Bhelpuri

Along with Maggi, Bhelpuri has always occupied a special place in my......stomach. It was so simple to make, and could be whipped anywhere and in no time.... I have fond childhood memories of mixing together murmura, onions, dhania, tomatoes,potatoes (of course mummy did the chopping), oil, namkeen and lotsa tomato sauce in a big patila, and then devouring it for an early dinner. The recipe would vary depending upon the namkeen - sometimes salted peanuts would do , and sometimes I'd just add alu bhujia.
In Delhi, there is a bhelpuriwalla everywhere, selling chana and moongfali side by side...but unfortunately most of the Bhelpuri is pretty ordinary,easily ignored for samosas and burgers.
It is when I entered Delhi University, that I heard about a very popular bhelpuriwalla, being the foodie I am, my stomach led me straight to him. He is an old bald guy, maybe around 50-60 years old and always wears a white kameez. His stall is band opposite the Jai Jawan Stall or the entrance to the botany department, and the big garden, he is adjacent to the entrance to the Holistic Food canteen, the usual place where the U special stops. His stall is especially crowded during lunchtime, with students , teachers and old timers and you may have to wait, as he can prepare only so many plates of bhelpuri at a time, he also happens to be the guy you want to turn to for a gyaan on the ways of the University. He will take a big patila, put together murmura, peanuts, namkeen, chopped dhania,onions and boiled potatoes, then he will ask you "mirchi?"- you are supposed to say kum,zyada or normal, and after dousing required quantities of his homemade hari and meethi chutney, he will squeeze a lime on top and give it a good churn. The moment he dishes out the bhelpuri in your plate, the smell entices your appetite, and you know something that smells this good, must taste good as well......and you are not dissapointed!, the bhelpuri has a different taste that what you get elsewhere, there is the sourness of lime, the hotness of green chillies, just the right amount of sweetness to mitigate it, the papri is crunchy and the peanuts taste great. No wonder the man does great business all day, as you sit on the side of the road, enjoying your bhelpuri you can see his loyal clientele - from old teachers, to young 19 year olds, i have seen many mercs stop by to collect their packed bhelpuris. He does a great job at packing them - either sukhi or bani hui. If you choose sukhi, he will separately put all the ingredients into poly bags(I guess Green laws don't apply to good bhelpuriwallas), so that you can go home and prepare it fresh, but he can also just put the prepared thing into bag if you want to, but do take care that the bhelpuri gets soggy after about 15 minutes.
one day, I asked my self what makes his bhelpuri so good, so I got a sukhi one packed and dissected each component at home.....the peanuts were ordinarily fried, even the namkeen and murmura were nothing special, and the veggies were the same as those in my fridge.....the difference makers were the chutneys. Both of them were totally different from the usual hari and meethi chutneys served at most restaurants with samosas and kachoris. The hari chutney, was very hot and tangy at the same time, your mouth burned with the green chillies yet the tang enticed you to have more...it was amazing, the meethi chutney wasn't too sweet, it was mildly sweet and tangy and when both the chutneys were mixed together, the taste was heavenly! Obviously, the guy must have his own secret recipe for these, but as long as he keeps churning out mouthwatering bhelpuris who cares???
He also does other chaats, but I have never tried them in the 3 years I have been visiting him, a plate sets you back by 18 bucks.

Nirula's - Ice Creams n' More

It bought fast food and quality ice creams to Delhi, and it still holds its own against the Mcdonalds and KFCs.
Nirulas started out as.....
I have been going to Nirulas ever since I have been living in Delhi, and it continues to be best choice for some great ice cream and with branches all over the city it's easy to find one. The restaurants themselves are lively and have an indianised feel about them, with the walls covered in typical Delhi culture. The staff is generally quite nice, and have been quite patient with me as i try out 3-4 flavors of ice cream before choosing one. The food consists of essentially three sections, the now ubiquitous burgers,pizzas and foot long; indian thalis and kebabs and the desserts like ice creams, shakes and pastries.
Of the first section, their omlette burger and aloo grill burger stand out, the former because Nirulas is the only fast food joint offering an omlette burger and the latter as the aloo is actually grilled, not deep fried patties as in McDonalds. The Big Boy burger and the innovative Nutribyte burgers are good too, the rest of the fare is essentially the normal fast food stuff, nothing special. In the Indian section, the north Indian dishes are comparable to what you'd get at a decent north Indian restaurant, but do try their naan and dal makhni mini meal, it's great value for money at 30 bucks, but if you are looking for quality north indian cuisine, there are better places.
Ice Creams - Now this is what's good, real good!, to even compare Nirulas to kwality walls and mother dairy would be worse than an insult, if you have never tried anything other than the thelewalla fare, then you have been missing out on some of the best ice cream in delhi.
My personal favorite flavors would be Delhi Delight, Butterscotch Crunch, Tooti Frooti, Thandai and the Jamoca Almond Fudge. Wait, ain't I missing something?......hell i am!, The Hot Chocolate Fudge(HCF)!, arguably the best ice cream sundae I've ever eaten, I've heard of people coming to niruals only to sample this beauty. Served in a tall glass, with three scoops of alternating vanilla ice cream and chocolate fudge sauce and topped with roasted cashew nuts, this is simply divine!, these days they even serve a single and double scoop version at lower prices of around Rs 50 and Rs 75, the real thing comes for around 100 bucks, I'd definitely recommend you go for the triple scoop, trust me 100 bucks is worth it for the experience of digging into 3 layers for gooey chocolate swirling with vanilla ice cream. Also noteworthy (though not one of my favorites) is nutty buddy, which as you can guess from the name is full of nuts, it's essentially a nut coated scoop of chocolate ice cream, i personally feel that the nuts are in excess and kill the whole crunchy-nuts-in-soft-ice-cream experience, but a lot of folk absolutely love it, so give it a go. A great new addition is chillo, a low cost mango-vanilla/strawberry-vanilla cone for just 15 bucks - great when you feel guilty for shelling out 40 bucks for good ice cream.
The shakes, i feel, are over priced at around 70-80 bucks and the pastries ar limited in variety but passable in taste, it's the usual chocolate,black forest, pineapple fare.
They also sell home made cookies, chocolates,sauces and condiments, though as i have never bought them so i can't comment on them. Even though Nirulas has got some competition with Baskin Robbins setting base here, but the HCF and the indigenous flavors keep it a favorite for ice cream fans. I plan to do Niruals vs Baskin Robbins Ice Cream shootout, the Ice Cream Wars in the future.
A personal Tip to get great HCF at home : Get a tub of vanilla ice cream, from Nirulas, this is the secret to their great HCF, these days they have offer of getting a vanilla tub free with a premium flavor tub, all for 150 bucks - sweet!, so once you got your ice cream, get some chocolate - dairy milk will do fine, but nestle works better, now google for hot chocolate fudge recipe, sort around till you find one which suits your kitchen inventory, you generally need milk, sugar, butter and maybe cream - all readily available, then follow instructions on the website and prepare your own fudge sauce, trust me it's quite easy, took me 15 minutes to get a great sauce, just keep in mind to melt the chocolate in a microwave or a double broiler. Finally, chop some cashew nuts and roast till brown, now all you need to do is take a tall glass and dish out some great home made HCF!, you can easily get around 3-4 glasses and end up saving 250 bucks and hey you get a tub of premium flavor ice cream too, now that is value for money!
Directions: Well no need for map and directions, it's hard not to spot a Nirulas somewhere in Delhi!
They have got a great website from where you can even order your food, www.nirulas.com

