The Cavity At Barbet & Pals: An Underground Tasting That Unfolds In Phases, Peaks And Pours

Plenty from the food and beverage world — across continents — have been saying it for years now: it’s high time countries take pride in what they grow and produce locally.

Sure, there’s undeniable panache in champagne from Champagne, caviar from the Caspian Sea, or a risotto by the Amalfi Coast. But isn’t there equal romance in Gandrayani grown in the hills of Uttarakhand, or Guntur chilli thriving in Andhra Pradesh?

It’s hard to speak for the masses — but three in Delhi certainly believe it. Chef Amninder Sandhu, along with bartenders Jeet Rana and Chirag Pal — the faces and hands behind Barbet & Pals in GK, have introduced a new addition to their already vocal-for-local persona. Meet The Cavity.

The Cavity is an intimate, ever-evolving experiential space housed within Barbet & Pals— designed for deeper exploration and immersion. It seats just nine guests for a nine-course cocktail-led experience, tucked into the basement of the premises.

The idea is simple: celebrate what’s local — rooted in India’s GI-tagged ingredients — while applying modern techniques to reimagine them. Each course is poured and served in an intimate setting, with conversation led by the trio themselves, ensuring you don’t just consume what’s on the table — you understand it. It’s fun, explorative, and the kind of experience I’d readily recommend to friends.

The Space 

The entry point to The Cavity is an intentional choice by the team: the basement. To get there, you enter the premises, walk past the bar, and discreetly slip through the door that also leads to the restrooms. Just beside the bathroom entrance, a staircase descends quietly out of sight. Patrons at the main room of Barbet & Pals — sipping cocktails upstairs — might think one of two things. Either they’ve had one too many when they notice guests mysteriously disappearing through that door, or something particularly unusual is unfolding near the bathrooms. Unfortunately (or fortunately), both assumptions are wrong. From above, the staircase appears to lead to the kitchen — easy to overlook, easy to dismiss. But as you descend and take a sharp left, the narrative shifts. You enter The Cavity — a hidden chamber that feels removed from the noise above, a space designed not just to seat you, but to transport you. The basement opens up in a burst of colour — deep reds powering through the room, giving it warmth and pulse. The space is divided into two distinct sections. One is a lounge-style setting, lined with low-lying sofas that encourage you to sink in and linger. The other is the tasting counter — The Cavity itself.

Here, nine seats are arranged in an L-shape, framing a central performance zone for the chefs and bartenders. It feels almost theatrical — guests watching the spectacle unfold before consuming what’s crafted in front of them. It’s dinner as performance, reminiscent of the format popularised by Papa’s in Mumbai, where the act of creation becomes as important as the act of eating. The personalisation at the counter is thoughtful and precise. Your cutlery rests on a small barbet statue — a nod to the bird that lends the restaurant its name. A sticker bearing your name marks your place, a quiet gesture that makes the experience feel tailored from the outset. I took my seat, ready to see what was in store for me.

The Experience

My dining experience was time-consuming — but worth it. I arrived at 8 pm and left around 11:30 pm. Three and a half hours of indulgence. Of getting tipsy and sobering up. Of waves — highs, slight dips, and soaring peaks again.

Course 1 (GI Inspiration: Sundarban Honey, West Bengal)

A gentle beginning. The Sundarban mead — smooth, lightly sparkling, somewhere between sweet wine and kombucha — opened the evening beautifully. The honey carried floral and mineral notes that lingered softly. An amuse-bouche for the cocktails to come. Then, whimsy: candy floss on a stick, hiding a hazelnut-crusted liver pâté inside. Crunchy. Cloud-like. Meaty-sweet. A playful collision of textures that worked. There was also torched fish toast on buttery-soft bread, and a fig-and-cheese bite finished with a parmesan crisp — both excellent single bites. But the candy floss pâté? That’s the one that stayed with me.

Course 2 (GI Inspiration: Assamese Rice)

A warm, light fermented rice beverage — comforting and aromatic. It reminded me of my strolls through Humayunpur in Delhi, perhaps because of the drink’s North-Eastern roots. Paired with a fried pumpkin flower stuffed with prawn balchao — rich, sharp, beautifully balancing a crisp exterior with a soft interior. A strong, confident course.

Course 3 (GI Inspiration: Tooyamalli Rice, Tamil Nadu)

I’ll admit — I had already convinced myself this was my favourite course the moment I sipped it. A hot-and-cold cocktail — a rare, confident play on temperature. Served in a bowl resembling an idli, it featured cold foam on top and hot rasam beneath — a clever nod to rasam and rice. The first sip is confusing in the best way. Rarely have I tasted cocktails that manipulate temperature so deliberately and successfully. 10/10. It was paired with a gunpowder idli that, unfortunately, didn’t quite match the drink’s brilliance. I wanted more crispness, more punch. The cocktail set an impossibly high bar — one that the idli couldn’t fully meet.

