishek Upmanyu, Urooj Ashfaq, Manik Mahna – but so is something harder to name: a restlessness with the standard one-person-microphone setup. This month has dating shows that pull strangers from the crowd, breakup comedy built on audience participation, and a two-hander from Delhi's own open-mic alumni.  Here's everything happening in Delhi this July.

The particular fluorescent exhaustion of a Saturday evening in Select Citywalk or DLF Avenue isn’t the end of Saket, though that has its occasional delights. This neighbourhood’s charm also exists in a fashion that I’d call the stuff of side-questers’ and souvenir-grabbers’ dreams.  A bunch of abandoned poultry sheds-turned-cafes that became South Delhi’s favourite budget film indie setting, a sixty-year-old ceramics market that’s become responsible for much of my kitchen’s contents, and arts initiatives in the most unassuming of corners… in the same neighbourhood where post-post-modern sports are kicking off, and lowkey bars compete head-to-head with hundreds of Delhi’s best in-big-building dining spots. Several of my Saket favourites are near a metro station, making most of them reachable in a single visit. But no one visits Saket just once if they live in Delhi. As these picks will likely indicate, bringing friends here is great, but it’s rewarding to give some of these spots some time alone as well.

Sure, you could do the Qutub Minar dash in twenty minutes, land at Ambawatta One to tick the box of watching the sunset spill over the monuments with a picante, and move on. Spend some more time on Mehrauli’s expanses, though, and your curiosity is rarely not rewarded. This is one of Delhi's oldest neighbourhoods, home to over 50 monuments spanning multiple dynasties – dotted with rose kulfis and steaming chai to boot.  Every year, between September and November, Phool Walon ki Sair takes place. It’s a qawwali-led festival with origins in the 19th century. For three days, Delhiites converge to offer ceremonial floral fans and tributes at two sacred sites: the dargah of 13th-century Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya Temple. Then… there’s a contemporary art centre and boutiques with some of India’s most bougie names in design and fusion restaurants. A rather stale phrase, that of the old and new coming together,  comes to the mind of many Delhi residents when describing the city, its gallis and buildings alike. Mehrauli is one of the few areas, personally, where you can get away with saying that and not sounding generic.  You get it. This guide, really, is just asking you to give Mehrauli the kind of time that a Delhi University south campus student would.

For all of Delhi’s weather this month of the year, the city’s queer community never fails to pack in a calendar that, at the very least, makes up for the fact that it’s too hot to hold parades in June. You’ve got your shimmer and nightlife, but you’ve also got workshops, screenings, and some brilliant creative work all month-round. These are some of the best, tried and tested. Bring your friends – or even come alone and make some. Happy Pride!

Beware, and check in on your family and friends. Statistically, one in five people in Delhi is a big old snob who will talk you through the difference between a washed and natural process Ethiopian coffee. We're well past India's third wave of coffee, of course – it's no longer something that snuck up on us, nor is it an afterthought to chai. Today, we've split in every direction: specialty brews, coffee experience centres, protein coffee, decaf, coffee with a shot of whiskey, coffee matcha – name it or don't, you'll find it. Every month brings a new trend. Delhi is the last city to shy away from anything that’s, well, strong. Whether coffee for you is a morning non-negotiable, a reluctant catch-up-with-friends vehicle, or a flavour and cream experiment, this guide runs on one very simple principle, for your sake and mine. And that is: is the coffee good?

It’s no secret that Indians who travel overseas are – much like our foreign policy in the 90s – increasingly looking east. With centuries of cultural exchange in the region, similar biomes, and shared colonial experiences, finding common threads in lifestyle and food isn’t difficult. That said, until a few years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find flavours you’d enjoyed on vacation when back home, at best trying to scratch the itch by dining at ‘pan-Asian’ restaurants with their too-similar menus and flavour profiles.  Delhi, though, can never be too far behind when it comes to perfecting food from across the world. It’s not just a post-Partition hub for dozens of folks across India, but also an expat magnet that’s carved out neighbourhoods for specific communities. Take Humayunpur, for instance – it’s the hottest place to eat and shop in the city right now, thanks to the communities from north-eastern India, Tibet, and Myanmar residing there. And it’s not just Humayunpur – true-blue Asian restaurants have blossomed across Delhi, and most are almost always full.  The key’s authenticity, after all, and sometimes, you’ve got to ditch the desi-Asian flavours to get it right. Our picks should help you navigate the bustle and find your next favourites, but remember – some of these restaurants may go small on size, but never on flavour. 

