Budget Stay in Ooty

A boutique hotel in Ooty

Think Ooty and you come across images of the Nilgiris, massive landscape tea gardens, and stunning time-lapse of cloud movements. But you would never associate a trip to Ooty with a treat for the taste buds. Travelmynation was recently in Ooty for 2 nights and decided to stay at Delightz Inn located in Tiger Hills, one of the highest points in this mountain range. It’s an exotic location that lies to the east of Ooty; at the lower corner of Doddabetta Peak and is 6 km from Ooty town. It’s great for travelers looking for a quaint place that is highly economical and offers all the basic amenities for a weekend getaway.

But the highlight of our stay wasn’t the location or the view or the bison we saw strolling into the property, but the food we had! Who knew that we would experience such high-quality gourmet food in the middle of Ooty at such a nondescript place. Mr. Arun, the MD had promised that our stay there would be magical and take us on a culinary journey like none other we had experienced before. So we decided to give it a try to explored the rather comprehensive menu of Indian, Chinese, and Italian food.

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Tandoori Dishes

The Chefs, mostly from Bengal and Nepal insisted we try their tandoori non veg platter so we ordered one. Delightz Inn offers only in-room dining and we were a little concerned that by the time food arrived it would be cold since it was about 10 degrees at night. The order was placed for 8:30 and sure enough, the doorbell rang at the right time and we were served the kebab covered in aluminum foil. We love our chicken and prawns and were starving just at the thought of having the platter. Tandoori Chicken always tasted a little bland to us, sometimes salty, and often burnt. I’ve had it in various parts of the world, including India, Dubai, and the US. I always find myself ordering it at times and often leaving the place disappointed. But this was not the case at Delightz Inn.

The first thing that hit us was the aroma as we peeled off the aluminum foil from the plate. The tandoori masala smell was evident and immediately our mouths starting watering at the sight of the platter. A big morsel of the prawns that went into my mouth set ablaze my taste buds and create a near euphoric moment! A glance at the chicken and we could make out that it had been marinated for a long time in authentic spices and cooked fresh. Every bite from the platter of the juicy, succulent chicken and prawns was as good as the next one.

The waiters would have been shocked to see how we cleaned out the dish; not even a speck of oil was left behind. Chicken Pasta in White Sauce

We are not pasta lovers for the simple fact that we don’t usually find the right texture of cream sauce or the thin pasta we generally like to eat. Due to this we do not visit Italian restaurants and stay away from ordering pasta even when we visit gourmet restaurants. But the pasta here came highly recommended so we decided to have some. When it was served, it looked ordinary.

The same thing we’ve seen many times and eaten so many times in restaurants across the country; from cafes to 5-star restaurants.First taste impressions

WOW! Delicious, flavorsome in the best way possible. The pasta was perfectly cooked. The sauce was creamy yet didn’t feel chunky at all and the succulent chicken added a great flavor to the dish. The parmesan cheese grated to perfection, landing all over the pasta looked like white Xmas on a plate!  It was such a different experience from eating the usual white sauce, but entirely amazing in its own right.

I know it sounds weird to call a pasta dish as light, but that’s exactly what this sauce was. None of the ingredients interrupted the texture of the sauce or the pasta and blended in perfectly with each other to create an amazing taste. Our only regret was that we could only eat so much and couldn’t order another plate of this heaven! The standout dish here is definitely the Chicken Pasta in White Sauce. One spoonful of it takes you to the streets of Italy and delivers an explosion of flavors. It’s simply the best we’ve EVER had. Delightz Inn might not offer the best of stay options but the food is a strong enough reason for us to go there each time we are in Ooty. Drop-in sometime and have some pasta; leave us a note when you do! Check out their website here!

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