A great new spot in Delhi's trendiest neighbourhood brings together wine, cinema and American comfort food.

South Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village is a breeding ground for restaurants and cafés. Not surprising, as it attracts a rainbow coalition of nationalities all united in their quest for cheap beer, chilled wine, a view of the hauz and a near-militant desire to be the first to dip their toes in whatever leftfield attraction’s cropped up over the weekend. It makes for an interesting landscape, albeit an electricity-starved one that thunders with the sound of a hundred gensets. Sadly most of this new crop aren’t worth the miniscule amount of square footage they occupy. And the Iron Curtain is the newest, but unlike the rest, this one’s worth the schlep through those dusty lanes.

A “cinema café”, Iron Curtain combines a mini-cinema (it seats 15, on repurposed Innova car seats) with American comfort food. Starring the triple bill of Philly cheesesteak, reclining leather bucket seats and a rotating roster of film, from Fargo to arthouse shorts, this is the most civilized cinema experience you’ll find in this city. But don’t start queuing for tickets just yet; that mini-cini’s only for private viewings. However, if you play nice with the owners, they will most likely acquiesce and allow you into a screening. It’s worth a shot, because their tastes in film are a real mixed bag ­- from behemoth blockbusters and low-key releases all the way through to the classics.

That Philly cheesesteak is a genuinely great sandwich, punctuated with caramelized onions and bursting from a multigrain roll. Sandwich lovers should also give the po boy a go, assertively seasoned and stuffed with crunchy battered shrimp, slathered in mayo and dressed with lettuce and tomatoes. The dining room’s bright, airy and peppered with posters of classic films, the jalapeño poppers are great, and the thundering roar of the generators is muted. At Iron Curtain mise-en-place meets mise-en-scène and it’s not just my dual interests of cinema and wine that will keep me going back.

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