Then, sometime in the early 90s, economic reforms aimed at the globalization of the Indian economy slowly began to open the country up to food companies from abroad. Suddenly, imported foods—cheeses, meats, bottled and canned goods, wines and spirits, chocolates—began appearing in Indian markets. Equally importantly for those keen on dining out, multinational food service companies gradually started arriving in India. Delhi (and some of India’s other major cities, like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai) are now—or are soon going to be—home to everything from Yauatcha to Benihana, to Sakae Sushi.

While those are the bigger, less ubiquitous names to be seen in Indian cities, there are some which you’ll find all over the place: Domino’s, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Subway: these have a presence even in smaller towns, and are hugely popular. How do they stack up against their counterparts in the West?

While the rest of this journal reviews some of the newly-opened, less ‘everywhere’ chain eateries, in this note, I’ll discuss some of the very common ones—the places you’re likely to find in just about every major market in Delhi.

1. Pizza Hut : All you have to do is have a look at the Pizza Hut menu to realize that this is one chain that’s gone all out to appeal to the spice-loving Indian palate, which wants curry on its pizzas (I hasten to add: not all of us fall into that bracket). But, going by the popularity of Pizza Hut’s chicken kebab, green chilli, and chicken tikka-topped pizzas, they’re obviously a hit. There are vegetarian options too, both for pizzas as well as pasta. There are wings, potato wedges, and rolls. All of them (including the garlic bread, which you can order with a topping of chopped onions and green chillies mixed into the cheese!) are a rather predictable fusion of Western and Indian. Be warned: don’t opt for Pizza Hut if you’re a Westerner looking for familiar food.

(Do note, though, that the dine-in menu, as opposed to the home-delivery menu, is more extensive and offers more options for less spicy, less-Indianised dishes).

2. Domino’s: Unlike Pizza Hut (which has a substantial number of dine-in outlets), Domino’s remains primarily a pizza take-away or home-delivery place. Most of their stores do have a couple of tables where you can eat if you want, but it’s not as if the menu will be any different, or wider in scope, from what you’d get if you ordered in.

Like Pizza Hut, Domino’s too has ‘Indianised’ its menu—but not too the exclusion of all else, which is one reason I prefer Domino’s to Pizza Hut. For example, while there is a keema do pyaza pizza here (keema do pyaza is a classic North Indian dish of ground meat cooked with lots of onions), there is also a barbecue chicken pizza, and a pepperoni pizza. There are pastas, wraps, lots of vegetarian pizzas (not to mention wraps and rolls), and plenty of options that really pile on the heat, in the form of everything from jalapenos to paprika, to red chillies and green.

3. McDonald’s : McDonald’s was one of the first major chains to arrive in India, and became an instant hit among those who wanted a taste of the West without going too far out of their comfort zone, or having to pay too much for it. Keeping in mind the composition of much of the target audience, McDonald’s in India goes very heavy on the vegetarian: even all the mayo, and the sauces, are egg-free. There are plenty of vegetarian options, ranging from paneer burgers and wraps to the McAloo Tikki burger (with an aloo tikki, a spiced potato patty), Veg Pizza McPuffs, and even vegetarian breakfast items, like the Veg McMuffin.

Also, for those who don’t know: the non-vegetarian burger patties at McDonald’s in India are always either chicken, or (in the case of Filet-o-Fish), fish. There is no beef or pork in any dish here. Even the Sausage McMuffin consists of a chicken sausage, not pork.

The McDonald’s food is pretty much what one expects of food like this: assembly line, mass-produced stuff. To be fair, some of their burgers are not bad—the Chicken McGrill (with a mint chutney sauce) and the McSpicy Chicken are recommended, should you ever end up with no choice but to eat at the Golden Arches.

