Angad and I visited 1440, the 90 cover, 24 hour dining facility at Hotel Vikram in Lajpat Nagar and had quite a nice time. The indoor and outdoor seating couldn’t have been more different. While the outdoor was Mediterranean-ish with wood, plaster, concrete and plants coming together quite nicely with some great Hookahs, the indoor was from another world; BollyWood! Blue lighting and massive pillars made me look for two shady villains with toothy smirks in a corner exchanging briefcases stuffed with money, a Hero peeking at them with an obviously fake beard and large mole and finally, a Heroine disguised as a singer crooning on the stage with her eyes darting around frantically. None of these were actually present, but I’m sure they’d have loved to be there. Nostalgic rather than shady BTW.
We loved the simple menu 1440, presented in the midst of frantic efforts by everyone else, trying to make the most mundane dishes sound haute. There were a few bloopers, but these were forgiven soon after the rest of the food arrived. Let’s get the bloopers out of the way first; Hummus with Pita Bread (200) and Meatballs in BBQ Sauce (250). The hummus wasn’t right and the barbecue sauce wasn’t what I’d call a BBQ sauce. Angad felt some of the aesthetics of the Tequila Sunrise we were served needed improvement and it could have done with more kick.
Here’s where the fun began. The Chili Garlic Lotus Stem (200) were crisp and tasty and so were the Tandoori Mushrooms (200), stuffed with spiced paneer. The Mutton Seekh Kebabs (250) were unremarkable. Our main courses saw us trying the Indian Chinese section and other Indian food. Chicken in Hot Bean Sauce (300) with Vegetables noodles (175); The chicken was fine, but the noodles were another story. Classic Indian Chinese style with a faint aroma of burnt onions, a wee bit oily and redolent of all the aromas and textures one associates with old style ‘Chinese’ noodles, both Angad and I loved the dish. Perhaps I don’t have many words for the chicken as the noodles completely overshadowed it.
We went on to Mutton Chop (300); a typical Punjabi mutton curry gravy with mutton ribs within, that could have been softer, a nice Dal Makhani (200) and… Goan Fish Curry (350)! This fish curry had clearly never seen Goa, ever, and so was quite down the charts as a Goan fish curry. As a fish dish however, it left us wanting more. The fish was cooked right, the gravy mildly spiced, not too rich with very apt overtones of ginger. We tried it with rice, rotis and even saved a little for the end of the meal. Regardless of the name, you must try the Goan Fish Curry when you visit 1440 next. Apple Crumble (225) was our dessert; perfectly balanced sweet, hot apples with crumble served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
1440 at the Vikram Hotel is 24 hours as I’ve mentioned earlier, has a night menu and is very conveniently located bang opposite the Moolchand Metro Station; quite apt for late night weekend meals just before crashing for the rest of Sunday. The downside here is that we tried ordering a late night meal from Hotel Vikram and were sorely disappointed with the results.
During normal operating hours however, we liked the service and food and definitely recommend a visit to check out the menu, within which you may just find a few buried treasures.
PS: The hookahs were created by Sameer Khullar of The Smoke Seller, who specialises in this fairly arcane field.
