I love traveling, and cities are my favorite. Many are entralled by serene lakes or enchanting forests while some others crave for the mysterious mountains. But I am somehow attracted most to cities. Every city invariably has a serious​ condition of multiple personalities, and surprises me with it’s pockets of oddities here and there. 

Since the last few years, I have travelled to Delhi very frequently, for work and pleasure​ (with the proportion of pleasure exceeding that of work by several notches). And every time I have meticulously planned where to eat in the capital. 

It was some time last to last year when I had a chance to visit Majnu Ka Tila in North Delhi. The area, also known as the Aruna Colony, is a Tibetan colony. One has to get off at the Kashmiri Gate metro station and then walk for a few minutes to reach the place. Me and my friend, whom I dragged along, took a rickshaw as the overhead Sun was being nothing less than torturous that day.
The entrances of MKT are like any other non-descript by-lanes, which open up into an entirely different world. The market area is crammed with stalls selling bamboo pickles, t-shirts with ‘Free Tibet’ slogans, silk scarves and a hoarde of other knick knacks. The other side of the cobbled lane is lined with eateries, packed with hungry students and curio shops selling similar things as available right across the lane, at a higher price. 

Having done my research through blogs and of course, Zomato, we first entered Rigo’s Restaurant. It may be noted that the neat and clean, moderate sized place could only be located after asking around half a dozen locals and going in circles in the same lanes for a few minutes. I don’t know about now, but two years back, Google maps couldn’t help us much inside MKT.

The meal at Rigo’s started with Beef Devil Momos, which were big, juicy, spicy and near-heavenly. Then we ate some fried rice and chicken too. The portion sizes are hearty and the prices are even less than moderate. The best part is, there’s no added taxes in most of the eateries at MKT. So the prices as mentioned in the menu card are all that one pays for here. And that surely is one of the major reasons why this colony is thronged by college goers. 

After our meal at Rigo’s, we went to the Ama Cafe, an immensely popular cafe on the first floor of a tiny building. The buildings and specially the staircases are almost like half the size of what we are generally used to seeing everywhere else, making the place seem like a toy town of sorts! 

Coming back to the Ama Cafe, this is one place which totally stole our hearts. It looked and felt exceedingly welcoming and comfortable. The Apple Pie and the Blueberry Cheesecake were outstanding and we just couldn’t seem to have enough of this place. 

We intended to try out a few other places after our desserts and coffee at the Ama Cafe, but just couldn’t manage to eat more. 

Will definitely go back to MKT sometime to eat some more, and get another slice of Tibet on my plate and heart. 

P.S. I promise to take better pictures next time I am at MKT😂.