Dilli Chaat Wallah & Kabab Souk, JP Nagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review

A cafe that displays art/works of photographers is nothing new; a family home converted to an eating joint that promises to serve chaat from the capital & authentic North Indian khana on the ground floor and a gallery set to house works of photographers on the first floor is definitely new. That too in JP Nagar!

Discovered this delightful little place initiated by photographer and filmmaker Sudhir Boury. His former family home on the JP Nagar 6th phase ring road (close to the underpass) is converted to house Dilli Chaat Wallah - Kebab Souk and the up-coming art/photo gallery. Although it is situated on the busy ring road, it is on the corner of a quiet tree-lined lane.

Longing for some chat-pata chaat on a wintry afternoon, my mother and I decided to lunch at this new eatery as it is very close to our workplace.

The smell of fresh paint, polish and new furniture greeted us as we walked in. The place is not entirely ready, (minor last-minute touch-ups were going on) but the kitchen is functional. Seating options include indoor dining or you can enjoy your meal under the lush green tree along the outer wall of Dilli Chaat.

We were a tad disappointed to learn that chaat is available only after 3pm - but we (rather my mom) happily settled for a roti - subzi affair on learning that it was a vegetarian restaurant.

Started with refreshing drinks of aam ka panna and ananas ka panna. While there was hardly any aam/mango taste in the aam ka panna (was more like jal jeera), the ananas ka panna was simply superb. Pineapple lovers will for sure like this one - tangy, just enough of the

pineapple flavor and masala.

We straightaway ordered the main dishes - lachcha parontas and dum aloo, along with raitha. The parontas were golden, layered and crisp on the edges and soft towards the center. Pleasantly surprised to notice that it was actually wheat based without maida.

Dum aloo was just right in terms of spice, fragrance and consistency, although I think the number of baby potatoes in the gravy were not enough - just about 6. The gravy was thick and creamy, and delicately flavored. The potatos were nicely cooked and retained the taste of the

gravy.

The curd in the raitha was rather dilute, but fine otherwise.

We ended the meal with hot gulab jamuns. One plate serves three pieces of medium sized jamuns. The jamuns were soft and fluffy, however the center of one of the jamus was not cooked well enough, bit into some raw dough.

On the whole, the food was very home-made types - which I think is a good thing. By this I mean there was no excess oil floating on the gravy and no maida used in the wheat parontas. Also, the meal did not leave us feeling full and heavy. Light and just right.

Service was pretty efficient and staff was friendly. Sudhir actually took time out to talk to us about Dilli Chaat Wallah & Kabab Souk. His idea is to give us Bangaloreans authentic Delhi style chaat (he has lived in the capital for more than a decade and has a good understanding of what chaat lovers in the city want), and good wholesome North Indian vegetarian food - this comes naturally being a Punjabi himself. Serving vegetarian kababs is another concept close to his heart.

Cant wait to go back and sample the chaats one of these evenings. Would love to see some basics such as rajma chawal & kadhi pakodi on the menu.

A meal for two costs about Rs 370/-.

Verdict - 3.8/5