Delhi Has a Gem of a Place with Nariyal Cafe in Adchini

Located in the buzzing Adchini Market, Nariyal Café is a little hard to find because it isn’t on the main road, and there’s no board on the main road leading you to it. So just go and stand bang opposite the NCERT office, and enter through where you find a board for Waves. In the far end you will see a small board saying Nariyal Café- walk three floors up and you’ll see yourself in a beautiful setting of a restaurant, with boat rowers used in the ceiling for décor, sofa seating and tables lined up, white interiors with hints of blue to signify water, and waiters adorning uniforms completely in sync with the theme. Opened few weeks ago, Nariyal Café is yet to get their liquor license, but that in no way means you should postpone or delay your visit to this gem of a place!

Ambience and all is fine, but why do you go out for a meal? For a ‘meal’! So while a place ticks all other boxes, it’s a bonus, but the food when takes your experience to a whole new level is when you know the kitchen is the king here, and that’s how it should be. The menu is very exhaustive, and the cuisine served here is coastal. Everything on the menu contains coconut in some form, hence the name Nariyal Café. They have South Indian dishes that are the usual ones, and they have a lot of food that’s fusion. To give you an idea, burgers and pastas with South Indian flavours. It may sound weird to you, but believe me, it tastes absolutely smashing! Alongwith the regular menu, they also have a one-page menu that offers the specials (for people who don’t like to rack their brains and decide what to order from 100 dishes, can choose from this).

I started my meal here by ordering two flavoured nariyal pani- Mango and Peach, and Strawberry. Both were brilliant in taste, very refreshing and not overly sweet. Also, the coconuts had a lot of water in it! The best thing about these coconuts, which is a superb photo-op for the restaurant, their promotions and creating a buzz, is your name engraved on the nariyal paani you order. How cool is that? And how creative can a place get? Setting the bar very high with their creativity quotient.

Ordered for a Goan Prawn Curry Slider, which came with a generous stuffing of small prawns tossed in a thick spicy curry, with lettuce, onion and tomato, all this enveloped in super soft buns. The sliders came complete with a dipping sauce on the side and a generous helping of peri-peri fries with pickled spicy onion rings. The prawns in the slider were cooked so well, and the quantity just filled my heart with joy! A must order item here.

Had heard a lot about the Mutton Sukka Spaghetti and even our server suggested us to go with it, so we ordered that. Came in a coconut, sitting so perfectly with a piece of mutton on top. This was spicier than the sliders but so so so good in taste! Almost addictive. A lot of pepper, curry leaves and spices dominated the flavor profile here, and it had me completely hooked to it. Spaghetti laced with a thick delicious mutton sukka, with minced mutton and chunks of mutton alike, very soft in texture. Even for this one I’d say it’s a must order. 

These two dishes were more than enough to stuff us up (a friend and I), but being the overexcited kinds that we are, we just had to try another dish. So we went with a basic one this time- Chicken Chettinad Biryani, excusing ourselves from the fusion. Did the biryani impress us or did it impress us? Fragrantic to another extent, so full of flavour, such beautifully cooked rice, infused with Chettinad flavours and chunks of chicken, and comes with salan on the side. Loved the biryani! Came sealed with atta, inside a coconut. The server comes to your table and opens the biryani for you, so you have yet another Instagram moment here!

Nariyal Café has everything going right for them. From the concept to the restaurant to the décor, the food, the staff, the service, everything is spot on! They’re executing fusion food right to the T, and not even charging you a bomb for it. The flavours of the food are mind-blowing and I really loved everything I ordered. For 2 nariyal paani and the three dishes mention above, my total bill only came up to 1450 all inclusive. Real value for money! Can’t wait to go back and try more of their dishes, especially the desserts this time.

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