Tag: Chandni Chowk

Posted on March 21, 2018

Shiv Misthan Bhandar

It is said that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, and Delhi has no dearth of options when it comes to sizzling breakfast options. Be it vegetarian or non-vegetarian, you would find it all in this walled-city. So one day I went around old Delhi in search of some good vegetarian dishes, and was instantly recommended Shiv Misthan Bhandar’s bedmi aloo.

Shiv Mishtan Bhandar is one of the legendary shop in Chandini Chowk. Established in 1910, by Shri Mohar Singh Yadav, Shiv Mishtan Bhandar is recognized for a wide range of sweets and snacks of Rajasthani cuisine. Shiv Mishthan Bhandar is known to serve its customers with heavenly delights prepared with pure desi ghee.

If you are there in the morning, you can dish on nagori halwa, a delicious dish, which consists of small puris which you stuff with halwa or relish their famous bedmi, a delicious meal of two big puris stuffed with a dal mixture, which is served with potato sabzi and chole. Flavorful methi chutney and pickles are also served alongwith.

Apart from bedmi aloo, they have chholey bhature, kachori and samosa . They sell six kinds of sweets : jalebi and imarti, gulab jamun, suji halwa, mung dal halwa and malpua. Shiv Misthan’s jalebi is juicy, yet crisp.

Earlier, one had to stand and eat there, but now the place has expanded and remodeled with a decent seating space. If you are eating there, bearers keep filling your plate with sabzi at regular intervals.

There are only 11 items on the menu but Shiv Misthan keeps a strict check on quality. Few of its signature dishes are must try, like Bedmi Poori served with Aloo ki Sabzi along with spicy Methi ki Chutney & Choley, Halwa Nagori with Crispy Poori, Jalebi, Imarti.

When visiting Shiv Mishthan Bhandar, you are ought to leave your calorie conscious mind back home to fully enjoy the of taste and tradition of old delhi. My craving for bedmi aloo has been met, when are you going?

Location : 375, Kucha Ghasi Ram, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi

Cost of Two : Rs 100 (Approx)

Posted on March 18, 2018

Haji Mohd. Hussain Fried Chicken

Jama Masjid is quite a delight for people looking for authentic street food of Delhi. The aroma of different kababs, parathas, mithais have served as crowd puller since time immemorial and one such gem of Old Delhi is Haji Mohd. Hussain Fried Chicken. Since 40 years, the modest eatery is serving some of the finest fried chicken in Delhi.

The mouth-watering Mughlai preparations are every non-veg lover’s dream come true. The chicken is first marinated in different spices, and then half-fried. The marination lends the perfect balance of spices in the juicy and tender chunks. The person who fries the chicken legs even checks the chicken piece with his hands to ensure the piece is well- fried and not undercooked.

When served, the portion comes with spicy chutney, green chillies and raw onions. The chicken has a crunchy outer and is super-juicy inside. It is complemented well with rumali roti, onions and tangy chutney.

For maximum crispness, the chicken is cut into small pieces to be fried in huge pan of boiling oil. They fry the half done chicken again before serving. Double frying the chicken results crunchy outside and moist and tender inside.

Don’t expect a very hygienic environment or an upscale service, as it serves in a small shop but offers lip smacking food at reasonable rates. Haji Mohd. Hussain Fried Chicken lies in the vicinity of Jama Masjid and opens by 11 in the morning and serves till 11 at night.

There is no seating available. One has to stand and eat or mostly people prefer to get these delicious treats parceled for home. The moist and tender delight would is sure to impress all chicken lovers in town.

A must try dish for all.

Location : 113, Matia Mahal Road, Bazaar Matia Mahal, Jama Masjid, New Delhi

Cost for two : Rs 300

Posted on March 17, 2018

Khan Omelette Corner

Omelettes are the right choice of food at any hour of the day. Be it breakfast, lunch, evening snacks or early dinner. Omelette is a delicious breakfast delicacy prepared by shallow-frying beaten eggs added with grated cheese, diced onions, green chilies, coriander leaves etc. seasoned with salt, ground black pepper and served hot with brown bread.

A heaven like place for eggetarians and foodies, is Khan Omelette Corner- a small roadside shop standing between the busy market of Lal kuan and Fatehpuri, Delhi.

Khan Omelette Corner is known for its superbly flavorful Cheese Omelette. This place will change your perception of a variety of dishes that you can whip out off a humble egg. This food joint offers its visitors a lot of variety to choose from.

Moreover menu is designed for all type of food lovers and the best example is diet omelette for the ones who don’t want add more fat in their healthy preparation. Their light and fluffy omelette is made with egg white of 3 farm/desi eggs prepared in olive oil and served with brown bread.

