Delhi: The Final Chapter

Hi folks! Maeve here to carry you through our final few days in India. 

Right after the Taj Mahal we rejoined our beloved drivers to make the 4 hour journey from Agra to Delhi. Upon arrival, we were delighted to find that our accommodations took the form of a large, clean, comfortable 3 bed 3 bath apartment. We even had a living room with a TV and enough couch space for all of us. 

After settling in and taking some much needed hot showers, we popped over to our local McDonalds for a meal that Dan had been waiting for for weeks. As a McDonalds connoisseur (see my grad photo below for my qualifications), here is my official review of my Indian McDonalds meal:

McCrispy Chicken: Boring, but safe.

6/10

Spicy McPaneer: Soggy, spicy yet bland.

4/10

Fries: Cold, soggy, undersalted, but still fries.

5/10

Drinks: No diet coke on the menu (luckily I had stocked up earlier in the day).

0/10

Bellies full, we decided to take advantage of our apartment amenities to do a Christmas movie night. We watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and The Santa Clause, both of which thoroughly confused and disturbed Caley.

The next morning we opened our eyes and (obviously) headed straight back to McDonalds for breakfast. I had the hotcakes. They were fine. 6/10.

Then the group split up for the afternoon. Caley went to meet some friends who live in Delhi (where she had her “best meal of the trip,” you’ll have to ask her about it), Dan, Tara and Chloe relaxed at the apartment, and Spencer and I went to the National Rail museum. Despite the absolute downpour the National Rail Museum was excellent! 10/10 rating no notes from me.

We reconvened that night at the Ambiance Mall for dinner and a movie. This mall has EVERYTHING from FabIndia (Ajay’s favourite store) to Cinnabon to a lego Taj Mahal. After weighing our (plentiful) dinner options, Spencer and I enjoyed some peri peri chicken at Nando’s while the rest of the group enjoyed the fresh guac at Chilli’s. Then we went to see the Wicked movie. I thought it was pretty good! 8/10. Chloe’s favourite song of the movie was “chocolate foil”. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which one that is. 

The next day was our final full day in India. After way too many McDonalds visits we figured that we should culture ourselves so we made our way over to the National Art Gallery. It was nice! 

After the art gallery we grabbed a quick Italian lunch (which did not impress Dan, our resident Italian) and hopped on the Delhi Metro to visit the Lotus Temple in honour of our Baháʼí Bestie, Wendy. The metro was awesome! Bonus points for the women’s only sections and Maitree the mascot. The temple was beautiful and peaceful despite the crowds. The perfect way to end the day.

But wait! There’s more! Because a month before we left for India I had snagged us a 9:45pm reservation and India’s top restaurant, Indian Accent. This was the moment I had been waiting for since I made the choice to join SURP 827. 

Now for my official review of our meal.

Appetizers (not pictured because we gobbled them up too fast): 

● bleu cheese stuffed mini naan

● a soup that I did not catch the details on

Both were simple but delicious. 8/10.

Drinks: I had the Pisco Sour. It was good but nothing special. 7/10. I also had a glass of an Indian cabernet sauvignon later in the meal that was good but I will not be scoring because red wine always just tastes like red wine to me.

Obviously I tasted everyone else’s cocktails because we have no boundaries anymore. Honourable mention goes to Dan’s “Proper Copper”, which was like a jazzed up moscow mule. I give it a 9/10.

First Course: 

● burrata papdi chaat, benaras tamatari 

● quinoa doi bora, berries

● fig and goat cheese samosa  

Strong start! The samosa in particular was a highlight for some in the group. 9/10

Second Course: 

● chicken tikka chaat and khakhra mille feuille, shimla mirch mayo 

Yummy! Like fancy nachos. 7/10

Third Course: 

● tandoori salmon, dill leaves, greek style yoghurt 

This was maybe my favourite course, but it was very simple. You could definitely get a comparable dish at many other nice restaurants. That being said the salmon was cooked perfectly and the yoghurt and cucumbers were super fresh and a nice balance. 9/10.

Fourth Course:

● meetha achaar pork ribs, sun dried mango, sour green apple 

This course was very rich, but since it followed up the light and fresh salmon it worked really well. The bone came out clean the second I picked it up which is always a good sign. The sauce was a little too sweet for me, I would have liked a couple more apple slices to balance it out. 8/10.

I should also note that Spencer ordered the vegetarian tasting menu. Most of the courses until this one were comparable but for this course he got:

● kashmiri morel musallum, walnut dust, green chilli cream  

He generously donated a bite to me and I think it was my favourite bite of the night. DELICIOUS. 10/10.

