Worth the Fuss

Front courtyard of Tamasha.

Enviably located on a private lot on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, just off Connaught Place, Tamasha avoids resulting traffic snarls with a valet service, a must on the high-density road. Spread over two floors, with cavernous interiors, it is, nevertheless, the front courtyard that makes Tamasha worth all the fuss. Stone-flagged with one corner dominated by a truck — rather, the truck from the Transformers franchise — and another truck serving as a bar. A tree looms large over the courtyard and, covered with a constellation of fairy lights, renders a gorgeous scene by night. The interiors are minimal, bound in stone and wood, with couch seating, a second immense bar and electronic music filling the entire space.

The menu is composed largely of contemporary Indian and Indian fusion that are the rage these days, bifurcated into small and large plates. It is supplemented by the quasi-cuisine of Delhi eateries and fortified with a large bar menu; the ubiquitous sheesha list is olfactorily obvious.

We decide to be cool and go with the crowd, sticking to the fusion fare. So accordingly we start with the Calamari Chaat Salad and the Beer Batter Amritsari Fish Steak; and the Tasty Tamasha Tasty Coin for a bonus round in these hunger games. The coins, in fact, comprise mushroom galouti sandwiched between a croissant with the galouti spiced with yam or ole, lending it an exotic pungency, delicious if you like your food slightly strong, which we do.

The salad is rather heavier than the word suggests, because of the calamari’s crust. While festooned with springy lettuce, basil, olives, pickled onions, crispy potatoes, chillies and pickled cucumber, all tossed up in a tamarind vinaigrette, the calamari could have been less encrusted in batter. It’s the fish that swims away with the honours though — fresh, flaky sole shrouded in a spicy, crispy carmine batter, served with a lemon mint foam (more a cream) that give the mini steaks a burst of freshness.

After the relatively healthy fare, we decide to get down and farinaceous with the Baked Butter Chicken Pasta and the Bhuna Gosht Sliders. The sliders are simplistic in presentation, even if the filling of desiccated meat in the mini buns is complex in spices. The pasta is a glutinous melange of soft penne mired in butter chicken with gravy, a combination becoming increasingly popular these days, for obvious reasons. The dessert menu being rather limited at the moment, we decide to dive into it next time. It should make quite the splash.

Meal for two: Rs 2,400 (including taxes)
Address: 28, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place. Contact: 33106409

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