No déjà vu at Deja Brew

Remember the spate of jokes revolving around the French phrase déjà vu some years ago? Among them was a definition for vu deja, which was just the opposite of déjà vu. It meant: “No, I haven’t seen or felt this before.” It was corny but stayed in mind. This is why, I suppose, it came right back when I heard of a new restaurant called Deja Brew. And this was pure vu deja — for I hadn’t heard of the concept befor e.

Deja Brew has various kinds of brews – beers and coffee. It also has a cigar zone, a list of cocktails and other kinds of liquor and a private dining area. What interested me was the new menu consisting of dishes from across the world, including many from different parts of Asia. It included the stuffed chicken wings with hot sauce from the US, Mediterranean meatballs, Thai curries, shitake-chestnut chicken snowballs with a spicy soya sauce from China and dal paratha or paratha chicken from India.

I asked for a hodgepodge of cuisines — for I wanted to taste a bit of this and that. I had Buffalo chicken tender with tartar sauce, pan-seared meatballs, chicken krapow, truffle potato pave and udon vegetable noodles.

Cuisines and conversation at Deja Brew: Udon Noodles.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Let me start with the dish that I enjoyed the most – the truffle potato pave that had potato slices cooked with butter, cream and a few herbs, flavoured mildly with truffles. The potato was deliciously creamy and absorbed the flavours of the herbs. Had as a salad, though served with sourdough bread, it is a dish in itself. The noodles I had next was a bit too spicy. The chicken krapow, a Thai dish of ground chicken, largely flavoured with basil had a nice taste. I particularly liked the strong flavour of basil leaves and relished having it withsome sticky rice.

 The pan-seared meatballs had a light sauce of the pistachio-flavoured labneh, a kind of Greek yoghurt. It was a tad salty for my tongue. The tender chicken was hotand delicious.   The casing was chilli hot, but the meat within was light, tender and juicy.

The eclectic menu at the 100-cover-restaurant takes care of disparate groups.   The watermelon steak salad, with chilled watermelon, balsamic pine nuts, rocket leaves and feta should appeal across age groups, as would the salmon glazed with Korean chilli and coriander, served with crispy rice and veggies.

Cuisines and conversation at Deja Brew: Pan seared lamb meatballs
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

If you are fond of craft beer, you’d be happy to know that it comes from the House of MOB (Ministry of Beer), Delhi’s first microbrewery. There is an expansive coffee menu, too,

If you have to wake up and smell the coffee, this is the time for it. And the place.

The restaurant, at M-20, Block M, Greater Kailash II, is open from noon to 1 a.m. A meal for two is estimated to cost ₹2,000 (plus taxes), without drinks.