The Ultimate Guide to Eating Out in Humayunpur

Smoked pork, minced meat dumplings, meat stew with fermented fish and more. The bustling kitchens of the urban village of Humayunpur serve up some of the most exciting cuisines in Delhi, finds Drishya Maity

Humayunpur, an urban village in South Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave, is a labyrinth of narrow, claustrophobic alleyways, tangled electrical wires, and matchbox buildings that lean into each other like colonies of wild enoki mushrooms. Historically a Muslim settlement going back to 17th century Mughal India, and then a predominantly Jat locality in the latter half of the 20th century, Humayunpur became a home-away-from-home for the city’s migrant workers and students, many of them from the country’s North-East states, who came to the Delhi during the early-2000s’ IT boom. One of the many ways these new residents of Delhi claimed space for themselves was through the bold, smoked, charred, and fermented flavours of their cuisines.

Delhi was different then, remembers Sonam Lhamo Bhutia of Yo Tibet. “Delhi-ites were extremely intolerant and held deep prejudices against North-Easterners, which extended to our food habits and way of life.” Until recently, North-Eastern food was largely limited to places like Majnu-ka-tila, which remained on the fringes both literally and figuratively, to mainstream Delhi. But today, people actively seek out Humayunpur as a neighbourhood at the heart of conversations on flavour and culture, the home to a variety of great restaurants serving North-Eastern and Himalayan cuisines.

Here is a guide to some of my favourite spots in Humayunpur.

Yo Tibet

Sonam Lhamo Bhutia and her husband opened Yo Tibet in Humayunpur in 2008. One of Humayunpur’s oldest eateries, Yo Tibet was among the earliest to introduce Tibetan cuisine to New Delhi’s culinary landscape. The restaurant, run by Sonam, a child of Tibetan immigrant parents, has been a mainstay in Humayunpur’s food landscape. While the menu leans heavily on Indian-Chinese staples like chicken Manchurian, chilli chicken, and kung pao chicken, Tibetan classics like thukpa (traditional Tibetan noodle soup with meat and vegetables), thenthuk (hand-pulled noodle soup with meat and seasonal vegetables), mokthuk (momos served in bone broth), and shabalay (deep-fried dumplings stuffed with minced meat and vegetables) are their specialties. The pork Laphing (flat noodles made with moong flour and stuffed with spicy minced pork, served cold) is a favourite with regulars in the know.

Address: 119-A, upper ground floor, near NCC Gate, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.

Hornbill

Located in the basement of a residential building inside a blink-and-you-miss-it back alley, Hornbill is the place to go for rustic home-style Naga food. Hornbill was founded by Khevito Elvis Lee and his two friends, in 2015. Originally, Hornbill had three outlets in New Delhi, but now, it is just the one outlet in Humayunpur that remains. There are no bells and whistles here; just bold Naga flavours. The smoked pork with bamboo shoot and axone (a fermented soy product not dissimilar to miso), made with large chunks of smoked pork belly, is the undisputed star of their menu. Pair it with a mug of zutho, or traditional rice beer, for a sumptuous meal on a budget.

Address: 104A, opposite B5/47, 1, near NCC gate, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.

The Categorical Eat-Pham

Ashok Mutum opened The Categorical Eat-Pham in 2015. It began as a small café that could barely seat five people, but has since grown into a spacious family restaurant popular for its affordable thalis. The thalis feature Manipuri classics like hawai thongba (lentil soup seasoned with five spices, bay leaves, and garlic chives), kangsoi (meat or vegetable stew seasoned with dried fermented fish and traditionally cooked without oil), and eromba (dried fermented fish and vegetable mash). Start your meal with a cup of their signature teas like cha ngang (red tea served with lemon wedges), hei-mang (red tea seasoned with fruit of the wild varnish tree, indigenous to Manipur), or silo-sougri (seasoned with fruit of the roselle plant), and wash it down with a mug of cold atingba or Manipuri rice beer, for the full experience.

Address: 168, Ground Floor, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.

The Categorical Eat-Pham’s stir-fried smoked pork with onions and chives

Oh! Assam

Tucked inside a narrow alleyway across from Yo Tibet, the small, cosy Oh! Assam serves home-style Assamese food. Home-chef Rubita ‘Ruby’ Brahma opened the restaurant in 2017, known for its wholesome thalis (priced between ₹250 to ₹450 per plate) — which usually include steamed white rice, and a combination of aloo pitika (mashed potatoes in mustard oil), dal, khaar (a traditional Assamese vegetable dish cooked with a slightly alkaline and bitter liquor—also called khaar), gudok (a fermented fish and vegetable mash similar to the Manipuri eromba); a vegetable fry, fish, chicken, pork, or duck main course. There will always be a chutney made of tomato or fermented bamboo shoot, Raja chilli or axone; a salad, papad, and payokh (sweet rice pudding). For those with a lighter appetite, there are other meaty dishes and salads to choose from.

Address: 93, Shop, no 3, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.

Home-chef Rubita “Ruby” Brahma (in red) opened the restaurant in 2017.

Lha Kitchen

In 2018, Dickey Bhutia, who first moved to New Delhi in 2010 as a student, opened Lha Kitchen. A Himalayan restaurant that specialises in Nepalese, Bhutanese, Chinese, and Tibetan cuisines, their unlimited thakali thalis range from ₹290 (vegetarian) to ₹390 (pork) and come with unlimited servings of rice, a vegetable, chicken, buff, pork, or duck main course, three kinds of vegetable sides, dal, pappad, salad, and three kinds of assorted Nepalese pickles. If you’re new to Nepalese food, this is the place to introduce your palate to the delicious world of Nepalese delicacies like chatamaari (a savoury rice crêpe stuffed with minced meat, a specialty of the Newari cuisine of the Kathmandu valley), choila (grilled meat seasoned with Newari spices), bhutun (stir-fried lamb intestines), and sekuwa (Nepalese barbecued chicken, mutton, buff, or pork).

Address: 168, first floor, near NCC gate, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.

The Nepalese delicacy, roasted pork, at Lha Kitchen

Drishya Maity is a writer and artist based in Kolkata, India. He was shortlisted for the Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing, and nominated for the BBA Photography Prize — One Shot Award in 2022. He is @drishya.xyz on Instagram.

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Photos credit: Drishya Maity, Aditya Chugh

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