Tapas Please

(Audrey) When we saw the leg, we knew it would be a good night…

The location: Tapas Lounge in Aman Hotel, Lodhi Road, Delhi. The occasion: fun and relaxation, seeing if a Delhi hotel can actually pull off real Spanish tapas. The result: excellent.

The Aman Hotel in Delhi is quite new, still under a year old, and is one of the cooler hotels I’ve seen in India to date. It’s not in-your-face extravagant with murals, highly costumed employees, and other such “Indian” touches, like so many of the 5-star hotels here. In contrast, when you pull into the Aman hotel (at least at night) all you see is dimly lit stone. The one nod that we’re in India is a large stone elephant—

Note the dude lighting the candles—he was the candle/flower man who went around in a consistent loop it seemed relighting blown out candles and refreshing the orange flowers that were everywhere. Once you walk inside, there’s no obvious lobby but rather a series of stone-columned walkways that lead into different areas of the hotel. The staff wear simple kurtas and button-up shirts. It’s a hotel aimed at a younger, sleeker, more minimal-while-still-being-ostentatious generation. The entrance to the Tapas Lounge—

I didn’t get any good shots of the restaurant itself, but trust me that’s it’s pretty swank—3 stories that go from fancy to more bar-style as you descend. We ate in the basement at a little table tucked away, and the food was divine. Spanish wine by the glass, authentic cuisine, and reasonably priced (tapas 3-10 bucks per plate). The first thing we ordered, of course, was “whatever you’re making from the leg at the bar.” The waiter smiled, and 8 dishes, wine, beer, plus dessert and sherry later, we were satisfied—

I’m beginning to think that Delhi really is a world class city.

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Tags: Aman Hotel, Delhi, India, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, restaurant, Spanish cuisine, Tapas, Tapas bar, Tapas Lounge