For whatever reason, we never indulged much in Bihari cuisine. Maybe it was a couple of bad experiences with Litti Chokha and we wrote off Bihari food available in fairs and melas. In fact we never imagined that fancy dishes from Bihar could be served in a dedicated cafe for this cuisine. Well, one visit to Potbelly Rooftop Cafe and we realised our assumptions were too leaky to hold water.

Potbelly is a cool cozy cafe on rooftop of a building in an intriguing Shahpur Jat area. We went on a week evening, looking for some vegetarian dinner options. It’s a beautifully done up restaurant where small space has been used wisely. Decor includes planters in teapots, colorful lamps and designer furniture.

We got a table on window side and once seated we started looking at the menu. For starters we ordered a Baggiya basket along with a soft drink and a Sattu cooler. Baggiya basket had rice based stuffed pockets with home style green mint coriander chutney. Though it was high on spices, the chilly didn’t overshadow the taste of the rice and lentil based stuffing. Sattu cooler was delicious and helped us gulp down these dumplings easily.

After that we ordered Parontha basket which was a platter of assorted parathas (in 3 different stuffings) served with Raita and chutneys. Paranthas were home style, light on stomach and subtle in taste. This platter tickled our taste buds and the amazing presentation managed to win brownie points.

The menu had a lot of things we never heard of and everything looked so tempting that it was difficult to decide. After some discussion and recommendation from the attendant we decided to go for Dana Jhamarua Thali as our main course. This consisted of rice flour based bread stuffed with poppy seeds and a mustard based gravy dish with potatoes and eggplant. The platter also had Sabudana Vada and green chutney. We loved every bite of the food and every bit of this experience. Another thing that made this dinner amazing was the fact that none of the food items were greasy (overtly oily).

And we can’t thank Potbelly enough for not having their servers don Bihari costumes. Almost all the Rajasthani restaurants in Delhi have their waiters dressed in pumpkin size turbans and in a Haveli like decor. Aren’t we bored of that!!! Potbelly hasn’t gone that route and kept the decor neutral and staff attire basic.

We were happy to have discovered another great place for vegetarian food in Delhi.