Mincepie

We will be in Delhi for New Year's Eve. Any suggestions for a restaurant? We will not have jacket and tie for husband. Price does not matter too much....could be very reasonable or fairly expensive. Thanks all.

agtoau

My recommendation: choose a restaurant in one of the 5-star hotels: Imperial, The Oberoi, Taj Mahal, Le Meridien, Hyatt Regency or Maurya Sheraton. Book in advance if possible.

Craig

Your husband does not need a jacket/tie for restaurants in Delhi. Bukhara in the Maurya Sheraton or Corbett's in the Claridges are good options if you like northern Indian cuisine.

Cicerone

Where are you staying? Do you want Indian food or something else?

hobbes

New years eve at a hotel restaurant is likely to be BIG bucks compared to what u would pay on non new years at the same place. Know u said price is irrelevant but I'd still keep that in mind. Else, u could also choose a non hotel restaurant. As Cicerone said, advise cuisine and area for us to give better ideas. U definitely need to book in advance.

Mincepie

We are staying at the Marriott. As far as cuisine goes....probably Indian. About how much will we have to pay for a good meal? Maybe I should not have said that expense does not matter!!!

Craig

Dinner at a place like Bukhara is not that expensive - maybe $15 for a meat entree. If you avoid wine (beer is much better with Indian food anyway), you will probably spend about $50 for two people including service and tax. If you have wine (and they will encourage you to do so) the bill will be much higher.

agtoau

My hunch is that all the 5-star deluxe hotels will offer a New Year's Eve package which will almost surely consist of a buffet dinner, wine, champagne at midnight etc. Even after accounting for special pricing I don't think it will come to more than $40-$50 per head max.

hobbes

I think Agtoau's estimate is probably a little on the low side for the 31st at a very popular place like Bukhara, the restaurants in the Imperial, etc but probably OK for a restaurant in the less popular hotels. Other stand alone restaurants like Olive at Mehrauli or Laidback Waters at the Qutub are quite near the Marriott and likely to be lively and fun on the 31st as Delhi party goers will be there too but u may have already left it late for a booking - check up. This website has updated Delhi restaurant info : http://www.bradmans.com/asia/restaurants.html?c_id=20

agtoau

I defer to hobbes on the prices. I was extrapolating to Delhi based on Goa pricing.

Cicerone

The Marriott is not far from Hauz Khas Village area, which is sort of like the Soho of Delhi, so you might look for restaurant in that area like Olive (see info for Olive, below). A restaurant I can recco there for Hyderabad food (esp Bryani) is:

Top of the Village Bistro
12 Hauz Khas Village
Tel : 91-11-2685-3857

This is on the top floor and has some outdoor seating with charcoal braziers for heat in winter, with a view over the park, a very nice ambience and good food. Casual and not very expensive.

I absolutely love Bukhara, but I think it is too casual for New Year's Eve, unless you can get a table outside poolside with one of their charcoal braziers for a heater, very romantic I think (you bring a shawl as well if it is really cool). Inside Bukhara is just too orange and timber with those barrel seats, frankly the decor reminds me of the set of The Flintstones movie....the food is excellent, so you should go there but not necessarily on New Year's Eve.

I think a better choice in the Sheraton that is a bit more upscale and also has excellent Indian food would be Dumpukth. It is a different dining experience than Bukhara. The food is from the Oudh area around Lucknow, and is much more light and delicate than the Indian food you may be used to. It is slow cooked by steam over several hours in sealed pots.

The address for both restaurants is:

ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton Hotel & Towers
Diplomatic Enclave , Sadar Patel Marg
New Delhi
Phone (91) (11) 2611 2233
Fax (91) (11) 2611 3333
Starwood.com

The Indian restaurant in the Hilton Trident Gurgaon is very good and has a nice modern ambience, and the hotel itself is absolutely beautiful, esp at night when lit by the torches and the lamps (the pool area is worth a stop to look) perhaps they are doing something at midnight in one of their courtyards or the pool courtyard, that would be worth while:

Trident Hilton Gurgaon
443 Udyog Vihar
Phase V, Gurgaon
Tel: +91-124-245 0505
Fax: +91-124-245 0606

The Indian restaurant in the Taj Mahal Hotel (one of two or the Taj properties in Delhi so make sure it is the Taj Mahal ) is also good, has a nice ambience, and usually has live sitar music, they might also be having special dinners.

Haveli Restaurant
Taj Mahal Hotel
1 Mansingh Rd.
Delhi
Phone: 11/302-6162
Fax: (91-11) 23026070
tajhotels.com

I certainly second the Olive recco, although it is Italian/Med not Indian, but is in a lovely old courtyard home and they have excellent food:

Olive
6-8, Qutub Haveli
Sarai Kalkadass Marg
New Delhi, 110030
Phone: +91 11 2664 2552

I agree that whatever you do, you should contact the restaurants now about bookings. Send them an e-mail or fax. Check the Sheraton website to see if they have info on whether "gala" New Year's Eve dinners are being offered at any of the restaurants. As with Hobbes and Agtau, I suspect that they are and that they will relatively expensive. I celebrated New Year's Eve in 2000 in Agra and also found that all hotels were running special dinners and regular dining options weren't available. While we did not have to make a booking in advance, that was Agra not Delhi, so you may want to do so, esp if you want to go to a non-hotel restaurant.

I don't know what traffic will be like on NY Eve so don't know how far you want to venture from the hotel. I would suggest booking a car for the return trip rather than trying to get a taxi after midnight on NY's Eve, they will probably be hard to get.

lcuy

When I was at the Imperial last week, they had a schedule up for their NYE festivities. I forget the details, but it looked like a lot of fun. I would go for dinner at the Spice Route there.

The nice thing at the Imperial is that there will be things going on in several places and you can wander around celebrating and people watching.

Mincepie

Thank you all very much for your detailed information. I appreciate it.

Lindsey

Cicerone,

We will be in Agra for NYE this year, staying at the Mughal Sheraton. The gala dinner is mandatory, with the following options:

A) Taj Bano: Gala dinner with DJ and live band( Western)
OR
B) Bagh-e-Bahar: Indian Ghazal singing with dance( Indian)

We've been told the dress is smart casual and we can decide which of these options we prefer on arrival there.

Any comments or suggestions on which to choose?

Also, what times of day did you view the Taj on that trip?
Based on advice that it looks different at various times of day, we were planning to see it in the late afternoon/early evening of NYE and then again at dawn the next morning. Is it more or less crowded than usual at either of these times?

k_of_torts

Watching Taj in late afternoon on 31st is good, and there would be only considerable rush... but prefer to go around 2 pm, so that you can enjoy the warm sun...

However, on Sunday,you will find long lines and too much rush, as a lot of people from Delhi and neighboring areas will flock to see the wonder. You can plan a trip to Fatehpur Sikri on that day,, worth visiting, but will consume around 4 hours of your time.