Menu & Illustration Design for Tashi Delek
Menu Design, Digital Illustration, Layout, Print design
On the Job:
Avani Lakhotia
Nature - led digital watercolours are a core part of my illustration style, and this project allowed me to bring that approach into a full visual experience.
Tashi Dalek, a boutique hotel in Gangtok, approached me to design their restaurant and bar menus with a simple yet evocative brief: draw inspiration from the culture and landscape of Sikkim. Surrounded by mountains, mist, and flowering plants, the hotel sits in the heart of the city but feels deeply connected to nature, a feeling we wanted guests to experience the moment they opened the menu.
For the food menu, I illustrated flowers native to Sikkim and often found in the wild: Angel’s Trumpet, Rhododendron, the rare Blue Poppy, and the Noble Orchid. These watercolour botanicals became the visual language of the menu, adding softness, familiarity, and a sense of place.
For the bar menu, I drew subtle inspiration from motifs seen in traditional Thangka art. While my style is contemporary, the leaf and floral shapes echo the geometry and symbolism of Thangka paintings, creating a quiet link between the hotel’s identity and Sikkim’s cultural heritage.
The final layouts were designed to feel calm, refined, and intentional, letting the illustrations breathe while keeping the menus easy to read and navigate. The result is a pair of menus that capture the essence of Sikkim’s landscape and artistic traditions, offering guests a small, memorable encounter with the region before the meal even begins.