For decades, the city’s queer community navigated underground parties and whispered word-of-mouth locations. Today, the capital’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife scene is starting to boom, far beyond the confines of prioritising a safe space or someone’s parents’ house (though those never get old). You’ve got the trailblazing dance floors of Connaught Place. The free-spirited rooftops of Hauz Khas, the sophisticated mixology-forward bars of Greater Kailash, their nearby chilled-out older sibling dive bars, and those two Aurobindo Market icons that feel like they’re caught in an enemies-to-lovers trope. Delhi’s queer nightlife is more diverse than meets the eye at first. This city hosts spectacular high-decibel drag, sultry corners for dates, and spots for a cold beer, and none of them wave a rainbow flag during Pride month just for the sake of publicity. Some do lovely LGBTQ+-specific programming, while others are local haunts where inclusivity to the queer community is woven into the very fabric of their hospitality. Whether in glitter or a T-shirt, run! Crowds fill in faster on certain nights than others.

Jimbu Thakali’s NCR outlet happens to be their first India foray after several restaurants in Nepal. Founder Vivek Man Sherchan was aware of the fact that they’d now be representing an entire country. This perhaps heightens in a setting like Gurugram’s M3M 65th Avenue, where residents and their families look new openings up and down like a hawk circling mice, and where the international Asian dining is by and large Chinese or Korean.  I’ve walked into an earthen, terracotta setting that’s softened still by subtle green undertones and engravings from different regions of Nepal (even on the bathroom sinks). There are paintings of Gods, there are photographs of the country that I will later learn were taken by a refugee from Germany who stayed in Vivek’s grandparents’ house for three years.  To be clear – it is the playing card, in Delhi, to aggressively theme a restaurant’s setting around a country especially if the cuisine is focused on that country. Make no mistake. At Jimbu Thakali, it’s not a show of gear. The staff here will point you to each area that each item is from. Vivek can go on for hours, I’m confident, about the stories behind the photographs. Lentils and vegetables are imported directly from Nepal.  As lovely as the food at Jimbu Thakali is… please hold. I’m compelled to first appreciate the easy chemistry the staff have with each other. It translates to confidence in a way that PR briefs, I’m afraid, simply cannot replicate. A not insignificant chunk of my even

Centuries of astonishing history in Delhi, and a large part of how we've responded is by building a bougie sandwich shop next to a 12th-century mosque. It’s almost merciful that 1AQ is one of Mehrauli’s modern outposts, a walk away from the Qutub site and the archaeological park. It’s perhaps best known for housing the Ojas Art gallery, which leans towards contemporary, Indian and tribal-inspired art – a brief, welcome departure from ancient history. 1AQ extends into a distinctive 3,000 square feet space that also hosts a book and design shop with a shopkeeper who’ll take you up on a conversation on what you should read. My friend fondly recalls, upon jokingly saying that they were broke, that they were told the plots and authors of cheaper selections. There is also a large manicured garden with neat little statues. This space was conceptualised by Anubhav Nath and designed by Ranjit Sabhikhi. People say it’s easy to miss on the road, but that’s rubbish. All you have to do is keep your eyes peeled for the brightest primary-coloured gallery you’ll see in a city obsessed with greying out its museums. It offers more than fine arts, too; one weekend you’ll spot a saree fair on its grounds, the next there’s a concert under the enormous Banyan tree (or, if you ask a patron or employee, The Banyan) that lords over the garden. Hottest off the press at 1AQ as I write this is Zetu, Delhi’s first Sri Lankan restaurant, which I must say, makes much better use of the elegance of this spac

Monkeys clamber across 700-year-old arches at dusk. With a little less of a disturbance, parakeets streak between the trees. Wild boar have been known to trot across the path just as you're trying to photograph a tomb. Two hundred acres of history, sitting right behind one of Delhi's most visited monuments, the Qutub Minar… and visited by maybe a fraction of the crowds that pour into the complex next door.  Delhi is famously a city of cities, seven of them stacked atop each other across millennia. Mehrauli has been continuously inhabited since at least the 10th century (before the Sultanate, before the Mughals, before the British) and the park holds over a hundred monuments, spanning more than a thousand years of that story. Sultanate tombs, Mughal mosques, Lodi stepwells, a British colonial folly-turned-cafe, and the ruins of Delhi's oldest fort are all within walking distance of each other, connected by dusty forest trails and sandstone markers.  You could spend an afternoon here and feel like you've walked through several centuries. Or you could just picnic, photo-op, stare at the woods around you, spend hours talking, read. You do you. What to find and learn more about Balban’s Tomb: The first thing you encounter after entering the park: a ruined square structure with arched openings on all four sides, half-swallowed by creepers. This is the first place in India where a true stone arch and a true dome were used in construction. Rajon ki Baoli: Built in 1506 during the Lod

