Houz Cafe & Bar

Rahul Prabhakar

3 months ago

5.0

Where Day Melts Into Night: Houz, Worldmark Gurugram There is a particular kind of restaurant that Gurugram has been quietly getting better at — the all-day destination that doesn't lose its nerve when the sun goes down. Most places that attempt this transition fumble it badly. The daytime café, cosy and well-lit, suddenly dims its lights, cranks up the decibels, and hopes that nobody notices it has become an entirely different — and frequently inferior — establishment. The food suffers. The warmth evaporates. The kitchen, sensing that cocktails are now the point, quietly stops trying. Houz, on the first and second floors of Worldmark in Sector 65, does not make that mistake. And in a market as competitive and as crowded as the Gurugram dining scene, that restraint — that discipline — is worth sitting up and paying attention to. I'll confess that I arrived with the mild scepticism that tends to accompany any restaurant billing itself as both a "premium culinary destination" and a "nightlife experience." These are phrases that have been used so liberally across the NCR that they have almost entirely lost their meaning. What I found, however, was that Houz earns both descriptions. The space has genuine aesthetic intelligence — warm, considered, neither trying too hard in the day nor abandoning all pretence of elegance at night. It is the kind of place that knows what it is, which is rarer than it sounds. But let me tell you about the food, because that is really what matters, and that is really where Houz surprised me. The Man Behind the Table Chef Bishwajit Haldar came to my table personally, and within minutes it became apparent that he is one of those rare kitchen professionals who understands that hospitality is not a department separate from cooking — it is cooked into every dish. He is attentive without being intrusive, knowledgeable without being a bore about it, and his instinct for what a table needs at any given moment is, frankly, exceptional. In a city where good chefs are increasingly common but good hosts remain scarce, he is a genuinely refreshing presence. The menu he has constructed is, on paper, ambitious to the point of recklessness. Continental, Italian, Mediterranean, Asian, Turkish, Lebanese, North Indian — all under one roof. The experienced diner will immediately raise an eyebrow. Menus that cast this wide a net almost always catch very little. Houz, however, manages the tension between range and quality with considerable skill. There are dishes here that would hold their own in restaurants specialising exclusively in their respective cuisines. On the Glass: Pookie Picante We began — as one should at a place like this — with cocktails. The Pookie Picante deserves its place on any shortlist of well-constructed contemporary Indian bar drinks. Don Julio is a reliable foundation, but what elevates this beyond the standard spicy margarita riff is the grilled cucumber — an ingredient that introduces a smokiness that plays against the jalapeño heat with real sophistication. The agave nectar brings everything together without tipping into sweetness. It is a cocktail that knows exactly what it is doing, and it does it with confidence. The Turkish Table: Where the Kitchen Really Speaks If there is a single dish at Houz that I would ask you to order before anything else, it is the Hummus Bhe Lahme — their bestseller, and deservedly so. The hummus itself is properly made: silky, balanced, with that particular depth that comes from good tahini and patience. But the slow-cooked lamb on top is the revelation. Six hours in a mud pot does something to mutton that no other cooking method quite replicates — it produces a tenderness that is somehow also intense, a concentration of flavour that lands on the palate with quiet authority. The pickles and the bazlama bread complete the picture. This is a dish that would make a Levantine grandmother nod slowly and say nothing further. High praise. The Middle Course: Heat, Tang, and Restraint The Drums of Heaven arrived next, and I appreciated that the kitchen had not simply coated chicken wings in sauce and called it Indochinese. There is a boldness to the preparation — the sauce has structure, the heat has direction — and the wings themselves are properly cooked, which sounds like a low bar but is surprisingly often missed. The Irani Lemon Chicken is the kind of dish that rewards those who pay attention. At first taste, it seems almost delicate — the lemon is there, the herbs are present, the garlic is restrained. Then the saffron announces itself, and suddenly the dish reveals its Iranian DNA: that combination of floral, citrus, and herb that is one of the great underappreciated flavour signatures of the Middle East. This is subtle cooking, and I mean that as a compliment. The Kadai Chicken, by contrast, makes no attempt at subtlety. Bell peppers, spiced onion-tomato gravy, bold and direct — it is comfort food executed with confidence, and there is nothing wrong with that. Not every dish needs to surprise you. The Closer: Champaran Mutton, Ahuna Style I want to spend a moment on the Champaran Mutton, because it represents something I find genuinely exciting in the current dining landscape: the rehabilitation of regional Indian cooking in premium restaurant settings. The Ahuna style — Bihar's centuries-old method of sealing meat in a pot with mustard oil and whole spices and leaving time to do the rest — has never received the recognition it deserves. It is not a pretty technique. It does not plate elegantly. It does not lend itself to the kind of Instagram aesthetics that drive restaurant choices in 2025. What it does produce is mutton of extraordinary depth — earthy, complex, fragrant with mustard, warm with whole spices that have had hours to give everything they have. Houz treats this dish with the respect it deserves, and the result is the kind of thing that makes you put down your fork for a moment and simply sit with it. The Verdict Houz is not a perfect restaurant — few interesting ones are. But it is a serious one, and it is doing something genuinely difficult: maintaining culinary standards across an ambitious menu while simultaneously building the kind of atmosphere that makes people want to stay well past dinner. The food is honest, frequently excellent, and occasionally remarkable. The service, anchored by Chef Bishwajit's personal attention, is warm and assured. In a city that sometimes mistakes volume for vivacity and spectacle for substance, Houz is quietly, confidently building a case for something more considered. I intend to return.

