Mizoram House
Having visited two of the better-established bhawans and ambitious after an extended weekend in the hills of Uttarrakhand, we fixed our sites on Mizoram House.
Mizoram, one of India’s northeastern most states, has a distinct food tradition influenced by Chinese and Burmese cuisine. Unfortunately, the state's outpost didn’t offer much insight into its culinary heritage.
We could find little online about Mizoram House’s canteen, perhaps for good reason. Save for two workers eating and a man sleeping on the floor in the corner, we were the only customers when we arrived.
The waiter seemed slightly perplexed about our intentions, but ultimately produced a crumbled menu heavy on traditional North Indian possibilities but also boasting a few “Mizo” options on its back page.
Eagerly, we ordered all available Mixo dishes—Bai (a soupy mix of eggplant and leafy vegetables), fried chicken, chicken in Mizo curry, and “cooked vegetable”, which turned out to be squash—along with white rice and crossed our fingers that we’d discovered a hidden gem.
But we hadn’t. General overviews of Mizo cuisine online rattle off the unique flavor of Bai, but all we got were some over-stewed vegetables with little flavor. Similarly, the fried chicken and chicken in gravy were nearly indistinguishable from what one might get at any street-side restaurant in Delhi. The squash turned out to be tasty, yet again not too different in taste from standard home-cooked “Indian” food. (There is an additional boiled chicken dish listed on the menu that can be ordered, we were told, if one calls in advance. The waiter’s ignorance as to what the dish contained, however, did not leave hopes too high for future visits.)
Overall, we both agreed that Mizoram House failed to tempt our taste buds into further exploring the state’s cuisine. And furthermore, the building did little to stand out, with only some faded photos of various indigenous peoples adding any hint that the complex housed state representatives rather than a generic business or housing complex. The one plus worth mentioning is that the meal was light on the wallet, with the total bill coming out to less than 350 rupees. If one wants to try Bai, albeit assuredly not in its best form, Mizoram House is your chance.
Perhaps the lack of publicity online was validated, but we still walked away glad to have say we tried.
Price of meal for two: ₹330
Pandit Uma Shankar Dikshit Marg,
Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi, Delhi 110011
Mizoram, one of India’s northeastern most states, has a distinct food tradition influenced by Chinese and Burmese cuisine. Unfortunately, the state's outpost didn’t offer much insight into its culinary heritage.
 |
| A hopeful visitor |
We could find little online about Mizoram House’s canteen, perhaps for good reason. Save for two workers eating and a man sleeping on the floor in the corner, we were the only customers when we arrived.
 |
| The generic, rather empty canteen |
The waiter seemed slightly perplexed about our intentions, but ultimately produced a crumbled menu heavy on traditional North Indian possibilities but also boasting a few “Mizo” options on its back page.
Eagerly, we ordered all available Mixo dishes—Bai (a soupy mix of eggplant and leafy vegetables), fried chicken, chicken in Mizo curry, and “cooked vegetable”, which turned out to be squash—along with white rice and crossed our fingers that we’d discovered a hidden gem.
 |
| The spread |
But we hadn’t. General overviews of Mizo cuisine online rattle off the unique flavor of Bai, but all we got were some over-stewed vegetables with little flavor. Similarly, the fried chicken and chicken in gravy were nearly indistinguishable from what one might get at any street-side restaurant in Delhi. The squash turned out to be tasty, yet again not too different in taste from standard home-cooked “Indian” food. (There is an additional boiled chicken dish listed on the menu that can be ordered, we were told, if one calls in advance. The waiter’s ignorance as to what the dish contained, however, did not leave hopes too high for future visits.)
 |
| The somewhat-generic yet still tasty squash |
Overall, we both agreed that Mizoram House failed to tempt our taste buds into further exploring the state’s cuisine. And furthermore, the building did little to stand out, with only some faded photos of various indigenous peoples adding any hint that the complex housed state representatives rather than a generic business or housing complex. The one plus worth mentioning is that the meal was light on the wallet, with the total bill coming out to less than 350 rupees. If one wants to try Bai, albeit assuredly not in its best form, Mizoram House is your chance.
Perhaps the lack of publicity online was validated, but we still walked away glad to have say we tried.
Price of meal for two: ₹330
Pandit Uma Shankar Dikshit Marg,
Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi, Delhi 110011
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