4. Subway : Like the rest, Subway too has a menu that’s been tailored to Indian tastes. For example, there are loads of vegetarian options, including a spicy potato filling and a spicy mixed vegetable patty. (Unlike McDonald’s, though, Subway do serve pork). However, to make life easier for customers, Subway arranges its menu in such a way that you can immediately spot the ‘Traditional’ dishes—the Italian BMT, Chicken and Bacon Ranch, Turkey, and other sandwiches are listed separately from the ‘Local’ dishes—the Chicken Tikka, Chicken Seekh, Chicken Tandoori, etc. Besides offering subs, they also do salads, a few breakfast dishes, soft drinks, and all of one dessert: a rich chocolate truffle, a Delhi favourite. In addition, jumping on to the ‘healthy’ bandwagon, Subway also have a ‘97% fatfree’ section.

Subway is, like Domino’s, a good place to go if you want familiar fast food: even though it has its fair share of Indianised menu items, there’s lots that will be familiar to palates that crave something non-spicy.

Somebody obviously hadn’t done their homework too well, because a lot of Indians like to have hot drinks with cake (or doughnuts, or cinnamon rolls, as the case may be). In addition, a lot of Indians like a one-stop shop where you can get a full meal: a main course (even if it’s just a burger or a sandwich), followed by a dessert and a hot drink. So, a couple of years down the line, Cinnabon changed their style and began to offer sandwiches and burgers as well. These were all right, not great but better than some others I’ve eaten. They also introduced hot drinks—a basic cappuccino, mocha, latte, tea, none of them exceptional. The coffees, in particular, tended to be milky and uninspiring.

Cinnabon now seem to have come full circle. They are back to basics: cinnamon rolls, a range of cold beverages, and just a handful of hot beverages. The sandwiches are gone, as are the burgers. In some locations, though, they’ve tied up with other food chains to offer savoury dishes as well. For example, at the outlet I’m reviewing in this entry, Cinnabon shares a counter with Auntie Anne’s (pretzels etc).

The Cinnabon counter on the ground floor of the DLF Saket Mall is a small but busy one, with about six tables spread out in the main foyer of the mall. (Note: this area can be really noisy, because it seems to be particularly popular as a venue for promos, contests, etc). We were in between meals, and having walked our legs off shopping, needed something more than just a refreshing drink, so (despite some rather loud announcements and occasional singing nearby), we sat down at a table outside the Cinnabon counter.

My husband was feeling pretty hungry—and in the mood for something savoury—so he ordered a pepperoni pretzel pocket (rather like a small calzone stuffed with pepperoni and cheese), from the Auntie Anne’s section. Since the two counters here work in tandem, he didn’t need to place two orders: just one order, placed at the Cinnabon counter, and the tray picked up from there itself. The convenience of two outlets at one, so to say.

The pepperoni pretzel pocket was good, but what really shone for me were the items we ordered from Cinnabon itself. These consisted of:

1. Mochalatta chill: A good strong cold mocha with lots of ice cubes. I loved the fact that it was unmistakably coffee and chocolate, loads of flavour, and very refreshing without being creamy and rich.
2. Red velvet cupcake: Yes, I know most people wouldn’t expect cupcakes at Cinnabon—but cupcakes are the latest rage in Delhi, so everybody’s stocking them, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to try out Cinnabon’s (they have a very limited selection: red velvet, vanilla, and chocolate were on display). The cake tasted great and was good and moist, but the frosting was grainy and far too sweet for my liking.
3. Caramel pecanbon: My favourite of all the cinnamon rolls Cinnabon offers: satisfyingly large (so large, in fact, that we had to share!), soft and mildly chewy roll, loads of good fresh pecans, and plenty of rich gooey caramel sauce poured over. Bliss.
4. Classic minibon: A much smaller version of the regular size, minus the nuts and the caramel sauce, but with a cream cheese frosting and lavish dustings of cinnamon powder. This was a little too sweet for me, too, but I didn’t really mind that much.

My husband also ordered a green tea—made from a tea bag, and predictable.

Our total bill was for Rs 710, inclusive of all taxes. Good value for money, and a good way to satisfy sugar cravings. No wonder the Cinnabon outlets I’ve seen in Delhi (another very visible one is at the DLF Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj) are invariably packed to the gills.

