OPEN HOUSE, Bar + Kitchen in Connaught place

If you are fond of Cantonese food, if you are still to achieve your satiation with the best sushi in town or if you are simply one of those who loves to rock weekends with your family and friends in a vibrant ambiance, OPEN HOUSE in the heart of Delhi is the place for you.

After visiting Hybrid, Project, Light Camera Action, I had been curious about Priyank Sukhija’s latest one – Open House.  I wouldn’t say each one has the best to offer but I will definitely love to talk about the interesting and comforting similarities in his restaurants.  First, one can never feel claustrophobic in them because he ensures there is no dearth of space. Second, the menu offers immense variety and is well worked upon. Third, there is enough to drink till morning and lastly, the places are hip and happening which lend one or more cherishable memories.  Open House promises all of the above.  I am glad I had an invite and last Saturday, hubby and I could finally make it there for yet another memorable food experience.

 

It is very easy to locate. Let me help you with more precise address- C- block, Inner circle. Once you see it written in big on the outside, find the lifts that take you to the first floor. We walked in at 8-30 p.m and felt amused to see there was enough space to choose our seats. However, the shift managers looked neck deep in work. They had lots of reservations to look into and believe me, in the next hour, it was hard to find an empty chair in the restaurant.

 

Well, it was dinner time for me and I started with my mission to dig in.  Hubby and I are teetotalers in town and thus we picked our non alcoholic beverages. I ordered an ‘orange and mint cooler’ for him and a ‘virgin wasabi mary’ for myself.  As far as starters were concerned, we had our own picks but we both decided to start with the dumplings.  I went for Pak choi dumplings and he decided to go with the best in vegetarian-Edamame Truffle dumpling, which was suggested by the boy serving our table.

I was not sure what edamame meant and thus I googled it there itself. For everyone who isn’t aware let me share ‘Edamame is a young soybean’. Before the bean pod hardens, the soft beans are parboiled.  Its use has been on a rise in China, Japan, Korea and Hawaii cuisines. If you are thinking what is pak choi, I must make you aware. It is a green leafy vegetable from the cabbage family. Also called Chinese cabbage with tapering leaves.

The dumplings had arrived and they looked irresistible. I wasn’t impressed with my mocktail but the dumplings made up for it all. One bite and I could easily feel the taste of each of its ingredients- the minced chicken, mushroom, lotus root wrapped in pak choi. It did not take a minute to gobble down all the four. My vegetarian husband was also enjoying edamame dumplings and I picked one from his share too. Honestly, it tasted something different. If you talk of dumplings, Yauatcha is my favorite but here in Open House, I wasn’t missing it at all.  I wanted to go for another variety of dimsum but there was lots on the menu and I wanted to taste more than a handful.

A friend who had visited OPEN HOUSE during preview had suggested me to go for sushi. I do not make a great sushi fan but hubby loves it. Thus I ordered a vegetarian one having no clue that I would savor its taste for long long time. Crispy Spicy Avocado Maki was the best sushi that I have had in veg. It was utterly crispy and we enjoyed the taste of avocado inside the rice like never before. I loved its presentation and styling too. The ginger and chilli that came along with it was too good.

Tamarind Tofu in crispy cups– a very cute, little snack that looked so appetizing. Not a minute and we grabbed them to relish the fun. For sometime, we could really feel the tofu, peanuts, mint , chilli and crispiness of the cups on our taste buds. I would love to call it an interesting snack but if you are looking for lots of tofu, don’t go for this one because this only has few small tofu chunks in little cups.

It was time to order more. Hubby loves everything thats got enough paneer, cheese and tofu. As he wasn’t fully satiated with the tofu dish, he went for cottage cheese sashlik. By this time the non-vegetarian in me was getting bored with veggies and thus I ordered some lamb crisps in gong dong style. Yet again, I pounced on some veg portion and found the Sashlik cheese very yum. Rather the lamb dish was cooked interestingly and spicy enough as per my taste but I found the lamb more chewy. The crispy veggies were good.

Main Course!

We ended our meal on a perfect combination of lots of greens. Brocolli, Pak choi, Asparagus, Zaccuni together made for an healthy pot for me. The butter and the babycorn in the rice made it taste heavenly.  To choose among the lavish menu is a hard task but this one was perfectly done by hubby and I patted his back for this. No, I did not miss chicken for once. Its tough to be vegetarian but not if you have a tasty veg meal staring at you. After entertaining our taste buds enough with crispy and spicy stuff, we nursed our tummy with these healthy bowls.

Dessert

There wasn’t much to choose from the desserts and we quickly decided on Tiramisu. The service boy told us that soon there will be more from the in-house bakery. I have noticed restro-bars or lounge are not the places where you would have lots of desserts because people here do not visit them for full meals or desserts. They are majorly about drinking and snacking options. Tiramisu with the macaroon was proportionately prepared. It wasn’t sweet to the core and that’s what I loved about it most. Macaroons are my favorite anytime, everytime!

Overall,  Open house made a great place for my Saturday evening. I am not very fond of dim lights and loud music, the kind of ambiance that Open House had but for food it absolutely rocked for me.  The best part even though they have an in-house DJ, its not hard to find a table where you can make your own conversations. For me a meal is best enjoyed over conversations and I had a lovely time here. Those who enjoy music and drinks, this is one place you cant stay away from for long.

The food quantity is not the actual but only for our sampling.