Clay Oven Restaurant | Melting pot of flavours!
One of the greatest pleasures of eating in Mcleodganj is, that you get to meet people from various walks of life. Also, you get to eat food from their native places, which adds to the charm of all the cafes tucked inside endless narrow lanes. Who could miss the luxury of relishing a Pizza, Momo, Thai curry and Nepali food, all under one roof, that too somewhere in the mountains?
Clay Oven Restaurant is one such place, which brings together food and people, from all over. Even though I had been to Mcleodganj many a times, I had somehow missed out on this place. It is located right opposite to the McLLo Chowk and is known to be one of the oldest restaurants in this lane.
So, finally this time I got lucky and visited the café. It has great interiors, delicious looking desserts, balcony seating and a very interesting menu. Besides serving Continental and Tibetan food, this place is extremely popular for serving Nepali Cuisine.
Spoilt for choice, we ordered for:
- Smoked Chicken Pizza
- Red Thai Curry
- Chocolate Shake
- Blueberry Cheesecake
- Plum Cake
Except for the dessert, everything else arrived on the table almost at the same time. Forever hungry, we were thrilled to get our food all at the same time (though we had to wait for long).
The Smoked Chicken Pizza had a normal thick base and was full of cheese. Sadly, it had very little chicken. Nothing extraordinary in taste or flavour, I wasn’t too impressed with the pizza.
However, the Red Thai Curry, was unarguably the best Thai curry I have ever had. Served piping hot with steamed rice, the mild flavour of coconut milk, well-cooked chicken and subtle taste of chilli, made this curry finger licking good. Unabashedly, we licked the bowl clean.
We had barely recovered from Thai Curry’s punch, we were served the beautiful looking desserts – Blueberry Cheesecake and Plum Cake. The Cheesecake was delicious and perfectly set. The biscuit base was delicious and surprisingly crunchy.
Incorporating fresh plums in the batter, the Plum Cake looked very attractive. Even though it was perfectly baked, I could taste a slight hint of Baking powder. So, you can give it a miss, if you’re not a diehard fan of tangy plums.
As I looked around, loads of people were having Nepali Thali and the number of items in the thali intrigued me. Mutton/Chicken curry, veggies, soup, pickle, papad and rice. After hogging so much, I had no place to eat more. So, I promised myself that I’d come back for it some day.
We sat down in the balcony and lazily gazed at the ever-bustling Jogiwara Road. The colours juxtaposed against the white cloudy backdrop, make you wonder if you ever want to go back.
Well, to be honest, although I did come back home eventually, but I left my mind there, somewhere.
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