Cafe Lota

There are some ideas that seem like a no-brainer – once someone has thought of them. Sitting at a table at the New Delhi National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy’s new outdoor restaurant, Café Lota, which soon fills up with what appear to be silver-haired doyennes of Indian arts and letters and ambitious design school graduates, we couldn’t help but wonder: Why wasn’t this here before?

The Ministry of Textiles, which runs the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, claims to have had a north Indian food cafeteria at the decades-old institution, which we must admit, we cannot recall at all. But the new spot, which offers contemporary versions of several regional Indian dishes, paired with a wide variety of grains, such as red rice and millet, seems much more in keeping with the museum’s back-to-the-roots ethos.

We can’t pretend to be the first to discover this spot. It opened in October and folks who have paid a visit have praised its version of fish and chips, amaranth-encrusted batter-fried sole with sweet potato fries.

What we liked about the food was that there are many options that seem – amazingly – pretty healthy. What we liked about the setting was everything, including the terra-cotta horse, the passing groups of visiting school children and the All India Radio broadcasts of classical music — so retro.

OPENING HOURS

8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, All Days Open

For Reservation call +91 7838960787

Menu

Read full menu here

Gallery

Café Lota Reviews

• TripAdvisor — http://www.tripadvisor.in/Restaurant_Review-g304551-d5001898-Reviews-Cafe_Lota-New_Delhi_National_Capital_Territory_of_Delhi.html#REVIEWS
• A Mad Tea Party — http://madteaparty.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/cafe-lota-at-the-national-crafts-museum/
• Time Out Delhi — http://www.timeoutdelhi.net/restaurants-caf%C3%A9s/reviews/review-cafe-lota
• The Hindu — http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Food/the-abode-of-foods/article5231472.ece
• Sound Tree Magazine — http://soundtreemagazine.com/venue/organic-is-the-new-delicious-with-cafe-lota/
• SoDelhi — http://www.sodelhi.com/casual-dining/8476-cafe-lota-restaurant-pragati-maidan-new-delhi