Palate Cleanser:

● indian accent kulfi sorbet  

I thought it was ok for a palate cleanser, but the rest of the group hated it. Except for Tara who loved it. The flavour was slightly fruity with lots of spices. 5/10

Fifth Course:

This course was our “main”. The non-veg options were: 

● braised lamb shank, punjabi kadhi, smoked papad 

Or

● rice crusted john dory, local greens and pinenut poriyal, moilee 

Both options came with:

● black dairy dal 

● anar avocado raita 

● indian accent kulcha (some stuffed with butter chicken, others stuffed with BBQ duck)

This is where things took a turn for the worse in my opinion. I opted for the fish since I’m not the biggest fan of lamb, but in hindsight I wish I had gone with the lamb. Maybe it’s the maritimer in me who is used to fresh fish but I thought it was pretty bad. The “crust” was more like a batter and the fish was quite dry and overcooked, so to me it tasted like cheap fish and chips. I also thought the coconutty sauce didn’t really go well with it.

That being said, the sides that we all got were awesome. I especially liked the butter chicken stuffed bread and the dal. However, again, I didn’t think they paired well with the fish. It felt like they were designed to go with the lamb.

Overall I give the course a 5/10, the fish would have been lower but the sides saved it. Ask Dan or Caley about the lamb. I think they would have a more positive review. 

Sixth Course:

● masala peanut soft serve, lonavala chikki  

This got me BACK ON BOARD. I LOVED it. Super peanuty with just a hint of spice. I need to figure out how to make this at home. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. My only critique is I wish I could have had six cones, one was not enough. And if it could have been lactose-free that would have been awesome because I did have to take six lactaids over the course of the meal, but my weak tummy isn’t their fault. 10/10.

Seventh Course:

● kinnaur apple, shakarpara crumble, 

● homemade vanilla bean ice cream 

● coconut and jaggery brûlée, ruby grapefruit pops  

Unfortunately the meal ended with a fizzle instead of a bang. I wish the peanut ice cream was the last course because that was a true highlight. The crumble was fine but honestly no better than your average restaurant crumble. The vanilla ice cream was just regular vanilla ice cream which was a let down since the other ice cream was so good. And the brûlée was not good. I still ate it but many among the group left it behind. I did not taste any coconut and it wasn’t really sweet at all. 4/10 for this course. 

So to recap, was it the best meal any of us have ever had? No, probably not. But was it worth it? I think yes. The tasting menu (excluding drinks, tax, and tip) came out to about $90 CAD per person which is not bad given the sheer amount of food (I had to unbutton my skirt on the drive home I was so full). The service was good and the vibes were cozy. It was a really nice setting to unwind and reflect on the whole trip as a group. Across all courses and drinks, the average of my ratings works out to 7.6/10, but I’d happily round it up to 8/10 based on the overall experience. 

With that, the trip more or less came to a close. It was a late night for us so the next morning we just packed up and headed out. We did have a few hours to kill before we could check our bags in at the airport so we went back to the mall to get one last Kingfisher at Chilli’s and pick up some last minute gifts for friends and family. 

Luckily the Delhi airport turned out to be a breeze. We were through security in less than five minutes! Which was perfect because Dan had an important duty-free cologne decision to make. He ended up happy with his purchase and the rest of us were happy that he stopped demanding that we sniff his wrists. 

A long 22 hours of traveling (or a short 22 hours if you ask Daniel “Mr. Business Class” Frangione) later we were back on Canadian soil. 

I’m not going to get too sappy, particularly because this blog post is now as long as my thesis should be, but I think I speak for the whole group when I say that this project course and trip were life changing. You learn a lot about yourself and your classmates while completing a major project on the other side of the world. Working in Auroville forced us to shift our whole perspective on planning, which I think is an important exercise for anyone in the planning field. Finally, it was just really fun. India is a huge country with such a diverse landscape and culture that there is something for everyone. I give SURP 827 a 10/10. 

Dan’s Kingfisher count: 934 (estimated)

Lactaids consumed by Maeve and Chloe: 756 (estimated)

Tissues used by Tara: 300, conservatively 

Cows pointed out by Caley: at least 1000

Dogs pet: sadly only 2 (both vaccinated pets don’t worry Ajay)

Rumblies count: None for Maeve! Too many for Spencer. 

Quote of the trip: “I can get an egg boiled anywhere.” - Ajay