Best part of Khan Omelette corner is the use of raw spices. Another unique preparation as the desi omelette loaded with cheese slice, in-between and above. Don’t miss their lip smacking desi Egg Omelette.

We bet that one visit to this flavorsome place will make you fall in love with khan’s omelette. A combination of excellence and experience of making egg dishes is the reason which makes “Khan Omelette Corner” a popular stop for all the egg lovers.

Location : 48, Katra Bariyan, Lal Kuan, Near Fatehpuri Masjid, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi

Cost for Two : Rs 150

Posted on March 13, 2018 March 13, 2018

Jain Coffee House

We often eat butter or jam toast or fruits for breakfast. But have you ever thought combining all these things in your sandwich? Sounds like a crazy idea right! But a little coffee house nestled in the narrow lanes of Chawri Bazar did not just try the formula, but the very unique combination also became their biggest USP. Trust me guys this fruity version of sandwich is a treat to the soul.

Jain Coffee house has been serving traders of Chawri Bazaar since 1948 with tea, coffee, sandwiches, shakes and the ultimate and the unique fruit sandwiches. I am sure, you cannot find such sandwiches in whole Delhi.

It is a very small shop in the corner. With just 2-3 tables and 5-6 stools to sit on. The place is run by two brothers and they usually get bulk orders for club sandwiches along with tea from the traders but their fruit sandwiches are to die for.

The taste of those fresh fruits along with butter and a little jam is simply marvelous. They use fruits that are available in the season like mango for summers. They have a wide range of fruit sandwiches from chiku, banana, pineapple to mixed fruit sandwiches.

The sweet variety has two slices of bread layered with two or three fruits, of your choice, cheese slices, kesar chutney, almond butter, paneer and fruit powder,this he told me is specially ordered from Bangalore.

On the other hand, the namkeen sandwich has paneer, tomato slices, coriander leaves, green chillies and salt with fruit. You can pick from pineapple, mango, banana, black and green grapes, apples and plums depending on the season.

They also serve various milkshakes, Tea and coffee. Sometimes I wonder that these small joints serve better coffee than any expensive cafe.

Apart from great taste, these sandwiches are pocket friendly and satisfy your taste buds and makes you go to your happy place.

Want to try something new and crazy, visit Jain coffee house for a uniquely delightful experience.

Location : 4013, Raghuganj, Near PNB ATM, Chawri Bazar, New Delhi

Cost for Two : Rs 150

Posted on January 29, 2018

Padam chaat corner

As a city that prides itself at its richness in the street food culture, Chandni Chowk is the place to go if you wish to taste some of the finest that the city has to offer. Located at Kinari Bazaar in Chandni Chowk, this joint tempts people from various parts of the city.

Tasty chatpata chaat is one of the many tasty dishes for which dilliwalla’s are ready to forget their diet and enjoy those tangy spicy flavors guilt free.

Since 1947, Padam chaat corner serves lip smacking treats like Papdi Chaat, Raj Kachori, Gol Gappe and many more. The shop is currently run by the 3rd generation of their family. Everything they sell are made at home from papri’s to even the masala sprinked over the papri’s. So one can be sure that they neither compromise with taste nor health.

The famous pani puri or gol gappa has many names and different ways in which it is served in different regions. Almost every Indian is familiar with concept of gol gappa, being easily available on the streets.

When you hear the word gol gappa, the only thing which comes in your mind is a crisp fried puri filled with a mixture of flavored pudina water, potato chunks and chickpeas but a mere visit to Padam Chaat Corner in Old Delhi is enough to change your mind.

One of their specialty is the bharwa gol gappe. First padamji makes a mixture of Bhalla, channa, chunks of boiled potatoes and masala which is homemade and has a wonderful fragrance of bhuna jeera, salt, peper, and some secret spices which he would not disclose and gives us an excuse to visit padam chaat corner again and again to have this gol gappa’s.

Then the mixture is stuffed in the fried crisp puri’s and then dipped in tangy tamarind chutney (saunth) and finished with yoghurt makes these gol gappa’s irresistible.

This small joint works in a hygienic environment and must visit place for all chaat lovers.

Location : Gali Barf Wali, Near Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi

Cost for Two : Rs 100 (Approx)

Posted on March 14, 2016 March 12, 2016

Annapurna Bhandar

Annapurna Bhandar – Chandni Chowk

– Ayushi Mathur

Bengal is known for its numerous ambrosial delicacies and when it comes to desserts, Bengalis surely make some of the finest. The well-known sweets from Bengal are easily available around the city but to indulge in the most authentic form of Bengali dessert, one has to travel to Chandni Chowk market. In the ever so crowded streets of the market, lies a small and peaceful shop, known for its delicious sweet treats, called Annapurna Bhandar.

