'Unplugged Courtyard' in Connaught Place used to be a place where music collected, with people gathering in the bar’s said courtyard, to listen to an unplugged concert by some of the country’s leading indie bands.
Post Covid, the Courtyard has finally opened, and while there are no live gigs as of now, people are still collecting at the space. Taking a leaf from their book, we visited to see what one of CP’s mainstays is swaying to.
The restaurant, while having to stick to the 50 per cent limit, is managing quite nicely. Servers flutter between seating booths and tables to ensure there’s the government-sanctioned gap between patrons.
We started with the Laal Maas Lakhori Seekh, an iteration of the good old Seekh Kebab with the spices of the desert state. To wash it down we had one of the bartender’s recommendations; the Beerlicious is a muddling of Vodka, Kala Khatta, Chaat Masala, and a light beer (Kingfisher Ultra). While the spices are redolent in the soft kebab, the sweet cocktail helps wash it all down.
Now floating, we encounter the Amritsari Fish Tikka, served with fries and an incongruous tartar sauce. Despite its pakoda protection, the tikka itself is ephemeral cloudy medley of fish and spices, so sweet that it doesn’t mind splashing through a tartar rather than its hari chutney leanings.
Accompanying the tikkas is the bar’s version of a South Side Fizz, comprising gin, lime, sugar and club soda, and apparently it’s all smooth down under.
The fresh fish tikkas and the sprightly cocktail usher us towards the big act.
For the mains, we stick to the mix pie of the Courtyard’s pizza offerings. The thin crust pizza, comprising a mix of Peri Peri Chicken and BBQ Chicken as well as the Veggie Paradise, slide down geometrically.
Our favourite is the smoky BBQ chicken, slathered over with cheese and caramelised onions, but the Peri Peri packs its own veritable punch.
The restaurant doesn’t help by adding dishes like Teekha Meetha Chicken Wings, smoked and cooked in a hearth to desiccated softness, to our final menu. We are too full to sing karaoke, but given the current state of things that’s okay.