Finding Jugmug Thela is the sort of mini-puzzle usually reserved for good small bites found in North Delhi. A saving grace – though perhaps it slightly takes away from the charm – is that it’s easily walkable from the Saket metro station’s Gate 2. You follow hand-painted signs down a lane in Saket’s Saidulajab instead that feels one wrong turn away from someone's aunt's backyard, until fairy lights appear in the dark. And then comes that age-old massive sign. The café occupies a spot in Champa Gali, a beloved little cluster of eateries that many of us who went to college in Delhi decided was a budget indie film setting. Jugmug Thela, which often partners with sustainability NGOs, predates much of the precious-courtyard-café template. The recycled wood, the mismatched bulbs, the shelf of dusty paperbacks, the potted plants; no attempt to try too hard to be hipster, believe it or not. In fact, it could probably scoot by on vibes alone; it sometimes does. You might wonder if it’s worth delving into the fancy fusion dishes. But the food, more than being a special detour in flavour or range, is soothing, which explains why Jugmug is so popular as a last pit-stop. This is particularly true of their pastas, sandwiches, and the Jugmug Specials – their takes on street food. Pair with their masala kadak chai or hot chocolate if you want a hot drink, or a shake if cold. Service is warm, occasionally distracted on weekends when the place fills up, but that’s only to be expected. The best

I can’t count the times that I’ve passed Seven Seeds in a summer evening auto, been caught by the glowy ochre light out of its glass-protected interiors and sentence-case tiled name, and bided my time for an occasion to visit. As it turns out, this coffee shop fits many, and by now, I’ve enjoyed them all. You could be here for a solo cappuccino and a book, a snob taste test, or post a loud-mouthed Humayunpur restro-bar hang at 3 in the morning. Being open till 4am is easily one of the best things about this place, rivalled by the fact that they do specialty coffees as well as their classics, and their surprise espresso martinis later in the night. Even when the wind slaps tissues out of your hands in the outer dining area, and chatter gets loud between not-so-far-from-each-other tables, there’s something very calm about these sky-blue walls, amusing caricatures, and road safety mirrors for decor. Not to mention music at an ideal volume – and they’ve got good taste in jazz. The coffee Many successful small coffee shops in Delhi are so because of one or two consistent picks on the menu that you can sip on while you work. You’ve got your usual choices, like the manual brew, which my friend orders. He’s the type to obsessively stalk coffee beans and their origins online before he buys roasts. And he’s quick to remark that he’s not sure if the beans are roasted fresh in-house. Whether he’s right, he appreciates that it’s smooth without the bitterness, holds its ground even as it c

Pour Over Coffee Roasters, so far, has got three distinct characters – and in concept, they nail the respective feels of their distinct surroundings. One is a suave Khan Market eatery which turns into a bar at night; one’s the earlier-to-close Santushti Complex cafe which gears more towards breakfast and a crowd of all ages, and one’s a small kiosk, perfect for to-gos, operating out of a corporate office in Noida. That’s almost like the ideal kiss-marry-kill of coffee brand outlets. As it turns out, this flexibility extends to the menu. You can sit all day and debate what constitutes a good dining spot in India’s most expensive market or a high-end shopping complex, but to be frank, as pretty as they are, it’s easy to forget once you realise how well-curated the menu is. Food, drinks (coffee and not), hard drinks: a crisply uniform 5 pages each, but a fresh mix of the old and new. Bean history flash cards and palette cleanser soda, here, do more for the experience than you think. The coffee we tried Skip your usual here and go straight for the PO Specials section of the menu, though I suppose there’s no preventing you from the manual brews if you’re that person. The Australian Mocha hits a balance between chocolate and sweetness without thickening itself into a glorified melted pudding. Still thinner is the Vanilla Cold Brew, which, no matter how many times you whisk that spoon and watch it become whiter, packs coffee so strong it could be a premature cocktail. Then rolls in

