Delhi’s most crowded neighbourhood’s making room for some healthy eating.

There’s something for everyone in Hauz Khas Village. Except, it’s always been hard to find anything to eat that’s even remotely healthy. Enter Crostini.

Tiny, like all its neighbours, this first floor walk-up sits just above kitsch emporia O Layla, in the middle lane. A bright respite for HKV visitors and residents alike, this teeny bakery-café is best experienced as a pit stop for juice and wholesome baked goods.
 
The pasta is wholewheat, sandwiches are served on rye and flaxseed-coated multigrain paninis and the strawberries and avocadoes are farm-fresh. Smoothies such as the Berry Blast and the protein-packed peanut butter smoothie are sweet deals without the usual accompanying guilt. Oh, and everything is vegetarian.
 
It’s not all great: the wraps are wholesome alright, but they’re also dry and reminiscent of an outsized roti, and the calzone, while wholewheat, has a mealy texture that reminds you with every bite that your meal is a virtuous one. But the fruit and fibre-starved should still pop in, even if only to grab a zingy glass of strawberry, pineapple and apple juice, a homemade ginger ale to go with one of Crostini’s wholewheat muffins, or a slice of nutty toast with preserves.

They haven’t invented a health-food restaurant yet that can properly satisfy lovers of animal fats, and Crostini’s no different. But for trying, it earns serious (wholewheat) brownie points.

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