Qavalli, Worldmark, Aerocity, New Delhi

Gone are the days when restaurants were just eating out places. Today they serve as destinations to enjoy good food and drinks apart from entertainment. This could be in the form of games, sufi music, stand up comedy or even as a dancing venue. In our Facebook group, Gurgaon Food Freak, I have read many queries regarding people wanting to enjoy food along with ghazals and Qavalli but there weren’t any options that I could think of. Finally, there is a restaurant called Qavalli at Worldmark Aerocity.

We went to Qavalli along with another couple on a Friday night. These qavalli nights happen every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The beautiful interiors with petals designed arched ceiling reminiscing about the old world charm, chandeliers, red theme and the dim light coming from the crystal lamps on the table creates a perfect setting to enjoy the music.

However, it is not only the ambience that wins your heart. Use of nutmeg, Jasmine and rose in your cocktails and the menu inspired from the Mughal era comes together to create a winning combination. The welcome drink was like nimbu-waala roohafza drink served in brass glasses and decorated with rose petals. Even the menu is designed with a curve on the top depicting the arch design element. I started with a cocktail called Banarsi that has paan, tequila, fennel dust and tonic. It was highly enjoyable and I recommend the same if you are a tequila fan.

I couldn’t help but notice the plates as well. Again going with the theme. Very few restaurants go into so much detailing including Jasmine gajra on the table. On the food front we enjoyed Nawab’s galaouti kebab, smokey salmon tikka, alamgiri chicken tikka along with mushroom tikka. My wife, who is a vegetarian, savoured their paneer kesar e pukhtan.

In the main course, while most dishes were good, the flavours of biryani still linger in my mouth. And this statement comes from a person who isn’t a biryani fan.

This Qavalli night will certainly be repeated.