Sonal Minhas

2 months ago

5.0

Amazing authentic Turkish food, the dips are authentic and full of flavours as if they have just been made. The starters and main course are cooked in slow flame hence perfectly cooked. Bulgur wheat starters are soft and a must try. Deepak was serving us and recommended very good options.

Manpreet Singh Minhas

1 month ago

5.0

Turkish dishes are mind-blowing.. Server .. Jaiprakash Mishra.. was very polite and gave meticulous attention and great recommendations on the menu.. Good ambience, bar and waterfront backdrop views, etc.. made it memorable evening well-spent with family..

Sonal Minhas

2 months ago

5.0

Amazing authentic Turkish food, the dips are authentic and full of flavours as if they have just been made. The starters and main course are cooked in slow flame hence perfectly cooked. Bulgur wheat starters are soft and a must try.

Ken Singh

2 months ago

5.0

Good Turkish fusion food.. Great servicw with a smile.. Thanks Deepak... Good overall.

PRIYANKA MANCHANDA

1 month ago

2.0

I will start off with a trigger warning-I had booked this place for my manager’s farewell and it was a rainy and full of traffic day in Gurgaon as you can imagine. We reached there around 9PM and my colleagues were there around 8PM and the service between 8-10PM the only duration we could stand this place for was absolutely pathetic. They started playing super loud music at 9 and there were some bunch of girls dancing inside and all waiters and bartenders are just staring at them instead of servicing us. Hardly 6-7 people in the entire restaurant and we had to come in till the doorman again n again to get service. Worst choice ever for a civilised crowd who expects a decent service and good food(Which was also Average considering we only ordered tandoor stuff)

Farhan Khan

1 week ago

1.0

A disappointing and rather inaccurate take on Turkish cuisine. The restaurant claims to serve authentic Turkish food, but what we experienced was far from it. The “Open Shawarma” mentioned on the menu with flatbread, pickles and fries arrived as boneless chicken tikka on a tiny bed of hummus, with pita separately and no sides. Even after complaining, the pickles were still missing and the salad was typical Indian-style onion and tomato. The Adana Kebab was essentially a deep-fried seekh kebab served on naan, again with an Indian-style salad. Our dal chawal was also disappointing and excessively spicy. Overall, poor value and definitely not authentic Turkish food. Wouldn’t recommend it.

Ankit

2 months ago

1.0

The restaurant waiters are very rude i got an offer of +2 free brownies from district app but they refused to give them before the bill even after the bill they deliberately delayed it for 20-25 mins , they had no intention to serve it otherwise the food was decent..My suggestion to the restaurant will be if you can't deliver please don't publish offers

N

1 month ago

1.0

Service was very slow, it took them almost and hr to serve food and the taste was not upto the mark. Very bad experience.

Rajesh Brijmohan Sharma

1 month ago

1.0

Visited yesterday There was supposed to an event soothing Sunday Total lie They cheated