Earthen Flavours eatery's Dhaba fare

See you back with our next e-newsletter on Wednesday December 26. Merry Christmas from all of us at Trendy.in!

You crossed the threshold of your college canteen and left behind your tatty loafers in the same step up. Now, charpoy-seating doesn’t suit your Chloe coat.

So what do you do on the days you crave comfort, dished up hot and home-style? Wake up and smell the seasonal saag in a new eatery, that’s what.

Rustic is the new buzzword in chic — as with tweed, so with tikka. The just-opened Earthen Flavours is pure nostalgia — maa ki dal, rotis pillowing in the tandoor, murgh turning teekha in its tango with tomatoes and chilli. No bowdlerised kebab with cardamom cream. No concessions to a septuagenarian Lucknavi nawab’s delicate palate nor the global gourmet’s predilection for fusion. Just earthy Punjabi –unabashedly spicy, tangy, earthy.

Ease in with stuffed mushroom tikka or the unusual ‘dorukh’ seekh — dark mutton keema layered over paler chicken mince skewers. After that, restrict the flourishes to lashings of asli ghee, handfuls of coriander and the smoky undertones of charcoal-heated clay. Let makka palak play creamy foil to the chef’s special — chicken bhayankar, kebabs bathed in fire-red gravy lent extra heft by mince. Signal the halt only with steaming gulab jamuns.

You’ll need the napkin. This is food for the soul. Deliciously, slurpingly, finger-lickingly lavish.

Say ‘Waheguru’, and dig in.

Earthen Flavours, HS-13 Kailash Colony Market, New Delhi; ph 41731313/3111. Meal for two: Rs 1000.