Hotels roll Old Delhi flavours

Delhi’s luxury hotels and new cafés spent this weekend selling memory as much as dinner, with Old Delhi recipes, specialty chocolate, and Northeast tasting menus sharing the same stage. (hospitalitynews.in) At Eros Hotel New Delhi in Nehru Place, the “Delhi ki Deheliz” food festival ran at Singh Sahib through April 19, serving a menu built around Old Delhi’s culinary legacy. A hospitality trade report said the promotion framed the meal as a curated heritage dining experience rather than a routine seasonal buffet. (hospitalitynews.in) That push fits Eros Hotel’s recent pattern. The same property has hosted Delhi-focused and regional Indian food events over the past year, including “Dilli Ka Aangan” in June 2025, “Pind Da Swad” in September 2025, and a kebab-and-korma promotion reported this month. (hospitalitynews.in, hospitalitynews.in, hospitalitynews.in) Across Delhi-National Capital Region, newer operators are making a different bet: not nostalgia alone, but format. Savorworks opened a Gurugram outlet in late March that combines retail, dining and an evening bar, with more than 70 coffee, chocolate, food and beverage options under one roof. (bwretailworld.com, restaurantindia.in) Savorworks was founded by Baninder Singh, a Specialty Coffee Association-certified roaster, and Paweena Withyasathien Kochar, a chocolatier. Trade reports said the Gurugram space shifts from a standard café model to a day-to-night setup built around specialty coffee, bean-to-bar chocolate and cocktails. (indianretailer.com, bwretailworld.com) Project Otenga, profiled by ThePrint on April 18, is pushing the format even further by calling itself a food studio instead of a restaurant. The report said the Delhi venture combines Northeast-inspired fine dining with “eating design” and mental-health programming. (theprint.in) Otenga’s own site describes the business as a specialty restaurant with Northeast inspiration that also hosts multidisciplinary collaborations. A separate design-studio site says the project works on concept dining experiences, design research and workshops, extending the brand beyond the table. (projectotenga.com, otengadesigns.com) Put together, the three openings and promotions show Delhi-National Capital Region dining moving on two tracks at once in April 2026. Big hotels are packaging regional memory into limited-run menus, while independent brands are turning cafés and dining rooms into retail spaces, bars, studios and event platforms. (hospitalitynews.in, bwretailworld.com, theprint.in) For diners, that means the same weekend could offer a plated version of Old Delhi at a five-star hotel, a retail-café-bar in Gurugram, or a Northeast tasting menu pitched as a studio experience. In Delhi-National Capital Region right now, the menu is increasingly also the concept. (hospitalitynews.in, restaurantindia.in, theprint.in)