On the Edge of Delhi, a Dynamic Cultural Scene Takes Shape

Window-shopping and tandoori portobello

I was looking for lunch, having already breakfasted on a Paris-worthy croissant and coffee at Miam Patisserie down the street, but here I found Lado Sarai’s great weakness: no grazing, because there are few restaurants. “We have a dozen of the best galleries in Asia, but only a French patisserie to feed us,” Ms. Kakar said.

Outstanding food was only a 15-minute walk away on the Kalka Das Marg, which circles the base of the Minar, called the “Style Mile” by Indian cognoscenti. As with many spots in Delhi, one needs to scratch the surface to find the shiny things, and at first glance the Kalka Das Marg seems to be a charmless street. But then, wandering down alleys between grubby buildings, you emerge in a modern courtyard lined with remarkable shops and restaurants. Down one such byway, I discovered the whitewashed Cubist pavilions of the Ambawatta One complex, where I gaped at the high-end fashion stores, cafes and galleries that struck me as the Delhi version of Rodeo Drive. Unlike Mumbai, which only has a single tropical season, Delhi has multiple seasons and hence a broader diversity of high fashion peeking out of the windows of its shops, whose designers, such as Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar and Tarun Tahiliani, are as familiar to Delhi’s high fashionistas as Michael Kors, Tory Burch or Diane von Furstenberg are to New York’s.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/travel/delhi-neighborhoods-art-bars.html