Bijoli Grill - Banga Bhawan I — Restaurant in New Delhi

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Bijoli Grill – Chanakyapuri, New Delhi

Cuisine: Bengali Location: Banga Bhawan, 3, Hailey Road (Note: Though often associated with Connaught Place, it’s technically within the diplomatic and administrative zone close to Chanakyapuri)

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⭐ Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

Bijoli Grill offers a slice of Bengal in the heart of Delhi, and while the food generally lives up to expectations, the experience can be uneven depending on what you’re looking for — comfort food or polished dining.

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🍲 Food: 4/5

If you’re after authentic Bengali fare, this place delivers in taste and variety. Some highlights from my visit: • Mutton Kosha: Rich, dark, and perfectly spiced, the mutton was slow-cooked to tenderness. A true standout. • Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa in Mustard Gravy): For lovers of pungent mustard flavors and fatty river fish, this dish was spot on — though the hilsa could be bony for the uninitiated. • Chingri Malai Curry: Lightly sweet and creamy, with jumbo prawns — a mild contrast to the spicier fare. • Begun Bhaja & Luchi: Fluffy, crisp luchis with deep-fried eggplant slices were nostalgic and satisfying. • Mishti Doi & Rosogolla: Fresh and sweet — not overly sugary, which is a plus.

The food felt home-style — not over-fussed, but lovingly prepared. Spices leaned traditional, not pan-Indian or overly commercialized.

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🧑‍🍳 Service: 3/5

Service was polite but inconsistently attentive. The staff knows the menu well but can seem overburdened during peak hours. Dishes took time to arrive, and we had to remind them twice for one of the starters.

Billing was accurate, though I’ve heard from others that confusion can occur with full vs. half portions, so it’s worth confirming when ordering.

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🪑 Ambience: 2.5/5

Don’t come expecting a high-end dining atmosphere. The setting is functional and minimalistic — almost cafeteria-like. Think of it as dining in a government guest house canteen with better food.

It’s clean but dated. The air conditioning works well, but décor is nearly nonexistent. This isn’t a place for a romantic evening, but great for a casual family meal or if you’re craving regional comfort food.

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💸 Value for Money: 4/5

Pricing is reasonable — about ₹1,200–₹1,800 for two — especially considering the generous portions and authentic flavors. The thalis during festive periods like Durga Puja are particularly good value, offering a wide spread of traditional dishes.

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📍 Location & Accessibility: 3.5/5

While the restaurant is often listed under Connaught Place or Chanakyapuri, it’s actually on Hailey Road near Mandi House, inside Banga Bhawan. That means it’s secure and quiet, but also not very prominent or easy to spot unless you’re looking for it.

Parking can be tricky during working hours. The nearest metro (Barakhamba Road or Mandi House) is a 5-7 minute walk.

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✅ Verdict

Bijoli Grill is less of a commercial restaurant and more of a culinary outpost for Bengali food lovers. If you miss Kolkata or want to introduce someone to Bengali cuisine in its traditional, home-style form, this is a solid option.

Just don’t expect polished service or luxe interiors. Go for the food — and especially for the mutton kosha, luchi, and doi — and you won’t leave...

This place is now the pits, standards have fallen drastically, hygiene wise, taste wise, while prices have sky rocketed. Earlier there were two pieces of each item in every dish, now it is according to their whims and fancies. While prawn cutlet has only one piece, chicken cutlet has 2 pieces, and so on and so forth. One tiny pabda shorshe fish dish costs rs 400! The chingri bhorta was filled with large prawn heads but most had the body missing! I thought bhorta meant a mash. Diamond Fish fry pieces are getting smaller by the day and the bhetki is not fresh. The shape, composition and taste of vegetable chops have changed dramatically, now they are flat pieces stuffed with soggy cabbage and potato rather than beets and carrots, and the smell is off, as if it has started to spoil and has gone stale, they probably make loads of the stuffing days in advance and roll it with dirty unwashed hands and yhen keep it in the fridge to fry when needed so it starts to spoil. The fish orly was yuck. Only the chicken cutlet passed muster but gave me a tummy upset and they were smaller than usual. They did not bother to pack any salad for the fried items for the takeaway order, and the fish fry had four or five tiny slivers of fries, the chicken cutlet, fish orly, etc, had none. Their kasundi sends you into a coughing fit with its raw and eye watering taste of Mustard, it is just Mustard paste ground up and kept in the fridge, again it has an off smell. All in all, total fraud on customers, total disappointment, the owner should come to Delhi and see how her managers are robbing her blind and bringing a bad name to this old age institution with the abysmal food. They only get away with it because they have a captive customer base with banga bhawan guests. The chief minister of bengal will not be happy with the food served to government servants in delhi, but they cleverly make special food for her when she is in town so she never realises the con on customers. They dont even use proper basmati rice for the fried rice. I could go on and...

This is the central Delhi location. Bijoli Grill is a well-known Bengali food chain, worth going if you absolutely crave Bengali food and can't get to the cheaper options in Chittaranjan Park or don't want to spend a lot going to Oh Calcutta in GK-3. Bijoli Grill also used to be in Dilli Haat but moved to Bongo Bhavan some time ago (10 years). Since then they've opened 3 other outlets.

Unfortunately, this location is in rather insalubrious surroundings - the Bhavan is in a perpetual state of disrepair. When we went (July 2024), there was no functioning elevator, there were broken tiles and masonry, and a general sense of electrical short circuit waiting to happen in the next downpour.

On to the food. Well, if you're looking for decent Bengali eats on a budget, this is the place. Over the years we have had quite a few things here. This time we had the radhabollobi (basically, large puffy breads which will remind some of bhature from north Indian fare) and potato curry ("alur dom" Bengali style, made in a thick sauce with yogurt and slightly sweet). We also had a fish fry, which is served with the restaurant's own kasundi (mustard paste) which is eye-wateringly sharp. Please use the kasundi in moderation because it will spoil your taste of the fish, which was otherwise fine.

In the past we have also had the various mutton dishes here, including kosha mangsho (Bengali mutton curry), the mutton dak bungalow (simple mutton curry with aromatic spices), mutton rezala (an old colonial recipe, with white curry sauce). If you go in season for ilish or other fish, please do have it as that is one of the highlights of Bengali cuisine.

They also have decent desserts, especially the mishti doi (sweet yogurt with jaggery flavoring), and the malpua. Unfortunately, the malpua (a type of very sweet, thick filled crepe with simple sauce syrup) was not available or else we...