Zetu’s to be found in an unobtrusive corner on the premises of one of the city’s brightest-hued art galleries, sharing candle-lit headquarters with 1AQ’s good old banyan tree. Yet, unlike so much of its surroundings in the historically wanderable Mehrauli, this restaurant isn’t something you spot by lucky chance at all. It’s Delhi’s first permanent spot for Sri Lankan food, and it was generating laborious strings of chatter long before it even opened in the neighbourhood… which just so happens to house some of the city’s fanciest eats.  You’re led inside with coconut water in hand atop a golf cart, if you so choose. I found myself straightening my back.  Sitting inside, amid cream-coloured and nicked-texture walls with a few stunning paintings (of course), strangely, I zoned out at ease. I walked around the outer dining area, where I’d recommend you take your seat, without feeling like I was inconveniencing fellow diners. As it turns out, this was built into the architecture (by co-founder Anurag Dania), what with the palm trees, ample space between tables, and music a touch too faint. It’s vaguely tropical and the light from indoors ensures you can actually enjoy candle-powered squints at the menu – but make time to see their rotating mini-exhibition inside. Sarah Nikahetiya, a co-founder here and former British diplomat to India, nods vigorously when I ask her about this. ‘I’m from a small village in Britain, and we wanted to retain a sense of community and homeliness,’ she

It’s almost bastardising to review Big Banana, simply because of the chokehold it has as one of Delhi’s absolute best dive bars. I haven’t managed to articulate this in the times I’ve been there, which were mostly spent on ordering the same things and leaving in roughly the same state of happiness, but the grandest thing I have to say is that I love it. It’s a crime that it’s often overshadowed by the biggest daddy of Delhi dive bars – 4S – but that means you can still perhaps find a table here without being jostled too much. The familiar noise of cheer around you is perfectly tempered by the sensible design of the spot: one section’s for slightly calmer catch-ups, where it’s easier to hear, and the other runs into big, grinning, sometimes messy groups of people where recognitions are common. Staff are also incredibly understanding, but firm on noise control, which is perfect. Right opposite of the larger section is a smoking room, for which cigarettes are easily picked up from thekas outside if you’ve forgotten yours. (Though you may get away with being a bum.) I’m not about to tell you what alcohol to order at a neighbourhood bar. But if you want to try out a cocktail here, by all means, do. They’re a Russian roulette in terms of stiffness (this is where it becomes even more lovely that the staff field all sorts of questions, despite how busy they are). Flavours, though, have always found their rightfully-tasted taker. The menu sticks to their names, many of which were prob

Sidecar has consistently made it to best bars of Asia lists, and there are several reasons why. We’re not gonna stick to those. Instead, bear with the ragged synapses of my brain that have been built up over my several good times here, because there’s much more to this M Block royalty than technical craft. The music I'm not being hyperbolic when I say they play better music than most bars in Delhi. And I know that sounds like a thing one says, but stay with me. Most bars treat music like a texture, something filling the silence. Some places get too precious about it, going full coffee-shop jazz. But at Sidecar, they’re doing something right.  Show up at 5.30, and you're in slow jazz territory. Not dirge-y, more like patient, setting you up. As the evening pulls in, the pace picks up, and you don't notice it happening. By 11, they have raging blues going, but it never overpowers conversation. Usually American blues and jazz from until the 90s… I don't think I've ever heard anything beyond that. They've got this absurdly extensive playlist, so repeat visits don't mean repeat songs.  The cocktails The menu keeps changing (barring some classics), mind you, but it's always done with a (not overdone) concept in mind. I tried rifling through Google to jog my memory about their latest ones, but I think it’s best I left it to the honest bits. There was this Authors menu early on: drinks supposedly favored by Philip Larkin, Tolstoy, Mark Twain, that sort of thing. (The Mark Twain drink

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 irritati

When’s the last time you shook a tambourine in one hand and poked a spoon into your drink just to desperately scoop a damn good jamun sorbet out? In my defence, you could be next. A faint, circular light in the distance is what first identifies Mido Social House to me, steps away from Kailash Colony’s shockingly underrated food market. By underrated, I mean not crowded – often – sometimes even on weekends. I’m immediately skeptical. For an establishment that self-proclaimably wants to make a shareable, boisterous, almost neighbourly experience out of European dining, the décor doesn’t screech at you in the way a friendly neighbourhood bar with maximalist walls would. Like, say, Nukkad would.  Incidentally, Nukkad was founded by the same person as Mido Social House: Kanishk Tuteja. But no, Mido Social House compellingly sticks to some amount of NCR European restaurant principle. A spiral staircase and a tiny lift, that one theatrical shade of dark, sultry green pouring over both the first floor and terrace seating. Low lamp-forward lighting, crystal ashtrays, temperature-controlled water. Some amount of global posturing on the menu – pan-Asian and kebab picks, for example.  The grins and boisterousness, instead, sneak up on you. Most likely after you’ve downed a few. A DJ, popping out of nowhere late in the night, with bass-heavy hits. Tambourines, of all things, dished out like they’re hot sauce.  Do you dance?  Or do you feel a sense of loyalty to eating the pasta before it