Course 4 (GI Inspiration: Queen Pineapple, Tripura)

Theatrics at their peak. Jeet and Chirag shake their mixers with dramatic vigour before pouring into a tall sling glass. A shot of soda accompanies it, which you’re instructed to pour in — foam rising, fizz overflowing as you sip through the chaos. Unfortunately, the drink veered into toothpaste territory for me — evoking baking soda volcano experiments from school. Fond memories. Less fond taste. The brain custard tart it was paired with, however, was phenomenal. Creamy indulgence, elevated further by live truffle shaving. Sublime.

Hydration Course: Coconut water jelly — playful, textural, and a clever way to replenish electrolytes mid-meal.

Course 5 (GI Inspiration: Guntur Chilli, Andhra Pradesh)

A spicy cocktail with a dehydrated chicken-skin rim — savoury, umami-heavy, deeply satisfying. Paired with a bone marrow gougère — lightly charred outside, velvety within. Both were simple and delicious. A transitory course — enjoyable in the moment, though not one that lingered long after.

Course 6 (GI Inspiration: Ladakhi Apricot, Ladakh)

A small pour — sharp, fruity, citrus-forward — with a hidden apricot concentrate that revealed itself at the end of the sip. It felt like dessert arriving early, and I loved that. Paired with Bhutwa Sheekh, burnt tomato ice cream, and an Amritsari kulcha. As much of a meat lover as I am, it was the burnt tomato ice cream with the kulcha that stole the show. Cold, creamy, slightly smoky against the layered, buttery bread — mind-blowingly delicious. The sweetness of the drink, the kulcha and ice cream together created what, in my view, was the best pairing of the entire evening

Course 7 (GI Inspiration: Bhimkol Banana, Assam)

A barf ka gola — banana-led, with citrus brightness cutting through. Childlike, playful, effective.

Course 8 (GI Inspiration: Black Cardamom, Sikkim)

Think a gimlet meeting cardamom — spirit-forward, smoky, with a slight sweetness. The food leaned toward a modern interpretation of nihari: a rich, buttery gravy holding compressed, braised kareli — tender, gelatinous, deeply comforting. It came with a saffron-butter brioche shaped like corn — fragrant and delicate.

Course 9 (GI Inspiration: Coorg Coffee, Karnataka & Nolen Gur, West Bengal)

A coffee cocktail that felt like a filter coffee martini — two familiar flavours combined confidently. The Nolen Gur rosogulla didn’t quite work for me. Overly sweet, and the raisins felt unnecessary. A rare miss. Thankfully, the evening wasn’t ready to end there.

Final Surprise Course (GI Inspiration: Malta, Uttarakhand)

Jeet walked up with a medicinal dropper and placed three or four drops of the final offering onto the back of my fist — instructing me to lick it instantly. It slightly numbed my mouth — which I enjoyed — before leaving behind a bright, citrusy, floral aftertaste. And then, a soft-serve ice cream cone. Small. Milky. Nostalgic. The cone is fragrant and crisp.

A gentle, charming ending to a lovely experience.

ELLE Gourmet’s Verdict

First things first — there is plenty to come back for. The trio behind Barbet & Pals has created an experience that is rare outside the ultra–fine-dining hotel circuit in Delhi — and that, in itself, is a check. A menu rooted in India’s GI-tagged ingredients feels fresh and intentional — another check. The space is designed with collaboration in mind. There’s clear scope for guest chefs and mixologists from across the globe to step into The Cavity — positioning it not just as a neighbourhood experiment in GK, but as a format that could travel, evolve, and potentially become an international talking point. There’s also no permanence here. The menu will rotate entirely every few months, giving diners a genuine reason to return — not out of loyalty alone, but curiosity. From the preview I tasted, there were highs and a few dips — more of the former. Some cocktails and courses are exceptional; others feel like they’re still finding their final form. The way forward seems simple: stay committed to the vision, listen to feedback, refine, and sharpen before unveiling the next iteration.

One lingering thought stayed with me as I left: Is this a nine-course food menu or a cocktail-led experience? The positioning leans toward a cocktail tasting, but at moments the food outshines the drink — at least for me. Perhaps that’s not a flaw but an opportunity. There may be room to lean further into the spirited identity — an additional pour here, or a slightly more generous progression across the nine courses could elevate the experience even further. A few more cocktails would not only reinforce the concept but also allow guests to explore a broader range of flavours, leave a little more buoyant, and ultimately, have even more fun. Or perhaps the answer lies in embracing the duality fully — a tasting menu where food and drink compete, collaborate, and occasionally steal the spotlight from one another. Either way, The Cavity feels alive — and that’s its greatest strength.