We’d eaten a couple of donuts at one of the first Dunkin’ Donuts stores to open in Delhi, shortly after it had opened. The donuts didn’t appeal to us much—they were, in both mine and my husband’s opinion—far too sugary. Now, about a year later, because I wanted to do a full-fledged review of the place, we decided we’d give it another try. And, this time, try more than just a couple of donuts.

The Dunkin’ Donuts & More store at the Epicuria food-only mall below the Nehru Place Metro Station is on the ground floor, tucked away near the Starbucks. Compared to the very spacious Starbucks, though, this is a tiny store. There are tables and chairs (ranging from straight-backed, to faux leather sofas, to bar stools) to seat about twenty people, and one end of the store is taken up by the order counter. What it lacks in space, however, it makes up for in the sheer cheeriness of its décor: there’s lots of hot pink, yellow, and white here to balance the dark wood.

The menu is fairly extensive, with a wide range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches (including burgers and bagel sandwiches), bagels, ‘cupwiches’ (little quiche-like ‘cups’ made of bread and filled with cheese and mushroom, vegetable and cottage cheese, or chicken and cheese) as mains. There are loads of donuts, of course, all the way from plain and glazed to jelly and fancy ones, filled and topped with a variety of different flavours and textures. To go with that, there are hot and cold drinks—teas, coffees, smoothies, and more.

Both of us finally chose the same burger—a chicken ‘heaven can wait’ burger (note: the only non-vegetarian foods on offer are chicken). There was a special offer on (buy any two burgers, with two iced teas or two aerated drinks, and you get any two donuts free), so we availed of that—we got ourselves two iced teas, and a donut each. I chose an Irish mocha donut, my husband ordered the Christmas cake donut.

The chicken ‘heaven can wait’ burger turned out much better than either of us had expected. This consisted of two types of chicken patties—one with a very strong (but delicious) flavour of black pepper, the other somewhat nondescript. Sandwiched between the two patties was a slice of melted cheese, and piled on top was lots of shredded lettuce, sliced raw onions, sliced tomatoes, and what seemed like a cocktail sauce—at any rate, not plain old mayo.

The burger buns, at first glance, looked rather too dry, but when we began eating the burgers, we realized that this was probably intentional, because it helped prevent the sauces and juices from soaking into the buns and making them soggy. Together with the taste (which was pretty good for a mass-produced burger), the fact that the burger didn’t fall apart, and yet wasn’t chewy or dry, made got this our vote. My only grouse was that the burger patties were too dense, too obviously not handmade, which resulted in a definitely ‘factory-produced’ texture.

The iced tea was fine, and the pina colada coolata which my husband ordered as a second drink was a dream—lovely flavours of coconut and pineapple, in crushed ice.

Now, for the main attraction: the donuts. Mine, the Irish mocha, was glazed with a (very faintly coffee-flavoured) icing, dipped in little chocolate sprinkles down one side, and with what seemed like a piece of candied fruit on the other—even after eating the donut, I couldn’t figure out what fruit that was. For me, the good bit about the donut was that they hadn’t been stingy about the filling. The inside of the donut was awash with a lovely gooey filling, sort of caramel-coffee-chocolate. Decadent. Only, considering this was called an ‘Irish mocha’ donut, I’d have expected more coffee flavour; if I hadn’t known what it was called, I might not have guessed coffee was supposed to be a component of the donut.

My husband’s Christmas cake donut was glazed with a sugary, spice-infused icing, studded with four tiny pieces of candied fruit. It tasted a wee bit like a Christmas cake (because of the spice), but I’d have liked a lot more of the fruit that makes a Christmas cake a Christmas cake!

We paid Rs 593 for our entire meal. Good value for money, considering we emerged full to the brim, and generally feeling fairly pleased with ourselves. Not the best burgers in town (or even the best doughnuts), but adequate.

Thankfully for thousands of chicken-loving Delhiites (and, yes; non-vegetarian Delhiites invariably love their chicken!) KFC reopened in India in 1999, and has been expanding ever since. There are a number of stores—most of them pretty large, with takeaway as well as dining-in facilities, dotted all across the city, and nearly all are pretty much jam-packed at meal times.