I had a vague idea of Nadoo’s premise when I walked in for dinner: that their philosophy is an open defiance of Delhi's usual fare of South Indian food, one which typically lets dosas, idlis, and uttapams take over all tables and social media feeds – admittedly with the result of good business.  That philosophy is clearly gleaned from the formidably long menu alone, spanning multiple states of the South and some clever twists and homages, like the moniker of ‘Dunken Doughnuts’ for vadai.  But then, you look thoroughly away from the table. (There’s no situation in which you don’t.) The meditatively terracotta brown and caved interiors, a copper-encased fountain and perfectly volumed jazz that ran gentle on the ears, sectioned eating areas and two actual separate bars for their kaapi and cocktail offerings. Does this place deserve even more than being defined as a mere subversion of stereotypes? It takes not a long while to find out. Chef Shri Bala’s inventiveness is everywhere from the several chutneys and rasam offerings that taste like they could constitute entire gravies, the soft crunch of the amusing caviar idli, egg puff and fried-parotta nachos with in-house hummus repurposed from Tamil Nadu's sundal, to dishes like the green chilli chicken, which she tells me is a recipe from the hands of cooks who take leftover ingredients from the houses they work in. It’s a delicious Andhra dish – pachi mirapayakaya – but at Nadoo, it comes with fluffy baos and a slice of coconut th

Experimental music collective Alt Baithak’s marking its first anniversary in Delhi by hosting a five-hour-long rave that’s designed to reclaim the meaning of the word ‘rave’. For the gig on September 12, 7pm onwards, passes are for just under a hundred rupees each. True to the principles of their programming over the last year, the rave’s described as based on principles of peace, mutual respect and curiosity. It features a lineup of swymkndr, RAIN, merohi, LOVE, and anam. With gates opening at 6:30pm and a BYOB policy, there’s something about how Alt Baithak approaches music and dance that feels more accessible and playful than most club nights. More about Alt Baithak They’re a baithak that hosts art of all forms, known for a host of unreleased electronic music, intuitive dance, indie film screenings, production workshops, art and piercing markets, and the occasional specialty coffee and craft cocktail when they collaborate with other collectives. Formed in 2025 explicitly against the idea of being funded, Alt Baithak gigs are experimental and move with the crowd, above all. You’re encouraged to dress however you want, dance however you want, react in whichever way you feel like. Set designs at these gigs, whether at Mool or elsewhere, are some of the coolest you’ll find in the city. The details When: Saturday, September 12. 7pm-11pm. Where: Mool, South Extension II How to reach: Take an auto from the South Extension metro station on the pink line. Parking at Mool can be hea

The internet’s officially descended into full detective mode. As Lollapalooza prepares for its upcoming edition at Mumbai's Mahalaxmi Racecourse, they’ve dropped a highly anticipated set of hints at the lineup on their social media, leaving us dissecting every pixel. While rumours fly, a few heavy hitters have practically left their calling cards on the table. If the breadcrumbs mean what we think they mean – here’s the lowdown on the acts expected to grace the main stages from January. Olivia Dean The British neo-soul sensation essentially blew her own cover before any official billing even hit the wire. After dropping subtle clues on social media, fan-club subscribers started receiving texts signaling her long-overdue debut on Indian soil. Fresh off the massive critical acclaim of her debut album Messy and recent releases, Dean brings buttery, brass-infused vocals that sit right at the intersection of retro soul and modern pop.  Limp Bizkit If you hear a nostalgia-fueled roar tearing through the venue, that’ll likely be Fred Durst and co bringing the late-90s nu-metal. Hints pointing to the Jacksonville heavyweights suggest Lolla is leaning hard into alternative legacy acts. Between Wesley Borland’s bizarre stage gear, Sam Rivers’ heavy basslines, and anthems like Break Stuff and Rollin', this is likely where the moshpits will be. Katseye The multi-national girl group birthed from the joint HYBE and Geffen project The Debut: Dream Academy also seems to represent Lolla’s sha

