DutyFree | Vayu Bar — Restaurant in Vishal Enclave

Duty Free, from the time it has opened in Rajouri Garden, has created a different kind of hype for it. Touted as a party place, what makes people more ecstatic about the place is their rock bottom prices for both food and the drinks which come even more down with various running offers in multiple apps.

The ambience especially of the indoor seating is not too impressive. The place is very cramped and its really difficult to move around. Good luck going to the washroom if you feel like. The music can sometimes be too loud for comfort and that is why their outdoor seating is the place to be. You might be wondering how can someone sit in the outdoor seating in this Delhi heat, but they have their bases covered. The seating is not entirely open and is sort of a balcony where they have transparent curtains put and and AC vents installed along with the fans. This makes sure that you don’t feel the heat and light sound of the music from the inside would make sure that you have a nice time. The bar is pretty huge and looks amazing!

Coming the food, we started “Mac n Cheese Fries” which had a weird presentation and didn’t taste well too. The mac n cheese was fine but the fries were not freshly fried and looked vey pale. Next we tried their “Afghani Paneer Tikka Satay” which is a new addition to their menu and the three pieces of paneer tikka were perfect. The marination and roasting was done nicely and they were presented beautifully too. Next we ordered “Tandoori Momos” and requested them for getting us a mix of peri peri and afghani momos so that we could try both the variants and they agreed hesitantly but were spot on in honouring that. The momos had a nice filling and the afghani ones impressed us more than the peri peri ones. We also tried their very popular “Peri Peri Soya Tikka Parantha Tacos” which are popular more for the presentation than anything else. The fusion tacos were really good which were prepared using a flaky malabar parantha and were stuffed with soya tikka, onions and peri peri sauce. The “Farmhouse Pizza” was quite small in size but perfect for us and totally justifying the price. The toppings were very generous and the cheese too.

For the desserts we tried their signature “DF Special Fried Cassata” which looked beautiful but frankly couldn’t impress us. A cassata topped with fried vermicelli couldn’t justify the name and even the cassata used didn’t taste too well, especially if you compare it to the basic cassata you get at the Mother Diary stalls. The “Banoffee Pie” again had layering issues and it was almost impossible to get all the ingredients in each layer in a single bite, defeating the purpose of a banoffee pie.

The mocktails here are a must try. They might seem to be a little overpriced especially if you compare them to the food menu which is very reasonably priced but the quantity of the mocktails will change your mind. Both “Garden Fresh” & “Meetha Chatkara” were served in huge colourful glasses and both were pretty good. Though the freak shakes “Little Hearts” & “Chocolate Truffle” were the most disappointing shakes I have had in a long time. They were over sweet, largely inconsistent and were in no way worthy of being called freak shakes as there was nothing freaky about the shakes due to the absence of whipped cream and the presentation!

The service was pretty good with a steward always present in the outdoor seating even when we were only ones to occupy a table there and the indoor seating being jam packed.

Overall, Duty Free had its fair share of some hit and misses with the biggest hit hit being its food pricing which is unbelievably low and you doesn’t even mind paying for a couple of misses when it doesn’t hurt your pocket much....

The thing is, cafes like these do not interest me much so to speak. I find their ambience, the extra loud ear shattering music, the crowd who try to look cool because they are at a 'hip cafe'/ bar and everyone else who's trying to just show off. Places like these have always put me off.

However, the issue is with me, the place otherwise was fantastic! The ambience and the decor was really good and the almost mood-level lighting complimented the place totally.

Food was your usual affair that you find in such cafes but what made it a little different was the presentation. For example, the paneer tikka was served with syringes that had the green 'chutney' in them which were punched inside each tikka! That was fun to look at and ofcourse they tasted really good.

We ordered a LOT of other interesting stuff too, like loaded cheese nachos, garlic bread, vegetarian pasta, chicken lollipops, and for people who loved to "smoke", the sheesha as well.

Since I am an utter non-alchoholic, I tried their fruit punch but it turned out to be a very average sort of a drink. Perhaps, I ordered the wrong drink at a place whose name ends with 'bar'! I should've known better. I did enjoy their food though and except the fact that the lollipop inspite of being loaded with malai and all tasted a little too flat for my personal liking, all else was pretty well.

The place itself is massive and extremely easy to locate as it is on the main road with a brightly lit board inviting you inside. The place was jam-packed when I reached but since my friends were there already, I couls get a seat! 😀 Nevertheless, we had to wait about 15 mins. before anyone came and attended to us. Also, in-between, we did try to wave and call someone who'd attend us but nobody seemed to give any damn inspite of the staff noticing our waving hands. Strange, but I guess this is what happens when the place is over-packed and probably the staff outnumbered, I am not 100% sure.

These might seem small niggles but things like these jars the experience for me, personally. Perhaps, on a mid-week evening when the place might not be packed to the brim, the staff will serve you better but you go to a cafe like this for the crowd, the ambience, the shattering music, the dance, and everything else which comes 'complimentary' with such a place.

The prices seemed pretty pocket-friendly though, except the sheesha which cost bloody Rs.1k! Maybe it was gold or perhaps silver-plated, I am not sure but 1000 bloody bucks for a sheesha is way too much, no matter what explanation you give me!

Nevertheless, the evening was nice, but as I left the cafe, a question lingered on my mind - would I visit the Duty Free Bar again?

Let me see: I do not like loud music I do not drink I just don't have the strength to keep waving for the staff's attention

I think the answer is...

Me and my friends were planing to go out and decided to go dutyfree As you enter the place you see their amazing interior The place have such party vibes to it which we really loved The staff members were attentive and efficient As you get your table you get some popcorn and chips until your food comes to snack We had Mac and cheese nachos- it was really good the nachos were topped with creamy and cheesy Mac and cheese + olives on top and it was a good combination Mexican fries- they were good the fries were well spiced and well done not soggy at all and the salsa in it had a kick of spice to it which gives it a great flavour Sharabi chicken tikka- it has the same concept as flame pizza the chicken tikka pieces were well spiced and tender and because of the flaming on it chicken had a little charred flavour to it Mushroom ragout sauce pasta- it was really good their sauce was delicious and pasta was well cooked in it we really liked it Spicy soya dimsums- they were good it had plenty of stuffing in it and they were spicy which was good For drinks Chocolate truffle shake- it was really good creamy had a good flavour of chocolate to it Strawberry Shake- the was creamy and had a lil thick consistently to it plus it tasted good Garden fresh- it was combination of different fruits like orange chunks and juice, kafir lime etc It was fresh and was sweet and sour which made it really good And for dessert we had Churros with homemade chocolate and caramel sauce- the churros were hot and freshly made covered in cinnamon sugar the outside had a crunch to it though inside was soft like a doughnut they were really good We really had such an amazing experience there and would love to visit again So I really recommend to...