Delhi-6
Has anyone seen this new release? The film was quite interesting, nothing really great, but the songs are quite catchy. And, um, Abhishek Bachchan is looking more fetching, somehow.
(Chandni Chowk as seen from atop the Fatehpuri Mosque):
In the last two weeks, I went twice to “Delhi-6″ which, I learnt from the movie of all things, is the local shorthand for the Chandni Chowk area of the old, walled, historic city of Shahjahanabad-Delhi. No, I didn’t go because I saw the movie, I went to eat and shop; this is a good time of year to enjoy a lot of seasonal sweets in the city, and the weather is just right to wander out all day in the sun. Flanked by the Red Fort at one end and the Fatehpuri mosque on the other, the long street leads off into many small lanes of culinary, sartorial and historic delights, ranging from 17th century markets to 18th century bankers’ havelis to 19th century poet’s houses to 20th century madness and beyond. We visited the house of arguably the greatest Urdu poet of all time, Mirza Ghalib (the archway to the left below).
After the snazzy new metro was built, it’s now a piece of barfi to get from central New Delhi to Chandni Chowk – max 12-15 minutes, and it seems to be quite the yuppie Delhi-ite thing to do now, to go and eat at all the old and historic street eateries in the crowded old neighbourhood. I went with a couple of friends, big SLRs in tow, playing local-cuisine-connoisseur-cum-shameless-yuppie-tourist to the hilt. I have a few ponderous posts in the pipeline about living and commuting in Delhi, but since this post is mostly about food, the old philosophy of maximum visual, minimum commentary will now apply. A couple of the photos in this post are courtesy Ami and his wonderful Nikon:
Daulat ki Chaat, a sinful, frothy, light-as-air whipped cream thingy:
Regular Chaat
Samosa:
Samosa innards after the first, hot bite:
Narcissistic potatoes:
Nankhatai baked in pure ghee:
Possibly the world’s best gajar ka halwa, also in pure ghee:
Fresh, piping hot jalebis, also fried in pure ghee:
Rabri, for those who like thick, gooey cream:
One of the most delicious things about Chandni Chowk, however, is the old silver market lane, Dariba kalan. Remember my silver earring splurge last semester? Well, I.went.a.bit.nuts.this.time. I was too ashamed to photograph all the gorgeous pieces I bought, but really, the stuff there is exquisite: even the mirrors in one of the shops just lured me in. I cannot believe I didn’t spend all my money there in my previous lives in Delhi. Needless to say, I will be making up for all time lost…
In the nearby Delhi University area, we ate the best ever Chhole Bhature in the whole wide world, at Chacha di Hatti: (I think this might technically be the pin code Delhi-7, but whatever):
Gujarati snack shop in nearby Kamla Nagar, also the Delhi University area:
Enjoy!!
You’re making me hungry.
Driving back from band last night I noticed what appears to be a new restaurant not too far from me that trumpeted in purple neon its major wares: dosa. Not the same as the above, but it’s calling me to sample it.
I have GOT to get to India, if only to sample some of those tasty dishes!
This is sheer torture yaar! I just drooled all over my desktop.
Have another round of those yummy goodies for me!
Oh, can i come on a walking tour of food again?
Last week i treated myself to Indian food at a local restaurant in Queens–(and it was wonderful) but everything you photo’d looks better!
Wow, my mouth is watering. You ate all that on one day? That’s incredible!
And all those people have queued up to eat Chhole Bhature? No wonder you say it’s the best in whole world.
oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn….. now i’m hungry again! i so miss delhi!!! its food, its jewellery, its chhole bhature with hari mirch, the aloo chaat, the samose, the papri chaat, the golgappe, the gaajar ka halva, the pastries (american pastry is ….crust! how disappointing!), the “chinese” food…now you’re making me crave all these things and i can’t have them!!
btw, did you go to parathe wali gali? the varieties of parathe there are mind-boggling — you should try them if you haven’t already.
and if you like offbeat silver stuff, there’s (or at least was, 2 years ago) this obscure little place in sector 7 market, r k puram, near malai mandir…not so much earrings (tho they have them too), but other interesting things, especially tibetan silver jewelry…
No no, people, I didn’t eat it all in one day – it was over two trips, and I shared it with others!!! Although I shamelessly admit that I could have eaten it all entirely by myself. mmmm.
Vasudha – I did go to Paranthe-wali, but didn’t eat there this time. The shops were mobbed with people on a sunday. And thanks for the tip about the RKPuram shop..
arre, only today i mumbled to myself that a visit to dariba kalan was highly overdue – after seeing the you-have-got-to-be-kidding prices in a south delhi market. please share fotus of the loot!
I always enjoy reading your posts about being back in India, but this was even more pleasurable to read! All that beautiful, delicious food *and* some gorgeous silver jewelry – it looks like you had a wonderful time!
Yum, that stuff looks delicious – dough fried in clarified butter? ::makes yummy noise::
Thanks for letting us non-travelers live vicariously through you!
Oh my! You made me have those cravings …. can just look at the pics here. Glad you had a great time there.