Inside Cavity, Delhi’s Nine-Seat Bar-Within-a-Bar Serving GI-Tagged India On A Plate And In A Glass

It’s Saturday night. And I have my eyes set on a cotton candy. White gossamer strands enclose something mysterious within. To end the suspense, I pop the whole thing into my mouth only to discover chicken liver pate ensconced within. Who would have guessed the umami taste of the pate would blend so beautifully with the sweet cotton candy exterior.

At Cavity, a medley of flavours surprises the palate. Interestingly Cavity, is a bar within a bar. It took me five weeks to finally snag a seat here. Tucked deep beneath the popular and vibrant Barbet and Pals, this intimate underground space seats only nine people and dishes out a nine-course meal with as many cocktails. It’s founded by Chirag Pal, Jeet Rana, and Chef Amninder Sandhu, and all their personalities and skills seep into the food and beverage. The founders wanted this space to feel cosy and welcoming like walking into a friend's house in the mountains; a setting where stories flow as freely as the drinks.

A Bar Within A Bar

"The menu represents the GI-tagged ingredients of India," says Pal as he fixes us our first drink—mead, a wine made with honey from the Sunderbans. This is paired with bedu, cotton candy, toast. What’s interesting is Jeet, Chirag, and their team explain each course and pairing in detail. The storytelling is as detailed as the menu.

"Among the GI-tagged ingredients are thooyamalli rice from Tamil Nadu, feni from Goa, black cardamom from Sikkim, bhimkol banana from Assam...," lists out Pal. The techniques used are diverse too from cryofixation, distillation, and sous vide to curing, pickling, and fermentation, he says, adding, "We have 10 different styles of pickle."

What follows are concoctions like amazake, made with Assam joha rice,  paired with murukku that looks like it's dressed up for the Met Gala; rasam with gin—tangy with a hint of spice and served with paniyaram followed by creamy, flavourful bheja that in a savoury shell resembles a tart.

Half way through dinner there is a reminder to hydrate ourselves—appearing in the form of a translucent blue blob, which we suck on demurely and a jet of coconut water oozes out. Hydrated, we carry on demolishing one dish after another.

A Dinner Of Surprises

The onslaught continues, this time the take on nalli nihari wins me over. It’s served with a pillow soft sheermal shaped like a cob of corn. I then spend the next few seconds trying to count the number of layers in the Amritsari kulcha; there are 64 layers, I am told. And this is served with a robust seekh made with bhutwa (mutton offal).

There is a conscious effort on the visuals and plating as well. For example, the cocktail named Cold Desert arrives shrouded in mist and in frozen glasses. The garnish is something none of us could guess. SCOBY (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) macerated with glazed apricots and cherries.

We end our meal with a nolen gur ice cream, so flavourful that it makes the Bengali in me want to break into Rabindra Sangeet. Just when we think the meal is over, a little surprise springs up. We get mini cones filled with burnt butter ice cream. Like happy children we stumble out of the bar, filled with great food, innovative alcohol, and a little more knowledge about India’s GI-tagged ingredients.

Cavity is located at M-51, Ground Floor, M Block Market, Greater Kailash 2 (GK 2), New Delhi, and is open only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

It is priced at Rs 5,500 plus taxes, per head.