In 1920 Late Mr. Mohinimohan Mukherjee moved to the city of Delhi as a railway employee but unfortunately ended up losing one of his legs in an accident in the following year. Unable to continue as a railway operator, he decided to open a small sweet shop in the city in the year of 1922 to cater to the small Bengali community that resided in the area. Within seven years it grew in popularity and the final version of the shop was ready in the main market. The shop, then, had similar interiors to that of a railway coach. However in order to keep up with the wear and tear, the interiors had to be changed to its present form. The shop, Annapurna Bhandar, today is owned by the third generation in Mr. Mukherjee’s family and still retains its former glory despite its modern design.

The shop offers a wide-ranging menu right from the traditional spongy Rasgullas to the lesser known yet exquisite desserts like Kadambari. As I entered the shop, seeming perplexed by the umpteen choices available, Mr. Mukherjee asked me if I was looking for an extra sweet dessert or one that wasn’t too sweet. I decided to go with lightly sweetened and was suggested to try Rasomadhuri and Mishti Doi. I have to agree, I was hearing the name Rasomadhuri for the very first time and this made me even more excited to try it. Rasomadhuri has a very lightly saccharine taste and feels granular while chewing. It leaves an aftertaste of fresh pistachio in the mouth. Mishti Doi is velvety and flavorsome. The sugar in both the desserts was well blended and did not taste like extra sweeteners had been added.

All the sweets in the shop are made with cow milk and prepared fresh every day. Even with the immense popularity of the shop, Mr. Mukherjee remains uncertain of the future as the following generations are not keen on maintaining the family business. Despite the uncertainties, I am sure Annapurna Bhandar will continue serving delectable sweets for years to come as it is not just any family business, it is a legacy.

Anubhav Sapra is an avid foodie! He is a Founder but proudly calls himself a Foodie-in-chief at Delhi Food Walks. He is also a street-food and Indian regional cuisine connoisseur and loves to write about street-food.

Posted on March 9, 2016 March 3, 2016

KedarNath Halwai

BEDMI PURI

The smell of a unique kind of spicy gravy coupled with the sizzling sound of hot ghee in the kadhai holds a special allure for the morning walkers of the old Delhi area. Desirous of satiating the hunger of their stomachs after the tiring walk, with traditional breakfast dishes offered by one of the oldest eateries in the area, the walkers rest their exhausted bodies on the lone wooden bench that lies outside the shop. The puri is made of a special dough which is constituted by a combination of udad daal and coarse wheat flour. It is double fried in a huge kadhai in pure ghee, till it turns a delicious shade of golden-brown. The puris are crisp because of the coarse wheat flour in the dough and the double-frying. They are served with piping hot bedmi which is a traditional gravy with potato pieces in it. The gravy is cooked with the boiled potato pieces till it enshrouds them with a balanced mix of spices which may lean a bit towards too hot for those who are unused to the Indian taste-palette. A green chutney made of methi and pudina is also served along with the bedmi and puri. Its subtle flavour perfectly complements the crisp and coarse texture of the puri and the strong taste of the bedmi.

The dish has pleased the taste buds of the residents of Old Delhi for many decades. It forms a regular part of the Sunday breakfast for a large number of families in the area. It is regarded as one of the consistently well-liked traditional dishes for those who have managed to keep away from salads and fruits as breakfast options on weekends. They instead, treat themselves to extraordinarily fulfilling breakfasts from some of the oldest kitchens in Chandi Chowk that have somehow survived the surge of modern chains of eateries.

The Kedar Nath Premchand Halwai in 13 Kinari Bazaar, Parathe Wali Gali, boasts of serving the best bedmi-puri in Chandni Chowk. It was established in 1958 by Sri Kedar Nath who had migrated from Haryana. It is currently managed by his son, Vinod Kumar. The owners claim to use nothing but pure ghee for the preparation of their foodstuffs and the shop is renowned for its breakfast food and snacks like nagori-halwa, trikoni mathri, sev-boondi and khoi peda. The shop remains open from 8 a.m. to 9p.m. on all days.

Posted on November 29, 2015 November 30, 2015

HAZARI LAL JAIN KHURCHAN WALE

By Akshita Todi

ADDRESS- 2225, Kinari Bazar, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi,

TIMINGS- 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. (Sundays half day)

As I ventured into the winding streets of Chandni Chowk- Delhi’s throbbing market center which was first established during the Mughal rule, I experienced an overwhelming impact of the old Delhi charm. It was a bright summer morning, and the shops at Kinari Bazaar had not opened up yet, rendering the market quiet and unpeopled- a state which is diametrically opposite to its usual crowded, bustling atmosphere. Sequestered within the quiet narrow streets, a lone sweets’ shop was buzzing with activity, infusing the air with the smell of sweet condensed milk.

