Taste the flavours of Lahore and Patiala in Delhi at Amninder Sandhu's Kikli

The Hindu

25-07-2025

The culinary disposition of Punjab, unlike its geographic landscape, remains undivided. It spells the fusion of hearty, robust and fiery palate coupled with cooking techniques that date back to the Harappan civilisation.
Fortunately, you do not have to travel back in time to taste the heritage of Punjabi cuisine. It has a new address — Kikli in New Delhi's Connaught Place. Co-owned by Chef Amninder Sandhu, who is the force behind Bawri (Goa, Mumbai) and Dining Experiences at Tipai (a boutique wildlife escape in Maharashtra), Kikli holds the key to Punjab's lesser-known flavours and dishes that go beyond the usual butter chicken, kulcha, pindi chhole and makki di roti teh sarson da saagh. It offers katlama that sits proud in the lanes of Lahore as Pakistan's well-known street food since 1947 and it digs out the secrets of Patiala's royal kitchen.
'About two years ago, I decided to create a restaurant that is all things Punjab,' says Amninder, talking about the inception of Kikli. Between Mumbai and Delhi, she zeroed in on a heritage site in the capital's Connaught Place and roped in interior designer Ariane Thakore Ginwala to design her new venture as a 'stripped-down version of a haveli'. She wanted the restaurant to house different seating areas, from courtyard and bar to dining section and an open kitchen, which complemented each other and beguiled the curious guest's attention to details. 'It took us nearly nine months to build it,' she says of the venue spanning nearly 8,000 square feet that will be operational from July 28 and can accommodate nearly 130 people.
With Kikli, Amninder leverages three things — her Punjabi identity, camaraderie with Sarvesh Kaur (the late granddaughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala) and her knowledge of traditional slow-cooking techniques. 'In 2018, when I opened regional Indian restaurant Arth in Mumbai, Sarvesh shared her heirloom recipes with me. These were handwritten notes from her mom. She helped me find my rhythm in cooking and it continues to dictate my culinary choices,' she says.
Though Arth was forced to shut during the pandemic because of unforeseen financial setbacks, Amninder says that some of the dishes from its menu are now part of Kikli. One of the 11 sections on the menu, titled The Royals, features Patiala shahi paratha, mewadar keema and kofta alubukhara. The other sections are Salaad, Chaat Pakode Centre, Buns, Meat And Fish Corner, Bade Mazedar, Hara, Rotiya, Pulaaaw, Mithiya Cheezaa and Lassi.
Amninder recalls, 'Another interesting thing about Arth was that it was a no-gas restaurant and I cooked everything on open fire. At Kikli, I have installed a hara, on which the dal is cooked overnight.' It was during her visit to a 120-year-old farmhouse in Bathinda, Punjab, where Amninder saw a hara. 'It looks like a hearth, works like a slow cooker and has a smoking chamber. It has two wells where you put paathiya (cow-dung cakes) and coal,' she explains, while adding, 'Kadhai-based dishes at Kikli are made in sarbloh utensils made by third-generation blacksmiths. The chutneys are ground in danda kunda (mortar and pestle).'
Kikli's menu champions local ingredients, like ajwain patta, moongre, kaali gaajar, shalgam, chappan kaddu and khapli atta. 'It has papdi chaat where the papdi is made with bajra. Also, in Punjab, coriander seeds, anardana, crushed chilli and amchur is used a lot. For most dishes, I have made my own masala. Also, the vegetables are sourced from Smiling Earth Organic Farms in Selakhari Haryana,' adds Amninder.
She likes to assign different periods of history to the borders of Punjab, while describing the origins of some of the dishes on the menu. 'For instance, katlama, a bread, was sent to each other's homes during Baisakhi; on the menu, it is called Kikli katlama. You will find katlama at various places, and if you come to think of it, in the mid-19th Century the Sikh Empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet to Sindh and from Khyber Pass to the Sutlej. So, our culinary heritage is expansive,' she shares.
The name Kikli comes from Punjab's folk dance. She says, 'It was suggested by my brother and I think it fits. Even as a dance form, kikli is not for the faint-hearted and is almost like martial art. I feel, the restaurant's co-owner Dhruv Chawala and I are also performing kikli as we run this venture.'
A meal for two at Kikli, located at K 11B, Connaught Outer Circle, New Place, K Block, Connaught Place, New Delhi, and open from noon to 1am, is priced upwards of ₹1,500 approx. (without alcohol).