What Wengers is known for

Swiss founders Jeanne Sterchi Wenger and H.C. Wenger opened Wengers in 1926, moving to Connaught Place in the early 1930s, where it remains the oldest surviving establishment. It introduced Delhi to its first cold coffee and mutton patty, alongside its rum ball and chocolate eclairs.

Wengers traces to 1924, when Swiss entrepreneurs Jeanne Sterchi Wenger and H.C. Wenger launched a catering venture serving British troops in Delhi. Two years later they formalized it as a bakery and confectionery, opening at Exchange Stores in Kashmere Gate before relocating to the newly built Connaught Place in the early 1930s. A century later, it is still there, described locally as the oldest surviving establishment in the circle.

The bakery's reputation rests on a run of Delhi firsts: Wengers is credited with introducing the city to its first cold coffee and its first mutton patty, items that moved from novelty to local icon over decades of Connaught Place foot traffic. The rum ball, still on the counter today, became its own kind of institution alongside those savory firsts.

The shop's chocolate eclairs and Swiss rolls have kept pace with that reputation, drawing customers who return specifically for them. In 2011 the family added Wengers Deli as a separate, more casual outlet nearby, serving burgers, paninis, and desserts. But the original bakery and confectionery, still turning out pastries, cakes, breads, and chocolates from its Connaught Place shop, remains the anchor of a business that has now outlasted nearly every original tenant of the circle around it.