The block’s new kid, Dirty Apron, enjoys the street cradle of his older sibling The Piano Man, when you get in the elevator not to mention the previous song. Divided into two levels, the open-air upper-floor food store overlooks Deer Park, and is heated by a wood-fired oven in one corner and a bar on one side of the space. The Dirty Apron turns food-centric, Asian and European flavors and minutes of food from both continents into a cohesive menu, more than her sister concerns. The playlist here is nothing like drowning in conversation.
We start with soup, a pumpkin and peanut butter. Velvetine and smoky, like burning red silk gloves, the soup plunged beneath our guillotine, with a buttery notion behind it. We cut it down even though we usually avoid pumpkins like haunted houses, preferring it as a jack-o-lantern rather than a food ingredient.
In this case it must be Halloween, because we later found ourselves entangled in Thai curry pumpkin and gorgonzola ravioli. Like a beautiful wedding of East and West, a trade of peace and harmony, it is a comfortable meal with an accent. Silk squash blends beautifully with the light sharpness of blue cheese (the key to the success of this dish is the balance of different proportions) divided into poached ravioli pouches in Thai red curry.
So as not to be called chicken, we have both Jamaican Jerk and Shish Tok Grill. Caribbean chicken is rubbed with spices among others and is slowly fried over a fire. The Arabic form is much softer than that of its colonial-era cousins, two continents have been moved. Both representatives are gentle and serviceable, we get no complaints with either. We look out to sea for our main route, settling on a herb-crusted sea bus with a sweet pepper sambal.
The fish is flaky like a comic relief in Sitcom, melting in the mouth. The South Asian sambal sauce adds an interesting ingredient to the dish, but we like that it was a bit less saccharin, as it snatches the tip of the spike.
Dessert is a cream brulee ‘fragrant’ with lemon grass and coffee lime. The aroma spreads over the crispy caramel crust, while the custard remains primitive and calcareous. Some marriages just work, we guess.
Meals for two: Rs. 3,000 (inclusive of tax)
Address: B6-7 / 22, 2nd Floor, Opposite Deer Park, Safdarjung Enclave Market, Safdarjung.
Contact: 41315181
