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Seasoned with hope

Take a peek A view of My Own Space and (right) the restaurant’s supple paneer tikka

As you step into My Own Space, or MOS, you catch a mixed feeling. At first, you feel good that someone has thought it’s time East Delhi’s Patparganj area, filled with hundreds of apartments, should get a fine dining restaurant to talk about. But my second thought is a bit disconcerting, or rather based on experience. I pose it to myself – will it survive?

For, I live in that area and know it has seen some good restaurants before. In spite of serving decent food, they are all history now or on the brink of oblivion. Simply because the concept of eating out at a neighbourhood restaurant has not picked up in Patparganj yet. Instead, the area has a preference for free home delivery outlets, and almost all of them end up being just that. MOS too has started the service from day one. Currently it is offering a 15 per cent discount on all delivered items.

So, having seen the dismal fate of fine dining eateries in that area, I share my worry with the restaurant owners Prakash Sharma and Sanjay Pandey as soon as I meet them. Their answer is predictable, laced with hope. “We are getting a good response and that makes us feel fine at the moment. Finally, we need more and more people to come here to make it a success, and that is why we gave a friendly name like My Own Space,” is their message.

Well, I didn’t tell them the name sounds a little tacky. But what really should work for a restaurant is not its name but its food, and the ambience. As first impressions go, this first-floor restaurant in the DDA shopping complex near Prince Apartments is nothing compared to the top-line eateries in the city, but yes, it looks neat, well lit, minimalist, has quite a few flat screen TVs to flaunt, and a decent bar area. It is awaiting a licence to serve hard drinks and is meanwhile whipping up some okay-ish mocktails. The restaurant also has a private party area on the second floor jazzed up with a distinctive ceiling filled with kids’ umbrellas picked from across the world.

And now the food. It serves Indian and Punjabi-fied Chinese cuisine and has roped in two well-experienced chefs to do the job. Among starters, I suggest the vegetable tandoori platter, Lahori tangri kababs and the fish tikka Hyderabadi from the Indian cuisine chef. The Chinese chef has some good salt and pepper prawns and chicken and ginger fish as starters. Though, their salt content is a bit on the higher side.

For the main course, in the Indian fare, there is a wide choice to pick from, such as fish golemirch, methi murg and also a Goan fish curry. In vegetarian too, the choice is wide, including the usual suspects like dum aloo Kashmiri and paneer makhani.

In the Chinese main course, you can try the chicken Szechwan and sliced fish with your choice of sauce. The menu also has a variety of fried rice and noodles.

In dessert, besides the gulab jamun and phirni, the Chinese chef rolls out toffee banana and toffee apple too. A meal for two will cost you approximately Rs.500 plus taxes.

Finally, to give you the bottom line, here is hoping that MOS soon comes up with some signature dishes. For unlike restaurants that pop up in other parts of the city, this one will have to outdo history and attract diners as sweets do flies.

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