Lot to like about Lota

The Crafts Museum (Bhairon Marg adjacent to Pragati Maidan), New Delhi is a hidden gem. Sorry, make that was a hidden gem, as now the whole world and its extended family seem to be making a beeline for it, thanks to its new outdoor restaurant, Café Lota. Well, it’s not exactly new, having been launched in October last year. Lota, as all Indians know means a rotund pot with a small neck and a wide lipped mouth.  In the past the lota was a much used utensil in Indian households (I use a stainless steel one for churning lassi with a wooden churner).  Lota also has other associations, let’s say it has something to do with ablutions and leave it at that!

Coming back to the hidden gem (alas now no more so), the Crafts Museum was one place I frequented – it houses the best of Indian crafts and art at quite reasonable prices. It also has, almost the year round, craftsmen from all over the country making and selling their wares in the outdoor stalls at its huge compound. Then there are those interesting nooks and crannies that attempt to present to the world a little glimpse of India, particularly the huts and houses of the past. It helped that the museum was close to my old office, making it a convenient place to hang out and buy interesting knick-knacks. The only thing that was a minus point then was the lack of an eatery, one couldn’t even get water.  We were told that at one time it had a canteen. So the only option was to go to the chai dukan ( a tiny open affair) on the left side of the entry gate and down over sweetened burnt milky tea and eat fan! For the uninitiated, fan is the poor man’s pastry. It has no fillings, just layers of crunchy pastry that crumble and you end up having more on your body than inside you. Besides, one had to share the fan with the street dogs milling around looking at you with Oliver Twist eyes. One just hoped that someday the museum would have a decent eatery. Well Rajesh Ojha (of the Banjara Camps adventure holiday fame) and his partners have done the good deed and how!

Lota started with a luncheon menu, which went on to include dinner and now recently they added a breakfast menu too. And it’s the menu that is inviting increasing happy diners every day. Sure the structure and ambiance is beautiful with open air seating, bamboo roof and everything natural and indigenous. Every table has its little jars of pickles and such, including a tangy fresh coriander chutney. But what really is the magnet of Lota is the menu, which showcases regional cuisine with a modern twist. When I say modern twist I don’t mean fancy tweaking or making it bland to suit western palate. Maybe a food reviewer would say regional cuisine presented in a contemporary way without losing the inherent taste, texture and way of cooking. I guess it could best be said that the menu goes back to the rich Indian food roots particularly in its usage of traditional Indian ingredients like ragi, millet, red rice, filter coffee sourced from coffee plantations in the south, the wide variety of teas etc.

We were there the day the breakfast menu was launched and for a debut menu, one must acknowledge that almost all tables were occupied – the Café has certainly managed to build up a bank of faithful clients. The menu is not vast and all the better for it. Each dish is priced Rs 175 and the bread and sides come at an extra Rs 50 each. We go over and over the menu because we want to try it all and there is some confusion as to would order what so that we could have a bite of it all. How do you decide between homemade amaranth oats muesli and ragi banana pancakes? Or between  the Café Lota bread basket ( all freshly baked- spinach pao, Ladhaki and ragi sesame bread with organic preserves and white butter) and kanda batata poha? Or between the railway masala omlete and dal ka chilla? Should it be Bombay egg bhurji  or mushroom uttapam? Hmm! Maybe sabudana popcorn, hari mirch thecha or keema paratha?  The mini rava idlis, a dozen mini idlis with moldapodi (read gunpowder) and curry leaves served with coconut chutney sounds equally inviting and so does the breakfast appam with egg. Thankfully more friends drop in to join and very soon we have every item from the menu arriving with regularity. Had them all, had some more and loved them all. I have to admit that I am not exactly a health food freak and have reservations about the totally organic, no oil blah blah food. Lota has managed to strike the right balance between taste and wholesomeness without giving in any quarters on either front. Tricky task, but well executed. The best commendation came from the daughter, a fussy eater if ever, who had every bit of everything on her plate including the ragi banana pancake which when she had first ordered had me a little uncomfortable expecting her usual razor sharp biting comments! 

The bread basket- minus the Ladhaki bread (nothing left to click)

Breakfast appam with egg

Ragi Banana Pancake

I am just waiting for winters to arrive- then its going to a lot of Lota, maybe an entire Sunday from breakfast onward and short trips to the museum and above all, gorging on its bhapa doi cheesecake and apple cinnamon jalebi. Slurp!

(Monday is the official weekly holiday for the museum and Lota)