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A known devil is better
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FOOD STOP Legends of India is a huge place in the heart of the Capital but the food is a huge disappointment, save for the chaat, says RAHUL VERMA
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Many of my friends are fond of trying out new restaurants that come up in the city, and then disappear from our collective memories before we can say, what another one? I am not much into eating out at new restaurants. I prefer my old faithful. I go
to an eatery if it has been recommended by a few friends whose opinion I take seriously, or if I want to try out something different. Sometimes, though, I visit a restaurant under duress.
This was the case this past week, when a food writer-friend dragged me to a restaurant in New Delhi called Legends of India. The name itself was a bit dubious, but I went. One, because I had been told that the food consultant for the restaurant was the famous Jiggs Kalra, who has undoubtedly done a lot to give food a celebrity status in India. And two, I went because you just can’t say no to this friend.
Legends of India is a huge place just opposite Scindia House, above a Café Coffee Day restaurant. It can accommodate some 250 people, I was told. Unfortunately, the day I was there, only four other brave souls had decided to go there for a meal. In that huge restaurant, all nicely done up of course, there were only three tables that were occupied. Apart from that, there was one busy fly, and one troublesome mosquito – both of whom we successfully shooed away.
Chaat counter
What interested me about the place was the fact that they had a chaat counter run by some masters of Old Delhi. We were given a couple of papris, with the tangy and spicy water of gol-gappas, as a complimentary offering. I am really fond of the chaat of Purani Dilli, mainly because of the mild masalas that they use there. In the Walled City, chaats are not doused with red chillies or garam masalas. Instead, they flavour their papri and dahi vadas with freshly-ground pepper. We asked a plate of dahi vada, and I quite enjoyed it. The nihari, too, was not bad at all. Made with shanks, it had been prepared well. I have to, however, say that I have had equally good, and sometimes even better, nihari in one-degh places in Purani Dilli.
The stuffed chicken was rather disappointing. The masalas for the curry, cooked with an almond paste, had not been fried well and left a bitter taste in the mouth. That was the problem with the karhi, too – the pakoris in the yoghurt-based gravy were a bit uncooked. We told the waiters, and the management, very courteously, did not add that to the bill. A meal for two at Legends would come for Rs.1300-1800, depending on how much you eat. The nihari, for instance, is for Rs.475 – which is steep even by Delhi standards. The steam-roller chicken (why did they call it that?) is for Rs.345. All in all, it was not quite a meal that I’d write home about. I went there dragging my feet, and came out zooming – in a great rush to get back home. I don’t think my ‘I-won’t-take-a-no-for-an-answer’ friend is going to force me to visit a new restaurant in a hurry.
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