Street Food of India

Delhi

- chaats: an amazing array of different mixes tossed around to tease parts of your tongue that you never thought existed. there are the bhel puri, the pani puri, the papri varieties, the kachoris, the samosas right upto the hotter chhole kulchas...tangy, hot and sweet and yumm, with as many colours on it (the red chutneys and the green coriandors), as tastes... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaat - sheek kebabs and rotis: though found mainly in restaurants, they are also sold by vendors on streets in front of the jama masjid area in old delhi. - paranthas: on small roadside shacks, with wooden benches and rickety tin tables. the cook would have this hot plate on fire infront of him where at the flick of a very deft wrist he will create masterpieces of breads stuffed with anything you can think of - mashed potatoes, cauliflower, 'methi', eggs, raddish...you name it...dollops of ghee on top of it, accompanied by cut onions and cucumber, may be a bottle of pumpkin sauce parading as ketchup, or cream or butter...there is a street in old delhi called the 'paranthewaali gali', and you can find it in several other places..one of my favourites was the shacks in front of the HT building in ITO junction. - think you know all about chinese food? try the showmein dished out (prepared hot in front of you) from street side vendors. nothing chinese about it - wheat noodles boiled and then tossed in sauted veggies, and liberal doses of soya and vinegar...

From Faisal's post in CS Group.

When I am not in India I get nostalgic thinking of Anda-Paratha trips at Green Park. Especially during the wintery nights. Or after our late night shifts when nothing else was open, we had the assurance that the parathas opposite India Oil building won't let us down. The regular aloo paratha, onion paratha, onion-alu, gobi parathas and egg parathas kept us alive in bachelor days. Now most of them have been wound up but one can still catch the same flavour at Mool Chand flyover near Vikram Hotel. Other than that if you need food at 3:00pm at night you can go to Comsum just outside Nizamuddin Railway station. It doesn't qualify in the street food category, but yes food at 3:30 am. So is Pandara market near India gate. I would like to add that Parathe wali gali might not be the best place to have parathas in Delhi, just because it has such a name. Its a misconception. As for non-veg food, unanimously people have named Karim's, which I agree with too, but there is a world beyond that too. For example some people vouch for Jawahar hotel which is located just outside Karim's (Old Delhi one)and has awesome non-veg cuisine, especially the Biryani and Kabaabs. If you happen to be more on South Delhi side you can go to Nizamuddin, at Karim Munees kada or just sample random shops for whatever smells good and looks good. I go to that area for mutton tikkas, shammi kebaabs and seekh kebaabs. Don't forget to windup with sweet Phirni in a clay platter, after the meal. No point trying to put names to hotels as there are so many nameless stalls there, if you are brave enough to explore. If the day is Thursday then apart from great food you might even catch some Qawwalis session at Nizamuddin Darghah! Oh! yeah! While in that area, might as well drop at New Friend's Colony community centre for Lebanese Shawarmas at Al-Bake, like nowhere else in Delhi. They are much differant and Indianised though, from the Middle-eastern stuff, but a definite delicacy, as also vouched by some food guides. Other great place for Mughlai street food is Batla house and Zakir Nagar at Okhla village. Don't bother taking your cars inside as its madness! Munis Kada is a good bet there for Mutton and Chicken dishes. For regular roasted tikkas, fish, seekh kebaas there are plethora of stalls. My all time favourite for Seekh kebaabs is this spot. Better to have a local friend to take you around. And when I say Kebaabs it's not you toned down, sophisticted version, prepared to give you a taste of the mughlai cuisine just enough to tickle you platter and melt in your mouth. Its the REAL deal. Hot n spicy, straight off the coals, spiced to make you sweat, cry and fume from the ears. OK OK, slightly exxagerated there. But be prepared! I might be sounding too much of a carnivore, but that's not true. Its just that I don't like too much humanly altered (cooked) stuff. I like them closed to as they were designed by nature. Like fruits. That reminds me of the Health food joint at IIT campus. Mostly boiled vegetable stuff, with Lassis and shakes and assortment of fruit salads. Other option is the street next to UPSC office at Shahjahan road, for typical paani puri, chaat, lassis and fruit chaats. Can't think of any other place in Delhi with such variety of street food. Not to be missed. Oh yeaaah! Pahargunj is another foodies paradise. Mostly known as backpacker's paradise, it has small hotels with such long running menus which can put seasoned upmarket restaurants to shame. Not entirely Indian though. You can get to taste Israeli, Lebanese, Chinese, Continental and much more. Even the simple tea, goes beyong just chai. You can have mint tea, ginger-lemon-honey tea and other healthy concoctions. Coming to teas, I cant skip Kahwa at the Kashmir stall at Dilli Haat. Fresh, healthy and invigorating. I can't wind up without a mention of good old Ganga Dhaba at JNU, which has been my lifeline for dates in rainy and summer seasons ;). JNU has an awesome green campus and there are plenty of food options inside the campus. From wholesome parathas to fresh shikanji, Ganga Dhaba rocks.