Having gone to Select CityWalk Mall to watch a movie, we decided to go for a quick lunch to the KFC just behind the mall (it’s separated from Select CityWalk by a narrow lane). This is a large store, with seating for probably about a hundred diners. When we arrived—at 1 PM—only a few tables were occupied, and there were no queues at the order-and-pickup counters up front.

Unlike some of the other multinational food chains (Pizza Hut is a glaring example), KFC does not believe in changing all its food items to suit Indian palates or sensibilities. Yes, to cater to the fact that a lot of Indians are vegetarians, there are veggie options available, such as vegetable burgers, or veggie strips as a side. And, also keeping in mind the Indian penchant for spice, there are some slightly spiced-up versions of chicken: a chilli-lime one, for example (a very recent introduction), and a curry version (which included curry leaves but not much spice, and seems to have subsequently been withdrawn). Quite a lot of what KFCs serves in stores outside India, however, is still there: the fried chicken, both classic and crispy, the fries, the chicken strips.

We had a quick look at the menu, which also includes a chicken and a vegetarian burger each, a toasted chicken wrap, meals (chicken or veg, served with fries, Pepsi, and a burger or spicy rice with gravy) and a variety of interesting beverages. Finally, we decided to try the new chilli lime crunch chicken and the fiery grilled chicken. You can order 2-, 3-, or 4-piece dishes, or larger buckets with 8 pieces. Since we also wanted sides and a drink each, we settled for a 2-piece dish of each type of chicken. With that, my husband ordered fries, I ordered vegetable strips, and a beverage each—a virgin mojito for me, a ‘mango burst’ (a smoothie) for my husband.

The chicken wasn’t as hot as it could have been, but was comfortable enough—and it tasted good, which was what really mattered. The fiery grilled chicken was spicy but not blow-the-top-of-your-head off, and grilled perfectly, leaving the meat juicy and tender. The chilli-lime crunch chicken tasted fabulous—it had been obviously marinated in lime and some (not much) chilli, and after being covered with a crunchy batter and fried, it had been sprinkled with a coarse powder of spices and herbs. Delicious, spicy enough to appeal to most Indian palates, and yet not too spicy. My only grouse with this was that the chicken—breast pieces, these—was overcooked, which made it a wee bit dry and fibrous.

The fries were as expected, pretty usual. The vegetable strips (three of them) consisted of a dough of mashed potato, with bits of carrots, peas, and paneer, all of it rolled into small croquettes, crumbed and deep-fried. This was served with an unimpressive tomato salsa. All right, but nothing to write home about.

Our drinks were lovely. The virgin mojito, which is my favourite, comes chockfull of lime wedges, ice, and mint leaves sloshing about in a chilled glassful of Sprite, and is hard to beat as a refreshing drink. The mango burst, fruity and lush, was good too.

Our entire meal cost about Rs 800: not bad, for a full and satisfying meal for two, in an area that was clean, well-maintained, and generally well-managed.

Many years have passed since then, and my husband and I decided we’d perhaps been merely unlucky. Things may have improved now, especially since there’s stiff competition. So we popped in for lunch at the TGI Friday’s in one of the malls at Vasant Kunj. This is a large restaurant, centred around a very busy bar (but, surprisingly for India, with families—toddlers in tow—sitting at the tables right next to the bar. From what I recall, that’s not strictly legal here). We took ourselves off to a table overlooking the mall’s front garden.

The menu has all the TGIF best-sellers: loaded potato skins, back ribs, burgers, fajitas, grills, soups, desserts—and lots of drinks, including an impressive range of cocktails. We didn’t take long to decide what we wanted: a tenderloin asada each, with a Fridays’ lemonade each. After we’d placed our orders, we sat back and had a look around the restaurant, with its ‘50s style posters, memorabilia, and generally comfortable, friendly feel. The placemats at our table made interesting reading, since they chronicle the history of TGIF: from its inception in 1965, to its landmark events—like the invention of the Jack Daniel’s rubbed grill.

