On the recommendation of our children who both work in Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village – known as HKV to the cognoscenti – I went to the cryptically named Thirty-Nine for lunch recently with my friend Asha Framji.
We were the only 2 people eating there, one hot summer lunchtime, though I am told it is packed in the evenings. I can well believe it, since it is a great location, beautifully designed and done up, and with sweet service. Our waiter was a tad vague, but I suspect he was shiny new on the job, but he couldn’t have been sweeter.
The restaurant is roomy, and is spread over 2 floors, and has the feel of an Olde Worlde English club. And it works in a cute way.
Comfortable leather settees, with a suitably distressed appearance.
Rugs, throw, fake fireplace and lots of olde worlde looking artefacts, but it all manages not to look kitschy:
And now for the main event, the food.
Salsa dip to start while we decided what to order:
Asha had mulligatawny soup, which she pronounced very good
and a grilled cheese and tomato stack which she was less impressed by. Said it was all a bit bland and ordinary, but we did demolish the French fries between us :
My sun dried tomato and artichoke salad was excellent and the asparagus were cooked perfectly. Al dente, and so crisp and delicious :
So far all good.
The only snafu was when Asha took the lift down, while I went to the bathrooms (nice and clean) – the lift jammed, and there was no mobile signal in it. Luckily since it has glass doors, someone spotted her mid-floors and helped her out.
That needs to be dealt with.
So, as I then walked down in the absence of a lift, guess what I spotted? This sign at the bottom of the stairs, which explained everything about the décor :
But we had already figured it all out, pretty much.
Prices were reasonable, especially for HKV.
Cute place.
Recommended.