On most days, a visit to Bikaner House begins with a gallery, an event or a meeting. On this occasion, it began with lunch at Diggin’s newest café—and ended several hours later with an empty cheesecake plate and no regrets.
The setting certainly helped. Diggin’s newest address has all the elements regulars have come to expect—greenery at every turn, bright white interiors and cosy corners that make it easy to settle in for longer than intended. On the afternoon of our visit, sunlight poured into the café, tables were filled with groups catching up over lunch, and there was a sense that nobody was in a particular hurry to be anywhere else.
We certainly weren’t.
What began as a casual lunch quickly turned into one of those afternoons where nobody was paying much attention to the clock. Conversations drifted from one topic to another, drinks lingered on the table and plans for the rest of the day quietly took a backseat.
Among my favourites were the Avocado & Mango Salad and the Avocado & Feta Crostini, both of which felt perfectly suited to a warm summer afternoon. Fresh, light and full of flavour, they reflected the seasonal direction of Diggin’s newly launched Summer Menu. The White Sauce Pasta brought the kind of familiar comfort that has long been part of Diggin’s appeal, while the Frozen Mango Margarita proved to be an ideal companion for Delhi’s soaring temperatures. No meal here feels complete without dessert, and the Biscoff Cheesecake was undoubtedly the highlight. Rich yet balanced, it was the one dish everyone kept returning to, despite repeated claims of being too full for another bite.
Our visit coincided with the launch of Diggin’s Summer Menu, available across its outlets in Anand Lok, Connaught Place, Chanakyapuri and Tagore Garden. Alongside the dishes we sampled, the menu includes seasonal offerings such as Avocado & English Cucumber Soup, Fresh Melon & Feta Salad, Mezze Platter, Rigatoni Napolitana, Chicken Cacciatore, Grilled Salmon Steak and Spring Vegetable Burrata Pizza, as well as desserts including Fresh Mango Cheesecake and Summer Delight Mousse.
As we finally got up to leave, we realised the lunch we had expected to finish in under an hour had quietly stretched into most of the afternoon. Then again, that may be the best compliment one can give a place like Diggin.