Our lemonades arrived within a couple of minutes, and turned out to be too sour, with barely a hint of sweetness in them. The waiter did bring us some extra syrup in a shot glass when we asked for it, but the syrup was so weak and diluted that it made little difference.

Our tenderloin asadas—described glowingly on the menu as "tender char-grilled tenderloin steak marinated in beer served with chilly pepper lime butter and oven roasted potatoes, onions and peppers"—was served 20 minutes (isn’t that a long time for a medium steak?) later. Our first impression of our plates was that the food didn’t look terribly appetizing. Firstly, the steaks were two very different sizes: mine was about 20-30% larger than my husband’s steak. Secondly, while I got lots of roasted onions, my husband barely got any—but, to compensate, he got some red bell peppers on his plate, while I had to be content with green bell peppers.

Beginning to eat, we discovered that it wasn’t just the look, but also the taste and texture of the dish that was totally below par. Both of us had asked for our steaks to be medium; what we got was medium rare. Worse, the meat itself wasn’t good quality; it was tough and sinewy, and cutting through it took a good bit of effort. Also, the seasoning—all that glorious-sounding ‘chilly pepper lime butter’—was conspicuous by its lack of presence. Yes, I could see some melted butter on my steak when it was placed in front of me, but the steak itself didn’t taste of lime, butter, pepper, chilly—or anything very much. My husband ended up drenching his steak in loads of tabasco. The vegetables on the side were dominated by the potatoes, with only a couple of measly and overdone strips of bell pepper.

Main course over, both of us picked desserts: my husband chose a mocha mud pie, which has been his favourite TGIF dessert for years now; I picked their best-selling ‘brownie obsession’. These were served up, within five minutes, and were every bit as good as we remembered them. The mocha mud pie—chocolate ice cream, coffee ice cream, chocolate sauce and toasted slivered almonds—was rich and my husband totally loved it. My brownie obsession consisted of three large squares of luscious and very chocolatey brownie sitting in a small pool of chocolate sauce. The brownies had been topped with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled over with caramel sauce, and with chopped walnuts to top it all off. Except for the walnuts (which were just beginning to turn rancid), the dessert was a smasher. I loved it so much that I finished every bit of it (with some help from my husband, since the portion size of the brownie obsession is huge).

We paid Rs 3,071 for our meal. Considering we had no alcohol, this was really quite expensive—and, other than the desserts, definitely not worth what we paid for it. If I go back to TGI Friday’s, I’ll probably eat a main course elsewhere, and come here for dessert.

I have visited Starbucks in several countries around the world, and have had very varied experiences. In Chicago, I had a middling coffee; in London, a much better cappuccino, with a fabulous muffin. In Singapore, very good coffee and cakes, and the most heavenly green tea lamingtons in Beijing. Naturally, from what I’d experienced, I wasn’t sure what Starbucks, when they finally arrived in Delhi, would be like.

Starbucks has been in Delhi for a few months now, and the euphoria has apparently not died down among its fans; every time we’ve thought of checking them out, we’ve come up against jam-packed stores, with no room to sit. So, when the nearby Epicuria Mall quietly opened—with a Starbucks—we decided to go check it out while few people knew about it.

When we arrived at Starbucks (at about 1.45 PM, for a late lunch), it was nearly empty—only three of the tables were occupied. This is a smart-looking place, bare brick in places, dark wood in others, with upholstered sofas, wooden tables and chairs, and wooden bar stools. Colourful, very Indian paintings brighten up the interior: on one wall are large paintings of typical Indian truck art. Along the front of the counter is a representation of more truck art, the sort of thing you’ll invariably see if you ever have to follow an Indian truck. Kitschy, but fun.

