Delhi

Bold and brave edible experiments are on. The reasonably priced, new Goan eatery Bernando in Chittaranjan Park dares this beef-banning, pork-hating and fresh sea-fishless city to try authentically spiced sorpotels, vindaloos and stuffed pomfret. While the resolute Punjabi by Nature at Priya Complex playfully spikes its masala golgappas with Vodka and serves Sharaabi Raan, a rum-flamed leg of lamb, soft enough to eat with a spoon. The drinks are in the dinner, silly. Cleverness and consistency make guests keep coming back. Quite like Ricks’ at the Taj Mansingh that refuses to go out of style—with its bar well stocked with single malts and fad drinks like vanilla vodka.

Topping the list of the party people is the Olive Bar and Kitchen, Mehrauli, with its intoxicating offers. A wine-picnic on Sundays at Rs 950 per person, ‘selfadelic indulgence’ on Wednesdays when creative beanos are invited to sing, dance and paint. And a bar menu that starts off with 1001 Nights, an arak-based cocktail mixed with sugarcane juice to complement their Arabic offerings. If you want stylish casual dining, no place comes close to this ambient eatery, recently included in Conde Nast Traveller’s 2004 Hot List of the World’s Best New Restaurants. Predictably, it’s the prices that keep the locals like us away.

Inventive dining and drinking is now available in all brackets. Tonino’s, an Italian ristorante, sets you back by Rs 2,000 plus for two without drinks. The slightly kitschy Not Just Paranthas in Rajouri Garden gives you dahi kebab and paranthas dinner priced at Rs 300 for two. It offers the Old Delhi Paranthewali Gali experience with a twist, by introducing geometrical shapes like rectangular pockets that are more challenging to cook than the traditional stuffed circles.

And then there’s Eggspectations at the Jaypee Vasant Continental, where you get eggs, eggs, eggs done in 170 styles at any hour of the day or night. This Canadian franchise gives you eggs, breads, breakfast meats, smoked salmon and slices of seasonal fruit-a whole meal in one serving-for Rs 250-400

Bars

• Agni: For when the swish set washes up in CP, Park Hotel, Jantar Mantar
• F-Bar: Contemplate models... and a golf course, Lado Sarai
• Odyssey: Imagine a ship sailing through Haryana, Gurgaon
• Olive Bar and Kitchen: Hang with the Vanity Fair set, Mehrauli
• Shalom: Good enough bar that plenty know about, great food, reservations in advance, Greater Kailash I

Restaurants

• Bernando: Only place for Goan food, Chittaranjan Park
• Eggspectations: 170 ways to eat eggs. Brilliant burger, Vasant Vihar
• Moshe’s: Mediterranean and fusion, Munirka
• Punjabi By Nature: Some of India’s best mutton dishes, Vasant Vihar
• Shalom: Mediterranean, Greater Kailash I