Raksha Bandhan is this Friday, August 28. It’s not so far away, but come on, allow yourself a second of honesty: You’ve got time. If your fallback Rakhi gifting plan for 2026 involves a box of sweets alone or a plastic rose that smells faintly of warehouse dust, it’s time to level up. Speaking as a sister: we spot last-minute panic purchases from miles away! The good news is you don’t need an elaborate operation. Delhi’s crawling with spots and things to nab all sorts of stuff that will feel more personal than an instant delivery. Before the mid-week rush hits, we’re handing you a small cheat-sheet of where to head in the city – based on what your sister’s interests are. For those with a sweet tooth Manam Chocolate, Eldeco Centre: This is Indian craft chocolate made with homegrown cacao. Grab their limited-edition Rakhi Bonbon collection featuring Coffee & Cream or Sesame & Citrus Caramel, or bakery treats like Mini Croissant Mixes and custom craft hampers. Foodstories, Ambience Mall (Vasant Kunj): Swing by for their ‘Sibling Archive’ line featuring desserts with names like The One You Stole or The Midnight Snack, which will probably amuse the cheesier of your siblings. They also stock interactive chocolate fondue kits and massive Pizzookie boxes. The Cinnamon Kitchen: Ideal for those who are mindful eaters, offering gluten-free and refined sugar-free bakes like pecan & caramel cookie tins, chocolate crunch millet Cakes, and rich dark chocolate fudge brownies. Gladful: In a s

A heaviness becomes sticky in my chest every time I’ve walked out of something hosted by Arjun Shivaji Jain. It’s one I look forward to. On the last day of his first book club, surrounded by a couple of us in his own living room, he shared that the property on which stands the Red House, an independent cultural centre in Okhla, Delhi, would be sold and likely demolished by the end of this October.  One of the greatest compliments I could pay that space is I’ve not once minded waiting in their outdoors amphitheatre for however long they need, for whatever daring thing they’re doing. Scraped Gothic brick-lined walls and plants that grow wildly, looking up into the bare sky, let out silence scantily found in Okhla. It allows you to prepare.  Born around the COVID pandemic, events at the Red House have been programmed over the years entirely on whims and fancies. Some of them: kintsugi, cyanotype and stream of consciousness writing workshops, guitar and charkha spinning classes, boudoir model painting and poker classes, exhibits of art from across the world and in collaboration with a Chief Justice across the border, concerts, screenings, hours-long poetry readings, and even the occasional wedding and birthday or two. ‘Where’s the calendar?’, I’d imagine, is how Delhi’s gallery circuit and contemporary art spaces would respond. Image courtesy of https://arjunjain.in/redhouseworldThe Red House's amphitheatre In fact, the Red House announced a call for punk musicians to perform t

Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee's new flagship store in Mehrauli spans 26,000 square feet. Mehrauli’s a known wedding shopping destination, where the (monument)al nostalgia comes in handy for the grandeur. Sabyasachi is known, full stop. The store reportedly has the opulent museum charm that Sabyasachi is known for: chandeliers, hundreds of antique carpets, vintage textiles and mirrors and curio pieces, the like. Still – there are even stronger statements; found glittering throughout the place.  Now open to the public, the store carries a nod to old-world Calcutta and 300 original paintings from the Sabyasachi Art Foundation. And PTI reports that a brass plaque on one wall that reads, ‘Craft will not compete with artificial intelligence. It will outlast.’ Speaking at the launch and quoted in PTI, he said, ‘You know what happens is that there are momentary distractions and there are permanent relationships. Human relationships can never be taken over by AI. We will all want to become human again, it's a temporary phase.’  I wouldn’t think that a maestro who’s made clothes for literally every other celebrity in India would be personally concerned with AI, which might just make this more of a meaningful statement. It’s only added to by the inevitably meticulous design of the store. What the Sabyasachi Mehrauli store looks like The Chowringhee corridor: Inspired by the iconic 1940s and 50s boulevard, home to his original studio, lined with grand salons, crystal fixtures, and classi

Following the runaway success of Chef Amninder Sandhu’s Kikli in Connaught Place, she’s bringing it to Gurugram. Before there was a border, Lahore, Patiala, and Multan broke the same bread. Located on the first floor of the AIPL Masterpiece Complex in Sector 54, this 60-seater restaurant will be serving up the soulful odes to near-forgotten heirloom recipes of a larger Punjab that Kikli is known for. For over a decade, Sandhu has crisscrossed the region (and even Delhi), excavating recipes that survived the Partition.  What to expect from Kikli, Gurugram At the heart of Kikli’s kitchen is the hara, a traditional Punjabi cooking setup fueled by cow-dung cakes, for dishes like the slow-cooked malka dal. In fact, a similar flavour finds a playful home in the chuara chironji doodh soft serve. Gurugram’s Kikli promises satpura chaat dripping with khatti-meethi aloo di launji, chapli kebabs, nalli kachori, katlama, and chapli-spiced bites alongside less-known breads like the naturally fermented mushki roti and toonhi roti. Sandhu is very clear about this not being mere nostalgia or a romantic tribute, which might be why butter chicken is not the beginning of any menu that Kikli produces. She prefers preserving pure technique and knowledge. From Patiala comes duggani pulao, for instance. As one expects from Chef Amninder, there are personal touches, including Atte Di Chiddi, a nod to the bird-shaped rotis her mother rolled during her childhood.  Kikli: The space and the drinks Desig