What we were most interested in was the food: savoury first, followed by a dessert and something to drink. Sadly, the savoury items—sandwiches and chappati wraps, for the most part—didn’t look or sound too appetizing. After some consideration, I picked a ‘mutton seekh in roomali roll’ (a seekh kabab wrapped in a roomali roti), while my husband chose an ‘egg and cheese on English muffin’ and a ‘chicken ham and roasted peppers’ sandwich. I deferred a drink for when I’d have my dessert; my husband ordered a lemon iced tea.

The menu board doesn’t specify, at least not next to the listing for iced tea, that this is available in three types: black, green, or hibiscus tea. The order-taker didn’t explain this to my husband, either. Therefore, when the drink was ready and my husband went to collect it, he was told, "Here’s your hibiscus lemon iced tea". My husband didn’t want to make a fuss, but did say that he’d have appreciated it if he’d been asked what he wanted, instead of the barista or order-taker taking am arbitrary decision. Thankfully, the tea was good, refreshing and really nice. (As it happened, the only item we really liked).

My seekh kabab, lightly spiced and a little too chewy to be called a good seekh kabab, had been wrapped in a thin roomali roti, with lots and lots of lightly sautéed sliced onions, and a few slivers of sautéed green capsicum. It tasted very average, and the onions were so all-pervasive that their taste lingered on for hours later.

The ‘egg and cheese on English muffin’ seemed to be an attempt to create a meatless eggs Benedict. It didn’t taste bad, though the egg was somewhat overdone, and one lettuce leaf had died a horrible death when the sandwich had been grilled—all that was left was a thin, nearly black leaf that we initially couldn’t even identify. How difficult is it, we wondered, to teach service staff to grill a sandwich, then lift the top slice and insert a fresh lettuce?

The chicken ham and roasted peppers sandwich was worse—the peppers had been roasted in some long-ago age and had darkened terribly; and the chicken ham was pretty low on taste.

We tried to tell ourselves that perhaps Starbucks focused more on their coffees and desserts. So, sandwiches and wrap over, we went and had a look at their desserts—a rather limited range of iced cakes, muffins, and cookies. My husband settled for a mango and Oreo cheesecake, and decided to have another lemon iced tea. I chose a red velvet orange cake (which looked really pretty), and with that, a vanilla latte.

I’m not especially keen on red velvet cake, but the ‘orange’ suffix to its name attracted me—I thought, with a name like that, the cake would probably be flavoured with orange. It certainly looked enticing, a generous wedge of crimson cake with thin layers of frosting, and a lavish sprinkle of shaved white chocolate on top and along the outer edge. One forkful (and a difficult forkful, too—it took a good bit of strength to pry that off!), and I realized this cake only looked pretty. It was dry and stodgy, for one. And the flavour of both the cake and the icing was hard to identify: I couldn’t taste any chocolate (except for the white chocolate on top), and certainly no orange—just what seemed like vanilla. Also, because the cake seemed to have been refrigerated at such a low temperature, the icing had gone cloyingly buttery and tended to stick to the roof of my mouth. Not pleasant.

As for the vanilla latte: I’d asked for a latte coffee, not milk. This one had almost no coffee in it to speak of, let alone vanilla. One of the worst coffees I’ve tasted in a Delhi coffee shop.

My husband’s mango and Oreo cheesecake wasn’t anything to write home about, either. The Oreo cookie chunks along the bottom of the cheesecake had absorbed the moisture from the filling and gone soft and a little chewy. The filling didn’t have any mango in it; that was confined to a topping of mango pulp—which tasted as if it had come out of a can. Considering this was June—at a time when Delhi is flooded with the most delicious fresh mangoes—this was unforgivable.

All in all, our experience at Starbucks was enough to stop us from coming back here. The food and drinks were definitely substandard, and the staff seemed clueless and inefficient—not only did they decide my husband’s choice of iced tea by themselves, they also were incapable of serving up an order at one go. Everything came in bits and pieces—one sandwich here, one drink there. We wouldn’t have minded that, except that it meant frequent interruptions in our meal, as we had to keep going and picking up whatever they announced was now ready. My husband pointed this out, and the staff both apologized and promised to serve up the rest on our table—which they didn’t.

