| Photos By:: Adil Arora
 In the last decade or so Delhi has seen a barrage of new restaurants opening (and closing down) every month so much so that in the hunt for the latest and the most ‘’in’’ place to dine we sometimes tend to forget some of the places that we used to dine at in the past.
One of these that comes to mind is the ‘’Empress of China’’ at the Eros at Nehru Place. Round the turn of the century it was one of the first Chinese restaurants in the city to have its own expat Chinese chef. Unfortunately after the hotel underwent a series of associations with different hotel chains , the management focus on the Empress of China became somewhat diffused letting it slide off the “top of the pops” as it were when it came to dining out in Delhi.
 So when Subhash Arora , our Club President sent out his mail for the 223rd wine dinner of our wine club, a few of us were indeed left wondering how come he chose this venue –maybe he knew something that we didn’t !. Reading through the menu for the evening one could see that a lot of groundwork had been done by Subhash and the dynamic F&B Director Arindam Chakraborty in the menu preparation and wine selections – never an easy task when the cuisine is Chinese.
On arrival, as we were ushered thru the restaurant to the Private Dining Room – a plush, upholstered 25-seater with immaculate table settings – the reason for the choice of the venue became clear. The PDR is just ideal for a wine dinner, its cozy yet large enough and minimizes any disturbance to other guests in the restaurant. The hotel was indeed kind enough not only to offer us the PDR as our dining location but also the exclusive use of the private open air lawn for our aperitif session.
As we stepped out onto the lawn , each one of us was struck speechless not only by the spectacular location -it was difficult to imagine one was in the heart of South Delhi-but also by the way  that the lawn had been decorated in a Valentines Eve theme with lights ,candles and balloons . Thoughtfully provided blazing hot sigris kept members warm from the nippy bracing winter breeze and kept them close to the lean-on tables dressed with plates of walnut kimchi, Szechuan wafers and spiced wontons. The menu for the evening had been projected onto the hotel exterior wall above the PDR entrance for all to see –in fact I pity the guys working late in the adjoining buildings who could very easily read this fab menu from their desks and salivate!!
And to top it all, at one end of the lawn a live two person band was belting out popular numbers just for us. There is no doubt that a band enlivens an evening and definitely sets the mood for a great wine dinner. Our sincere thanks to Arindam for going that extra mile and making our evening an enjoyable one.
To get us in the groove, we started with Zonin Prosecco Special Cuvee Bruta simple fresh aperitif made from 100% Glera grapes. The Prosecco had a strong hint of apples on the nose and a fresh palate. It went equally well with the dim sums and dumplings as it did with the goat cheese on toasted brioche which were the two of the numerous pass arounds which stood out.
 People were having such a great time standing around the sigris, listing to the music and downing the plentiful pass arounds that it took a lot of Subhash’s persuasive powers to move our members inside for the sit down section. Surprisingly we had more members than expected so an additional table for 10 was arranged outside –these lucky few continuing to sit outside with music and great weather were envied by the rest of us, though status quo was restored when it began to drizzle and the favoured few had to come inside too!
Once seated we were served the Domaine Gobelsburg Gruener Veltliner – a bright and fresh wine from Austria with strong citrus aromas on the  nose and again a pronounced peach and pear on the palate- a typical representation of wines of the Gruener Veltliner (Gru-vee as Subhash told us it was popular as) region along the Danube. This is a very approachable wine and married well with the barbequed chicken parcel in the first course and the steamed Red Snapper in the second. Equally doing justice to the fish was the Tenuta Ca'Bolani Pinot Grigio Friuli Aquileia DOC – a crisp and fresh product from the lowlands in the southern part of Italy's most north-eastern region, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
 Going forward to the third course of Roast Szechuan Australian Lamb leg which I tried with the only red of the evening - The Wine Masters Reserve Pinotage from the house of Nederburg. A great pairing with the lamb , this full bodied, dry yet fruity red had plenty of plum on the nose and a rich mouth-feel with a reasonably long finish.
And after that multi course feast we were on to the dessert section which is best described by our member Lavina Kharkwal, “The dessert was the highlight of the meal . Chocolate Desire had so many layers and complexity....cake, apricot and prune compost , raspberry jelly, chocolate mousse, crunchy hazelnut, just like a vintage wine”.
The table service was of a high order with no glitches in service of either food or wine as the hotel had planned for a guest to staff ratio of probably 1:2.  Most members were indeed surprised that despite the absence of any expat chef in residence at the EOC, the quality of the food was of a high order.
Let’s look forward to the next expat chef taking the food quality to newer heights. Clearly an outstanding evening proving-Old is Gold.
Arun Batra
Arun Batra is a Delhi based food and wine enthusiast and a long-time member of the Delhi Wine Club
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