The wait is over, sort of on schedule for a chef who's made an art form out of the tease. Gaggan Anand – five-time Asia's 50 Best champion – opens the doors of Raga, his first-ever restaurant in India, on August 26. The address: 21A, Janpath Road, Connaught Place, next to Le Meridien. It’s a short walk from Rashtrapati Bhavan in a part of the city that has seen every kind of restaurant boom except, until now, a Gaggan one. His own announcement was characteristically brief and entirely on-brand: ‘Dilli, I'm back.’ The name is a small act of flattery disguised as branding. RA for Rydo Anton, Gaggan's long-time co-chef and collaborator of a decade, GA for Gaggan Anand himself, with a nod to the Indian classical structure of a raga, which is part improvisation. If you've ever sat through one of his 20-something-course tasting menus in Bangkok, it tracks. Menu details remain deliberately scarce; Gaggan has never met a reveal he couldn't stretch into a slow one. What's known: two tasting menus, and an expectation that some of his greatest hits will make the trip. More about Gaggan Anand Before any of this, Gaggan Anand was a Kolkata boy who wanted to be a musician. He started in the restaurant business as a trainee with the Taj Group, before landing a stint at El Bulli in Spain, working alongside Ferran Adrià. It's this formative detail that explains everything that followed: the spherified yoghurt, the sense that dinner ought to be on a stage of a table. In 2010, he opened Gaggan

There’s a case to be made for the fact that South Side Story is simultaneously one of Delhi’s biggest and somehow also most underrated festivals. And now it’s back for the eighth year in a row, and expanding to two more cities.  The RED FM-run festival began as a Delhi-only, music-led evening, boomeranging between genres like no one’s business in Malayali sounds. It’s since ballooned into a full-blown cultural takeover, complete with a Sadhya feast and art installations, approved of by more or less every Malayali I know in the capital. This year, it’ll run in Delhi on August 29-30 this year at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium, and, in a first, make its Pune debut on August 22 at Messe Global, Laxmi Lawns. Months later, it lands in South India’s own Bengaluru for the first time as well, on November 28 at Bhartiya Mall Of Bengaluru. The line-ups The Delhi line-up leans hard with the range: Padma Bhushan awardee Shobana, a repeat performer, headlines alongside Thaikkudam Bridge, whose genre-blurring live sets remain a festival mainstay. The Raghu Dixit Project, playback stalwart Karthik, and Sooraj Santhosh round out the more familiar names, while Masala Coffee, Arya Dhayal, Baby Jean, and Aksomaniac (a Malayalam hip-hop artist making his South Side Story debut) will be more of a pivot.  Pune's debut is naturally a tighter curation. Five acts across a single day: Shobana, Karthik, The Raghu Dixit Project, Kerala rock veterans Avial, and Kochi-based Tribemama Marykali (aka Anna Katha

The one and only Rakhi Sawant is one of the judges for a drag lip-sync competition at Delhi’s The LaLiT on August 22. Phew. I’ve managed to forgo the urge to break my internal style guide and type Rakhi Sawant in all caps. She joins drag artists Zeesh and Lush Monsoon on the judging panel for The Battle Royale II. This year, the competition also happens to be the launch pad for Kitty Su Beauty, the nightlife brand's first foray into what it's billing as India's first queer-led beauty label. Everything lands on August 22 at The Crystal Ballroom, The LaLiT New Delhi. The format itself hasn't changed since past editions, because well, why fix what isn't broken: elimination-round lip-syncs judged on charisma, precision, storytelling and stage presence, narrowing down to two finalists before a wildcard entrant shows up to complicate everyone's plans.  Who’s performing? This year's lineup pulls talent from across the country. Velvet Vortex arrives having already won in Mumbai, Noor Sins carries the House of Sins' considerable winning streak, Bengaluru sends both newcomer Dark Fantasy and reigning comic favourite Miss Bhenji, Delhi's own Amit The Shining Star gets a direct entry (home advantage?), and Trixie Prema shows up as Bengaluru's defending champion. Betta Naan Stop returns as emcee, a job she's held since the very first edition. At minimum, someone in this lineup knows exactly what they're doing. ‘Watching Battle Royale grow from one competition in Delhi into a national plat

