Ardor, a recently-opened restaurant and lounge in CP, offers a huge space with a dance floor but the food is not extra special. Divya Kaushik sampled it
Dining in Connaught Place is mostly about visiting places that are part of our childhood memories — of times when our parents drove us over for dosas and steaming bowls of sambhar. Or when we gorged on greasy samosas and kachoris after shopping an entire day.
Another picture that comes to mind are the burger and pizza joints we hung at during college.
In the last few years, CP has every kind of hang out one can imagine. Bars, lounges, fancy and popular take-away joints. Plus fine dine restaurants, serving various cuisine. In such a scenario, opening a place like Ardor in N-Block, spelt a challenge for its owners. They have tried to stand out with a huge two-storeyed place, divided in various sections. There’s a fine dining restaurant catering to families and corporates. And a spacious lounge and terrace. It seems the latter has been getting regulars over the last eleven months.
It was crowded with youngsters who moved easily from the terrace to the dance floor, shifting sheeshas.
“We planned to get a space in Hauz Khas Village but CP was as good. The only difficulty was deciding if we wanted a fine dining place — there are many here — or a lounge-cum-café,” said Karan Bhatia, a director of the company. He was studying mechanical engineering abroad and intended to join his dad’s business, but changed his mind.
“Making most of the space available, we have divided the place into sections. I think this is our USP. We have held parties where parents dine in the quieter part, while the younger ones use the lounge.”
Although the place looked promising, the menu was a spoiler. It was a mix, but of nothing new.
After scanning the menu, we ordered a mezze platter and Chinese stir-fry vegetables.
The platter came with overbaked pita bread, making it dry and hard very quickly.
The heart-shaped falafel was also dry but the hung curd with cucumber was good.
The Chinese starter was for those who enjoy chilli. And the main course held a variety of Indian delicacies. From dal makhani to koftas.
Chef told us one experiment of his was a must-try. It came on a bed of spinach sauce, with fine grated mixed vegetables cooked in spices and cheese. It tasted different, though spice quotient was high. If Indian food is not your favourite, they have pizzas, pastas and Thai curries that can be made in your favourite sauce. They can be paired with Chinese and Thai style noodles or rice.
Whatever you order, you’re likely to get the Indianised version with extra cheese and spice. For example, the pizza was thin crust, but the cheese topping seemed thicker than the base. You had to chew extra over the cheesy bit. The dessert section has walnut brownie, warm mud cake, kulfi and gulab jamun.
And if you want to mix and match dessert — for example, walnut brownie with kulfi — you could.