Saturday, 21 March 2015

Review of Lodi At Home by Aalok Wadhwa

Reaching its customers at Home and Office
Reviewer: Aalok Wadhwa | 14th March 2015 | Reviewer Rating (Out of 5) 3.88

Lodi restaurant situated right inside Lodi gardens now delivers gourmet delicacies to homes and offices. An array of dishes on the menu will include a mix variety of salads, chargrills, soups, appetizers, platters, pastas, rolls & wraps, desserts.  When Rushali Khandelwal, the PR Manager of the restaurant gets in touch with me and offers to deliver food to my office to taste, more than me my colleagues are excited.
The order is meant for delivery before 1 PM but it arrives a few minutes after the appointed time, getting me dirty looks from my famished colleagues in the meanwhile. But when the earthy coloured boxes arrive, all is forgotten in the excitement. The packaging is truly elaborate and impressive, and can easily be called the best in the industry. Each box has been designed meticulously in a way that it ensures that the food doesn’t get soggy during transit.

  
                                       Packed boxes and inside the box

I try each of the dishes, first as it has been delivered, and then after heating it in the office microwave. The summer greens, fresh tomatoes, pear, sun­flower seeds and  goat cheese salad with extra virgin olive oil & honey dressing (Rs 425) needs no heating. It is refreshing and pleasant. The other dishes, however suffer because they arrive lukewarm.


                                     Summer greens

Prawns marinated in mustard, lime & fresh dill with garlic aioli (Rs 625) tasted so much better when they are reheated. The vegetarian mezze  falafel and cheese fatayer with hummus, tzatziki  babaganoush, tabouleh, pita & homemade pickles (Rs 695) tastes good without reheating but mutton apricot & pine nut dumplings glazed with tamarind sauce (Rs 465) tastes rock hard when it is lukewarm, and is transformed into a delicious bite when reheated.

 
        Prawns and Mutton dumplings                     Veg Mezze Platter

Spiced cheddar & bacon quesadilla with salsa & sour cream (Rs 565) was good as it is but needed some heating for its true taste which is most comforting.


                              Mushrooms, Quesedilla

Two items that are not amenable to delivery are house pumpkin ravioli in burnt butter & sage or house basil pesto (Rs 595) which goes too dry and hard while being delivered, and assorted mushrooms sautéed in white wine, lime & extra virgin olive oil (Rs 395) which lose out too much moisture during transit, making them leathery.


                                      Pumpkin Ravioli

The dessert of almond bread pudding with warm toffee sauce & fig ice cream (Rs 395) does not have a warm toffee sauce, but is quite delicious nevertheless.

 
        Almond bread pudding with warm toffee sauce and Fig Icecream

Lodi Restaurant has started a great service that can be a big boon to offices and residents of south and central Delhi who are looking for posh gourmet home deliveries. The only challenge for them is to get their customers to have hotter food. This can be done by looking at more insulated packaging or even providing food in microwavable containers.readmore

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