The Mission

Armed with two months in Delhi at the parents' (or, in my case, in-laws') house and grounded by the heat, my wife Aparajita (or "PJ" as everyone knows her) and I have begun to go a bit stir-crazy. One can only dream of Dilli Haat for so long.

Our solution? Explore the culinary geography of Hindustan through the canteens of Delhi's state bhawans. Some are famous (Andhra Pradesh Bhavan most of all), some are feared, and some are potentially permanently closed.

There are a plethora of short posts online that outline the layout, famous dishes, and stereotypes of these cafeterias, but we struggled to find in-depth analysis of their taste, smells, and quirks. That's what we hope to provide.

Over the next weeks, we will set out onto the blazing, and occasionally soaked, streets of Central Delhi to discover all that these locales have to offer. And here, we will do our best to document what we find.

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