The shop was established in Kinari Bazar by the late Mr. Hazari Lal Jain 76 years ago and is currently managed by his son- Mr. Sunil Jain. It specializes in a variety of traditional milk-sweets like khurchan, malai laddoo, rabri, kalakand and gulab jamun. It also sells samosas with a filling made of a combination of peas, cashew nuts and raisins, as opposed to the usual potato filling for this is considered to be healthier. The shop is tiny and allows space for two stoves where large quantities of milk are boiled and condensed while 3-4 lungi clad men constantly engage themselves in the process of preparing the dishes. One of these men- Mr. Kalyan Singh- who has been working here for the past 26 years volunteered information about the shop freely, taking great interest in telling us about the preparation method for the shop’s speciality- Khurchan (meaning scrapings in hindi).

Khurchan is prepared by boiling milk for around 1- 1.5 hours. While the milk is boiling, the men use a thin twig to scrape off the layer of malai from the surface repeatedly. These scrapes are then layered with powdered sugar in a metal container. Khurchan has a very soft texture and the powdered sugar causes it to melt in one’s mouth. 3.5 liters of milk are required to prepare 0.5 kg of khurchan. The shop prides itself on using undiluted buffalo’s milk for making and selling dishes which form an essential part of the country’s traditional cuisine.

In the end, Mr. Singh decided to impart to me a precious few words of wisdom about my responsibility to the nation as an aspiring writer while he skillfully pulled out the malai off the surface of the boiling milk. His words brought home the reality of our country’s cultural condition whereby, men like him who strongly hold on to their tradition and make a living by selling the taste of this beloved tradition are simultaneously capable of an amazing sense of adaptability which allows them to endorse the idea of a strong nation with powerful women writers.

Posted on July 17, 2015 July 17, 2015

Ghaseeta Pehalwan Pakodewala

By Anubhav Sapra

It has been my observation that Pehalwans are generally obsessed with food. And due to this inclination, they turn out to be real food entrepreneurs. Majority of them have opened restaurants and food joints across Delhi. I remember, Pehalwan Lassi Wala in Vijay Nagar, who offers their patrons a big glass of lassi with a thick layer of cream on the top, at just Rs 25. I used to rush to him after examinations at Delhi University. The Lassi was the only respite from the hangover of reading political philosophers day and night. In addition to its cooling effects, it also causes drowsiness and made me sleep for hours after that.

At Churiwalan, in Old Delhi, Pehalwan’s Changezi Chicken is a well known name. The most famous Butter Chicken Shop in Matia Mahal, Aslam Chicken Corner is owned by Aslam Pehalwan. Another shop owned by a pehalwan in Old Delhi – Ghaseeta Pehalwan sells amazing pakodas. Recently, rains became an excuse for me to visit the pakoda shop to savour some Kalmi Vada Pakoda.

Making one’s way through Paranthewali gali, one can arrive at the junction called Tiraha of Gali Paranthewali, Nai Sadak and Kinari Bazar. There, at the corner of Gali Heeranand is a small shop which tends to attract everyone with the delectable aroma of freshly made pakodas. The shop is famously known as Rajesh Pakodewala where the portrait of Ghaseeta Pehalwan in his traditional attire hangs on its wall. He is the third generation owner of the shop. His grandfather, 70 years ago, was the purana ghaseeta pehalwan. Interestingly, he started a new venture along with his wrestling profession, which was the pakode ki dukaan.

I tried moong ki dal ke pakode and kalmi vada. Although the chaat of Kalmi Vada can be found at many chaat joints in Old Delhi, the kalmi vada pakoda is quite rare to find. All the doubts are laid to rest right from the first bite. It is prepared using urad dal, ginger, green chillies, black pepper and other important spices. Kalmi vade ke pakode are made from chana dal. You also get amazing mix pakodas, stuffed with aloo or gobi, at Rs 20 per plate.

The pakodas are served in a dona with dhaniya and amchur chutney and aloo ki sabzi, with a heady aroma of heeng. Heeng is widely used as a substitute for Onion in Old Delhi. So, the ingredients at Ghaseeta Pehalwan’s shop include no onion, no garlic. The pakodas were crisp and fried to perfection. The batter of chickpea flour with spices was a perfect concoction that can be relished at the Pehalwan’s shop.

If you know any food joint owned by a wrestler or a pehalwan, do write to us at delhifoodwalks@gmail.com