Keema Mutton at Baldev Dhaba
By Anubhav Sapra
Where – GTB Nagar Bus Depot
Sweden se aaya mera dost! My foodie friend, who is also a neighbor, runs an Indian food truck in Sweden. Ever year, around Diwali, he visits his family in Delhi. However, more than this, I believe his visit is more about experimenting at newly opened eateries and catching up with the old ones. The other day, we met and discussed the food in Delhi at great length. After a brief question-answer session, he took me to ‘Baldev Dhaba’ at GTB Nagar Bus Depot.
The place is rustic. The dhaba is on the pavement. At one end, stands Baldev and his brother Kishan with a big Patila of keema mutton and at the other, are the benches. It was great to see the hungry souls, majority being bus and auto drivers, sitting and screaming with rejoice, for a plate of keema mutton and tandoori rotis. This place made me recall another eatery that used to be in Ghanta Ghar by the name of ‘Moti Dhaba’ where we used to devour keema gravy with innumerable rotis. Unfortunately, Moti Dhaba is closed but Baldev is running in full force.
The dhaba was started in 1960 by Late Narayan Das Sachdeva and later his two sons Baldev and Kishan took over it and introduced the most popular dish, ‘Keema Mutton’ in 1974.
The keema mutton is priced at Rs 140- 2 pieces of mutton in a small plate are served with rotis. After gobbling up over 10 rotis, all we had to pay was a meager Rs. 30. Over a plate of mutton, Baldev sprinkles some homemade garam masala and serves it straight to the soul with crispy tandoori rotis. Even though the gravy appears to be very spicy, being bright red in color, the spices were just right. The red colour is just a result of the tomatoes used to make this flavourful dish. The minced mutton gravy with pieces of mutton on bones was excellent.
Baldev dhaba also has vegetarian dishes- chana dal, matar paneer, kadi, rajma – all priced at Rs 20 for half a plate and the rotis are Rs 3 per piece.
I mopped the plate filled with gravy and came home satisfied discussing with my foodie friend about the myriad of new options in the food market. In the coming days, I am sure we are going to explore more! And eat even more!
