Mizpah Delhi

Milky tea, block prints

Mizpah is a house in Safdarjung Enclave run as a small bed and breakfast — a boutique alternative, as it styles itself, fully staffed but domestic in feel. There are four rooms, each named for a flower: Iris on the ground floor with its own entrance, Rose a first-floor suite with a private living room and terrace, Jasmine a family room that stretches to three, and Lily up top with a wall of indigo fabric.

Caroline, who made the place, describes the thinking as Anglo-Indian in the fondest sense — gentle times, warm milky tea, comfy chairs, an afternoon in one's own little oasis — and the rooms follow through with block-printed quilts, cushions and robes, cane pendant lamps and a lounge with a blue fireplace wall.

Nostalgia treated as a comfort rather than a theme.

The kitchen cooks Anglo-Indian, Bengali and Delhi dishes at home-cooked pace, with vegan and gluten-free covered, and the little Mizpah Cafe handles the in-between hours. Air conditioning runs through HEPA filters, a massage therapist visits on request, and Deer Park, Hauz Khas and the Dilli Haat craft bazaar are all close at hand; the airport is roughly twenty-five minutes away.