A nearly-century-old institution that has fuelled Kolkata nostalgia trips since 1927 has opened a standalone café in Delhi-NCR, landing at Galleria Market, Gurugram. More outposts are reportedly incoming across the city in the coming months. You can imagine that nostalgia trips abound in Kolkata like moths to light, but this isn’t the brand insert kind. Flury’s was the thing for brunches and desserts in Kolkata growing up; it likely is part of any consideration about visiting Park Street, even as some of Bengal’s most legacy-led restaurants and bars dot the area. It was founded by Swiss couple Joseph and Frieda Flury who wanted to bring Swiss tea room culture to Kolkata in 1927, where Indians and British people both took to it. The Gurugram menu is a greatest-hits set: Rum Balls, Chicken Patties, Buttercream Cubes, fresh cream pastries; you’ve got some French as well with the Millefeuille, Opera, and Paris-Brest. Then there’s the Nolen Gur Crème Brûlée. Drinks-wise, it's the label's signature Viennese Coffee, alongside espresso, cold brews, frappes and a Chilled Coffee Sprüngli that probably exists to remind you this brand has Swiss roots. The cafe itself is a snug 16-seater, open 24/7, with archival Park Street photographs on the walls doing their best to manufacture instant sentimentality. The real takeaway, though: A 2am Rum Ball run is now a legitimate life choice. The fact that this one’s standalone at least is good news. Personally speaking, none of the mall kiosks of F

If Musafir Cafe has had you spiralling into a Mussoorie-shaped daydream since it dropped on Netflix on July 24, you're not alone, and you’re also not out of luck. The wooden, mountain-facing cafe in Vikrant Massey's slow-burn romantic drama isn't a set dressed up by a production designer with a moodboard. It's Jharipani Castle, a functioning heritage property in the Jharipani area of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, roughly 7 km from the main town (close enough for a drive, but far enough to feel like you've earned the view). What’s Musafir Cafe? The show – based on Divya Prakash Dubey's novel of the same name, created by Sharanya Rajgopal and directed by Ruchir Arun – follows Chander Mohan Sharma (Massey), a man whose tidy life gets rearranged after he meets Sudha (Vedika Pinto), an independent lawyer. Years on, he's running a cafe in the hills with Preeti (Mahima Makwana), except the past, being the past, refuses to stay where it's put. The film premiered on July 24, and the story shuttles between Bhopal and Mussoorie; it's the Mussoorie bits, filmed in November 2025, that turned Jharipani Castle into an online object of longing. More about Jharipani Castle The cafe interiors in the film were built for the shoot, but everything else is real. Jharipani Castle operates as a boutique heritage hotel year-round. Where: Jharipani Castle, Jharipani, opposite State Bank of India, near Oak Grove School, Mussoorie 248179, Uttarakhand. Getting there: It’s about 7 km before Mall Road on the Deh

A couple of weeks ago, something blue and yellow crawled up along the opposite side of Select Citywalk’s main entrance in Saket, resting on a smidge of DLF Avenue’s walls. I’ll be honest, it’s easy to zone out and fiddle with your phone when you’re walking anywhere in this stretch. So it helps that IKEA is one of the most famous furniture brands in the world. The font and colours announcing its impending arrival to South Delhi are instantly recognisable. The store's now open, and you can read my full review of it here. But IKEA’s first store in Delhi, actually, had opened in Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden, almost a year ago. It’s going to be amusing to see how the girlies of South Delhi take this one. What is IKEA? It’s known primarily for its meatballs, put-it-together-yourself kits, and being a niche date place (seriously, try out a supermarket or store date). The whole thing traces back to a small Swedish town in the 1940s with then 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad. In a plot twist every other South Delhi parent will find deeply relatable, it was funded by money his father gave him as a reward for doing well in school. He started off selling pens and wallets before pivoting to furniture in 1948, which is when the brand as we now know it properly began. The name, incidentally, isn't some Scandinavian design term you've been mispronouncing this whole time. IKEA is simply an acronym: Ingvar Kamprad's initials, followed by Elmtaryd, the farm he grew up on, and Agunnaryd, his home villa