An Indian restaurant without butter chicken

When I walk into Plus Nine One, all I know is that it is an Indian restaurant. One glance at the menu and I realise that it is meant for serious, well-travelled palates who understand flavour because this is Indian food that does not shy away from boldly including international techniques and ingredients. There is no butter chicken or dal makhni on the menu.

A quote etched on the glass door at the entrance, “best memories are created around food”, sets the tone for the restaurant. Inside, the space is vibrant and sunlit, with generous swathes of natural light streaming in through the large windows. The terracotta-tiled floor and the wall covered with black-and-white photo frames of the chefs cooking add warmth to the place, as do the plants.

Food at Plus Nine One
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The thinking behind Plus Nine One

Seated by the window, I get talking to Ishita Yashvi, the co-founder and CMO and ask her the reasoning behind naming the restaurant after the country’s dialing code, +91. “It is more than a country code, it’s our global connect. It’s a story that starts in India and rings around the world. These two digits represent our global identity in a small way. We wear it with pride on our chest and on our nameplate.”

The menu that travels across India, is crafted by three chefs — Zoheb Ali Qureshi, Alexander Gedo and Himanshu Meena whose extensive experience includes stints at Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.S. The menu is divided into bar bites, sharing plates, mains and dessert.

Team behind Plus Nine One
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Special Arrangement

I get my first surprise with the bird seekh from the bar menu – I have had seekh kebabs at many places, but one made with duck, quail and chicken is an original. Served with cranberry chutney, it does not shout duck but is a delicate balance of the three meats.

In a city where this meat is still rare on Indian menus, seeing it used so confidently is welcome. In fact, duck appears again, this time in momos, which arrive sitting on a bed of Bengali jhol velouté with hints of togarashi and drops of chilli oil.

Plus Nine One is probably one of the first Indian restaurants in the city to include a raw bar in its menu. The tiger prawn tartare presented with delicate, sweet tomato aguachile looks so beautiful that I almost feel guilty tucking into it. The sauce is made with familiar ingredients including tomato, ginger and garlic, yet it hits a different spot on the palate. Puffed millets add crunch to the dish.

Carpaccio
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Special Arrangement

Yashvi tells me that they have tried to go beyond the limits of the traditional Indian kitchen by embracing global techniques. “We attempt blending ancestral flavours with global formats, we try to celebrate how a part of the modern India eats today. It’s familiar, yet new — a boundary-pushing take on what ‘Indian food’ can be.”

That philosophy displays itself in the buff carpaccio – paper thin slivers of buff tenderloin sprinkled with gooseberries and dela achaar are finished off with fresh parmesan cheese grated on top. I was sceptical whether this combination would work but the achaar adds a kick without overpowering the delicate flavour of the tenderloin. The tostadas come with their own twist — it is like a crisp mathri topped with cream cheese and tomato achaar.

Familiar flavours, new forms

Moving on to the mains, I realise that the regular garlic naan, laccha parantha and tandoori roti have been replaced by Khamiri roti, sattu parantha and podi dosa. It is a welcome change.

Drinks at Plus Nine One
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Special Arrangement

I go for the sausage aa la plancha which is a smoked kebab sausage with chimichurri served on a Khamiri bread. After the skewer is removed, one can eat it like a hot dog. Other dishes appear tempting — like bheja fry served with pav, ghee roast accompanied with sweet potato and even the ossobuco nihari where the cut of the meat is Italian — but I leave them for another visit.

The restaurant is still waiting for its liquor licence, but with in-house sodas like guava basil, three berries and other non-alcoholic drinks, I did not miss the alcohol. I enjoyed two kinds of picante — one pineapple based and the other with mango juice. The kick one expects from a picante is present and correct.

Desserts made with masala chai, chenna and more come with their own tweak. The chenna cheesecake with house-made gondhoraj lemon ice cream is creamy and citrusy, while the masala chai fusing masala chai creameux with saffron custard looks indulgent but tastes light and airy. The crisp French butter khaari it is served with adds such a beautiful crunch to the dessert.

Interiors of Plus Nine One
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Plus Nine One demonstrates that Indian food does not need usual dishes like butter chicken or dal makhni to be comforting or exciting. Sometimes one just needs confidence to look beyond old boundaries and trust one’s instincts while rewriting old recipes.

Plus Nine One, located on the Second floor, Kailash Colony Market, HS-7, Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi, is open between noon and 1am; a meal for two costs ₹3,000. For reservations, call +91 9217163400

Published – March 11, 2026 04:28 pm IST