National Crafts Museum was a great initiative by the Nehru government. It had one of the richest collections of rare handicrafts and weaves from all over India. At present they are transforming Crafts Museum into a Crafts University and most of the galleries are closed. We hope that the new initiative is as fascinating as the brilliant experience the Museum was. Meanwhile, they have refurbished the Crafts Shop and have opened a full-fledged restaurant – Cafe Lota at the passage around this store.

It’s an outdoor place covered with tin shades and blinds. The decor is craft based but simple and includes a lot of indoor plants. To control the temperature, they have fans and coolers.

A friend was visiting and we wanted to take him to some new place in Delhi for a meal. Café Lota was long overdue and notwithstanding the heat, we decided to combine Café Lota with a quick visit to whatever is left of the Crafts Museum. There was a fair amount of waiting at the restaurant. We utilised this time browsing the Crafts Shop. However, we were checking intermittently and when we noticed a free table at the Café, we occupied it.

The place has an interesting menu that is truly multi-cuisine and covers dishes from all over India. Some of the dishes are familiar but some seem to be a complete mystery.

We ordered a variety of dishes from the more familiar names. For starters it was sabudana pop corn, aam panna, lassi and masala chai.

Served in a conical container, the sabudana popcorn was balled version of sabudana vada (fried dumplings). Given the small sizes and served with interesting chilly chutney, this was a great entre.

Among the many main course dishes that we ordered, we would recommend the matter paratha platter. This was peas stuffed parathas (roasted flatbread), served with makhana (lotus seed) curry and lotus stem raita (curd dip). Among the vegetarian fare, this is a must try.

Among the non-vegetarian dishes, the Assamese black bean chicken was interesting. This a non-spicy dish comprising chicken cooked in a black sesame seed coating. This came with a delicious garlic/tomato dip and tingmo bread (steamed bread from Tibet).

We also had coconut prawn curry from West Bengal and fish/imli (tamarind fish) from Kerala. Everything was finger-licking good.

For desserts, we wanted their oh-so-popular aam ke golgappe. We were heartbroken when told that this is not available. Disappointed we ordered apple cinnamon jalebi. This was nice but if you are expecting jalebi, this is not it! While this was served we were informed the mango gol gappe is ready again and so we ordered one and then again another round of that.

This is gol gappe shells filled with real mango cream. The combination was overwhelming and we hadn’t had anything like this before. This dish itself is worth a visit.

We keep eating out on some or no excuse and sometimes find the going run-of-the-mill. However given the variety, creativity, and taste, Café Lota happened to be a memorable dine-out experience.

Few alerts though – small portion size but steep prices; very little parking and during lunch – dinner hours this could be trying; they do not take reservations during weekends so long waiting time is the norm.
But in the end, it’s worth the wait.

PIN IT FOR LATER READ

Also Read: Triveni Terrace Café – a place of art and yore