One of Mumbai’s best-known and best-loved restaurants is Indigo. I’ve been to Mumbai only a couple of times, but on my last visit to the city, two friends took me out to dinner to Indigo. The food was fabulous, and I wished Indigo would come to Delhi too.

Wishes do come true. Indigo Deli opened earlier this month in a Delhi mall which is swiftly becoming a good place to go for a meal, what with Yauatcha and Sakae Sushi too in the same building. Indigo Deli sits on the topmost floor of Ambience Mall, opposite Punjabi by Nature. The deli is very stylishly designed, all ochre walls, bronze-coloured spherical metallic lampshades, wood-panelled walls, and   a fuss-free but chic air about it. At one end is the bar counter; arranged along the glass panes looking out into the corridor outside are shelves with homemade jams, marmalades, teas, etc, all of them for sale.

Inside Indigo Deli.

Our decision to lunch at Indigo Deli was very spur of the moment. We were in Ambience Mall, it was past 3 PM, we were very hungry, and we were looking for a place to eat. It was then that we noticed Indigo Deli and decided that was where we were going to have lunch.

Inside Indigo Deli.

It says a lot for the restaurant that even so late (for lunch), and on a weekday—this was Friday—nearly all the tables at Indigo Deli were occupied. We were seated immediately, and given menus to peruse. The menu at Indigo Deli covers a range of salads, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, and all-day breakfast dishes. Lots of items sounded very tempting, but we finally settled on a main course each, skipping any starters. My husband ordered the BBQ pork ribs and I ordered the Philly steak sandwich. For drinks, the hubby chose his standard favourite—fresh lime soda, salted and sweet—while I decided to be a bit more adventurous and opted for a golden apple and cinnamon slush (they have other flavours too, all of which are also available as smoothies).

While we waited for our food to arrive, our waiter brought us two small trays of condiments (ketchup, a nice coarse ground mustard, mixed dried herbs) and a little bowl of butter. A basket of crudely sliced crusty bread—which tasted better than it looked, with a hint of cumin seeds— was also given. On the heels of the bread came our drinks. My golden apple and cinnamon slush was lovely, beautifully fruity and cinnamony: definitely one of the nicest soft drinks I’ve had in a long time. It looked pretty, too, a tall glass of peachy-golden half-frozen drink, flecked with tiny specks of red and brown, topped off with a perky little sprig of fresh mint. Perfect.

At Indigo Deli: a golden apple and cinnamon slush.

Our main course arrived after about ten minutes. My Philly steak sandwich came in a small baguette, the filling of shredded beef, jalapeños, barbecue sauce, and grated cheese. I am not a fan of highly-flavoured sandwich fillings, but this came as a pleasant surprise: it was well-seasoned and well-spiced, but not too much. On the side were three large wedges of potato, and a small helping of dressed salad leaves. All good.

The Philly steak sandwich at Indigo Deli, served with salad and potato wedges.

Another view of the Philly steak sandwich.

My husband’s plate of BBQ pork ribs came with a wedge of fried corn bread. I didn’t taste the corn bread, but was given a generous portion of the ribs (in return for half of my sandwich). We are both pork rib aficionados, and have eaten a range of ribs, cooked many ways—from barbecue to Oriental to North East Indian. And both of us agreed that these were among the best ribs we’d ever had: the barbecue sauce perfectly spiced (with a lovely sprinkle of what seemed like fennel seeds), and the ribs superbly cooked: fork tender, succulent, and with just the right proportion of fat and meat.

BBQ pork ribs at Indigo Deli, served with a side of corn bread.

By the time he finished his main course, my husband was feeling too full to even think of dessert. I have too much of a sweet tooth to give dessert a miss, however, and since I wasn’t that full anyway, I had a look at the desserts page of the menu. Indigo Deli has a variety of desserts, ranging from cheesecakes to apple pie, to a delectable-sounding flourless chocolate and orange cake with an orange sorbet. They also offer a range of homemade ice creams. I decided on a sour cherry and white chocolate ice cream, and my husband, following my lead, gave in to temptation too and ordered a salted pecan ice cream.

Two flavours of ice cream: sour cherry and white chocolate, and salted pecan.

The ice creams—a scoop each—arrived in cute little stemmed glasses a few minutes later. My husband, tasting my sour cherry and white chocolate ice cream, remarked that his palate was obviously not sophisticated enough to identify subtle flavours. “I’d have thought this was vanilla,” he said. I have perhaps a better ability to identify flavours (or was more easily convinced), so could tell that there was a sweetish-sour-fruity element in the ice cream, but I’d have been hard pressed to identify it as sour cherry. The white chocolate, too, was really rather more vanilla-ey than anything else.

Far, far more impressive was the salted pecan ice cream. This was, to put it mildly, heavenly. There was a generous helping of toasted pecans all through the ice cream, and the base flavour of the ice cream itself—salted caramel—was exquisite. One teaspoonful of this, and I was wishing I’d ordered it too.

Our bill at Indigo Deli was Rs 2,737, all taxes and service charges included. Steep, but worth it, was our verdict. Barring the somewhat lacklustre sour cherry and white chocolate ice cream, the food was all good, the staff efficient and attentive, and the ambience good. Definitely recommended.

Indigo Deli
T-304, 3rd Floor
Ambience Mall
Nelson Mandela Marg
Vasant Kunj
New Delhi
Tel: 011-40870100, 011-40870101