Considering we paid Rs 1,409 for our meal, this was a very disappointing visit.

This is a plush outlet, with wooden floors, faux leather upholstery: a far cry from the usual ice cream parlour in India (which, even when it’s more than just a cart, almost never offers steel cutlery and china and depends upon disposables). Although we’ve been here several times earlier (and always enjoyed it), this time when we went, I went with the express purpose of actually noting the experience and doing a review of it.

We were greeted by a smiling waiter (in a suit, no less!) at the entrance. He guided us to a table, sat us down, and gave us two copies of the menu. The Häagen-Dazs menu is nothing to be scoffed at; it’s very extensive, to the point where it can get a little difficult to decide what you want to have. The menu is divided into sections, beginning with a ‘European’ one: pre-designed ice cream desserts, that combine different flavours of ice cream with waffles, biscuits, fresh fruit, nuts, cream, etc. There follows a similar Asian section (which I thought would have had some interesting Asian flavours—possibly coconut and lime, green tea, etc?, but didn’t). This was followed by an Indian section, which was (again) not particularly Indian (which I would’ve imagined to have the sort of flavours one finds in kulfis, like saffron, pandanus, pistachios, etc). While the layout of the menu—the beautiful illustrations and the mouthwatering photographs which accompany descriptions—is lovely, I thought this geographical categorization of the desserts was somewhat forced.

The ice cream desserts here run the gamut from chocolate fondue to ice cream kebabs (skewered with fruit and ice cream scoops), semi-freddo to banana sundaes, waffles, crepes, and even a range of ice cream-based drinks, principally smoothies. There are a couple of hot drinks (I noticed a nice-sounding dulce de leche). And, at the end of the menu, is the entire array of ice creams and sorbets that you can order. These range from plain vanilla to fruity flavours like summer berry, strawberry cheesecake, and mango and passionfruit. There are loads of options for lovers of chocolate and coffee, and there are sorbets such as mango and raspberry.

You can take the easy way out and opt for one of the ice cream desserts on their menu, or you can create your own—by combining scoops of different flavours of ice creams, adding sauces, nuts, waffles, crepes, etc. Or, like us, you can be staid and boring, and just have ice cream. Both of us opted for two scoops of ice cream each. My husband chose one scoop of dulce de leche and one of mango and passionfruit ice cream; I ordered one scoop of coffee ice cream, and one of cappuccino truffle. The waiter asked if we’d like our ice creams in cones, but we chose cups instead.

A minute later, the waiter returned to place spoons and paper napkins on our table. Another couple of minutes passed, and he brought our ice creams, each serving in a large champagne saucer-like glass cup, with a fan-shaped piece of wafer with it.

My husband’s mango and passionfruit ice cream was lovely, tart, delicately sweet, and very refreshing. The dulce de leche, on the other hand, he found too sweet for his liking. I tasted it too, and though I loved the rich caramel flavour, I thought the ice cream was oversweet too. Both of us did agree, however, that we are probably not the best people to comment upon sweetness; we both have low thresholds for sugar.

My coffee and cappuccino truffle ice creams proved a hit with both of us. Both ice creams were low on sugar, with that lovely bitter flavour of coffee helping to subdue much of the sugar. I preferred the cappuccino truffle, not just because of the luscious bits of dark chocolate scattered through it, but also because it had a much stronger flavour of coffee. The wafer which came with the ice cream was thin, very crisp, and very fresh (in fact, one thing I particularly about this Häagen-Dazs is that the aroma of freshly baked biscuit wafts out into the corridor just outside!)

We paid Rs 740 for our ice creams, inclusive of taxes and service charges. That, even by Delhi’s expensive standards, is very expensive. But then, Häagen-Dazs’s ice creams are delicious.

Then, my teenaged niece, invited for a friend’s birthday do at Hard Rock Café (and my niece isn’t a fan of hard rock, either) said she liked the food. So the next time we happened to be in DLF Place Mall, we thought we’d give it a try.