Great Chinese Food at Cheap Prices - Momos Point

The second lane of Kamla Nagar, adjacent to the main Bungalow Road is full of Chinese Eateries, who also serve Thai and Tibetan, all of them have almost the same items on the menu with the decor and the taste being the main distinguishing factor, and if taste matters more to you head straight to Momo's Point. Momo's Point is easily the most celebrated of the lot, you will rarely NOT be on th waiting list during eating hors on work days, it's Crispy Spicy Potatoes are legendary among college folk, i have had it 30 times back to back and i still can't get enough of it!
Once you do manage to get off the waiting list (a good thing is they take your order even as you wait for a seat), and get inside you will notice the rather spartan decor, which to put simply is just tables and chairs, thankfully the chairs aren't uncomfortable and they do have an AC, clearly food is the place's USP. The menu has a good variety of Chinese, Tibetan and Thai dishes, but not many dessert options. It goes without saying, that the above mentioned Crispy Spicy Potatoes are a must order, but what's funny is the momo's -chicken and veg are not that good at all- a little too hard and rubbery for my liking, but the pork momo's are scrumptious. The combo meals are a good too,and great bang for buck.
But probably the best thing about the place is it's super-duper-fast service, they are fast, really fast, you're ready to dig in around 5 minutes from placing the order!, but the staff ain't too courteous, clearly the emphasis is on efficiency.
Directions: Walk till Mcdonalds on Bungalow Road, take a left turn, walk a few steps and take the left turn into a narrow street, momo's point straight ahead.
Map:

View Larger Map

One of the BEST Chhole Bhatures in Delhi! - Chache Di Hatti

Chacha's - Chhole Bhature Nirvana
I was never quite fond of this staple Punjabi dish, the thought of oily Bhaturas and spicy Chholes didn't quite tingle my tongue, but that was before Chacha's happened. It was my first year in Hansraj College, DU and the adjacent Kamla Nagar market or K-nags was the place to hangout, Chacha's had already built quite a reputation even among us freshers and one could always spot serpentine Que's around lunch time emanating from their hole-in-a-wall shop, so i finally decided to find out whether it was any better from my previous bad Chhole Bhatures experiences, and boy it was!
The shop proclaims itself and Chache Di Hatti, pindi wale, as the Chhole recipe is an original of Rawalpindi. It's a tiny shop with tables outside where you have to eat standing,at the counter you will find an old, burly man taking orders and dishing out plates of Chhole Bhature.
The chhole was spicy and zesty and the tangy chutney on top made it heavenly, the Bhaturas (go for the aloo wale), were not rubbery or heavy at all, they were soft and quite light, and that's when i became a hardcore fan of the dish. I have been going there regularly for two years now and the quality has been very consistent, the only thing i find bad is the lack of seating arrangement, come lunch time and hordes of locals, students and univ. staff descend upon the tiny shop, once you manage to negotiate the long Que, you have to compete with a dozen people for 3 small round tables, and don't try to edge yourself ahead, the shop has a couple of guys to maintain discipline, and here's a tip - there are separate Que's for men and women, if you have someone of the fairer sex accompanying you, request her to stand in line, the women's line is generally shorter and gets faster service.
The best way to finish of the meal is with a Banta from the numerous nearby Banta stands.
Directions: Walk on the bungalow road, which is bang in front of the Hansraj college hostel gate, keep walking until you see the Yamaha showroom on the left, pass a clothes shop and the a left turn along the rebook store, cross the road and keep walking until you see a narrow street on the left, the shop is just at the mouth of the galli, you should be able to make out from the long Que's.
Prices: everything's under 20 bucks.
Map:

View Larger Map