Chicken Tikka Khakra & Vada Bao: You Must Visit This Funky Desi Restaurant Pronto

If you love quirky restaurants with vibrant pop art and delicious Indian food with a twist, cancel all other plans and head straight to Desi Di in Ayanavaram.

If restaurants had personalities, I’d want to be BFFs with Desi Di. This place is colourfully loud and fun. Oh, and also is perfect for pictures. As you enter the place you realise it’s done up to remind you of a time gone by especially if you’re an 80s or 90s kid.

Walk by vintage telephones, glass jars with orange candies, colourful kaleidoscopes on the table, and coasters that look like floppy disks. Each room at the restaurant has a different theme and colour. One wall has an entire row of actual daabas {tiffin boxes} fitted all over, another has a painting of princess checking her phone {so relatable}. There’s a couple of cabanas indoors under which you can dine and some rooms have community tables for family get-togethers or kitty parties There’s even a small, lovely corner near the entrance with a library that houses copies of Tinkle Digest and cookbooks.

Get ready for an explosive dose of flavours. We start off with the Lemon Barley Shikanji which is citrusy and refreshing. It’s a bit viscous because of the barley so there’s a really interesting texture with every sip. The Hibiscus Iced tea, which comes in a very long beaker, has a subtle cooling flavour and a hint of lemon and crushed Hibiscus petals.

The Mutton Bohri Samosa is so good {meaty and crunchy} and vegetarians can opt for the Mirchi Pakoda. We couldn’t keep our hands off the Chicken Tikka Khakra topped with onions and a creamy green ridge gourd chutney. The Vada Bao with either succulents bits of beef {for carnivores} or potato {for vegetarians} were both scrumptious. And these are just the appetisers. We had Nargasi Quail Egg Makhani Curry with Rice which was quite yum, but we were still dreaming about the appetisers…. until dessert that is. There’s Gajar Ka Halwa Samosa with green candy floss which we loved. There’s also Gulab Jamun cheesecake which ended up being quite filling.

The most popular dish here is the Country Matka Chicken which needs to be ordered a day in advance. It  costs about INR 1,599 and can be shared between four people. Expect the friendly, chatty chef Aaron Coutinho, to drop by and actually crack open the pot to reveal the cooked country chicken inside. Quite an experience, we think.

It’s a little further away from the central parts of the city, but if you’re that side of town or don’t mind the drive, this place is worth coming back to again and again. They even have a dish called Black Chicken! Know more about it here.