Hard Rock Café is approached, down a flight of wide stairs which lead to a store that specializes in musical instruments, from guitars to pianos. Beyond this, on the right, is the Hard Rock Café shop, where you can buy clothing and accessories. And straight ahead is the restaurant itself. The interior of the restaurant has the dark, black-ceilinged and black-walled look. A stage where live performances are held often occupies the right side of the room; the rest of the room consists of gently tiered very wide stairs on which the tables are arranged—all in such a way as to allow you to eat comfortably while watching whoever’s onstage.

Since we visited Hard Rock Café for lunch, there were no performers, but muted recordings of rock shows were being played on the many TV screens on the walls (oddly enough, there wasn’t any music—not even piped—for most of the time we were there). In classic Hard Rock Café tradition, the walls were decorated with glass display cases containing hard rock memorabilia: the closest to where we were sitting were Seal’s guitar and Madonna’s hat. On our way out, we also saw clothing from Aerosmith, and loads of other odds and ends, especially guitars.

On to the menu, now. This being Hard Rock Café Delhi, it had its share of Indian food: we spotted pakoras, a Kerala prawn/fish curry, paneer makhani and a few other dishes that are almost staples with lovers of standard Indian fare. But the bulk of the menu, thankfully, is what Hard Rock Café is known for: the diner-style burgers, sandwiches, steaks, etc. We skipped over the salads, cocktails, beers, and examined the burgers and sandwiches section instead. My husband ended up ordering the ‘legendary 10 oz burger’, while I opted for a pulled pork sandwich. For drinks, we both ordered a fresh lemonade.

It took about ten minutes for our food orders to arrive (the lemonades were served up within a couple of minutes).

My pulled pork sandwich was sandwiched between burger buns, which wasn’t quite what I had in mind (since I’m not a fan of burgers—I find them too messy, most of the time). The pork had been cooked in a spicy-sweet barbecue sauce, and while it was good and tender, there was so much sauce clinging to the pulled meat that it had seeped into the bottom bun, leaving it very flimsy and tending to break. On the side was a huge helping of French fries (so huge that I couldn’t finish it) and a small bowl of a nice, relatively light coleslaw. Also on the side was a small bowl of beans, in a slightly spiced sauce—it proved a very good dip for the fries.

My husband had opted, at the waiter’s suggestion, to have the beef patty in his burger cooked to a medium. This came cooked just the way it was promised—juicy and tender, topped with bacon, cheese, and fried onion rings. On the side were lots of fries (this, we later discovered, could have been substituted with fried onion rings at a little extra charge; we noticed it written on the menu long after we’d ordered). Also provided with the burger, but on the side, was some lettuce, tomatoes, and pickled gherkins. I had a bite of the burger and thought it good (though the fried onion rings in the burger could’ve been more crunchy). My husband thought the burger "a bit bland", so he doused it with lots of ketchup, mustard, and Tabasco.

By the end of our respective main courses, we were feeling rather full, but glad that we hadn’t opted for an appetizer as well—which left us with just that little bit of empty space for a dessert each. From the dozen or so desserts listed, my husband chose a cheesecake and I a tres leche ‘served with seasonal fruits’.

The cheesecake was creamy and delicious, with a lovely strawberry sauce poured over it. The tres leche, something I’d never encountered before, was right up my street: a soft, moist sponge cake sitting in a pool of mixed condensed, evaporated, and fresh milk, and with three types of fruit—kiwi, fresh strawberries, and blueberries—sprinkled over. It tasted gorgeous, the texture was lovely, and I particularly appreciated the fact that the fruit hadn’t been mixed. One side of the cake was topped with the strawberries, another with the kiwi, and another with the blueberries—so you could savour the flavour of each individual fruit. Divine!

Despite my swooning over the tres leche, this dessert proved to be too much for me to handle; it was so huge that my husband had to help me finish it off. Between them, the pulled pork sandwich, the fries and the dessert filled me up so much that I had to skip dinner that day.

We paid Rs 2,670 for our meal, which both of us agreed was good value for money. We’ll be back.