The UPSC Lane on Shahjahan Road is New Delhi’s very own miniature KHAU GULLY! It’s most famous outlet is the Shree Prabhu Chaat Bhandaar, better known as ‘UPSC Chaat’. Long ago, I was mightily stunned when my dear friend Marina mentioned this place to me despite never having been to the capital until then. She still hasn’t had an opportunity to taste their chaat, though I have done my bit of sampling and gorging! The Chaat Bhandaar has their oil simmering throughout the day but it’s only in the evening that the lane starts buzzing, with other outlets dishing out chowmein, bread pakoras, samosa-kachori, and a juice-walla to complete the course!
The Chaat Bhandaar follows a neat system of having you purchase a token before picking your order, to ensure the notes don’t get messy! The Aloo Tikki is stuffed with mashed peas and coriander leaves, garnished with grated raddish, making it a fine winter snack to relish. Sadly, the outlet couldn’t impress us with their consistency, as during my third visit the tikkis turned out to be uber-spicy and I unearthed 4-5 dices of green chilly making it difficult to hold back the tears. Ignoring that ONE unhappy incident, their other preparations do a good job of leaving the tongue tangy and happy!
Bharwa Gol Gappa
The “Bharva Gol Gappa” is a plate of small puris stuffed generously with soaked bhallas [vadas] and topped with curd, red and green chutney, and their “chaat masala”. It is the capital’s version of west India’s “Dahi Puri”. The “Papri Chaat” is a quick yet fine preparation of papris [7-8] sprinkled with mashed potato and copious amounts of curd with seasoning to top it off. And finally, a comment on Amitji’s favourite street snack… the “Aloo Fry”. This is essentially small pieces of boiled potato seared in oil and garnished with green chutney and chaat masala. When not bordering on unbearably spicy, this is a decent preparation too.
That one experience of tears notwithstanding, I’ll definitely go back again, especially for their Bharwa gol-gappas!
Veg. GULATI is an upscale restaurant located in the food square on Pandara Road in New Delhi. This blogger has been infrequently dining here for almost 10 years now. Sadly, the quality of food is not as exciting as before. Somewhere, the spark has gone amiss despite the prices being raised significantly keeping up with inflation. This review is based on the three visits made in a span of one year.
The décor is a dimly lit one with mirrors on one side to provide an illusion of space and slight brightness. It’s designed in a rectangular manner and there are barely 8-10 tables, which leads to an increase of waiting time during weekends. Childhood memories of this place are unmistakably attached to an impressive Roomali Roti paired with some really well-prepared dishes. These can’t be refreshed anymore as the restaurant has stopped offering Roomali Roti which it originally used to source from GULATI next door, which serves both veg. and non-vegetarian.
Bread Basket
A standard side dish ordered by my family is the Bread Basket comprising of a Butter Nan, Tandoori Roti, Lachcha Parantha, Missi Roti and Pudina Parantha. All of these are sincerely prepared and complement the main dish well. Their main menu comprises of neatly divided sections between preparations of paneer [7-8 dishes], vegetable curry [similar number of preparations], two options in rice, 3 types of dal, Thali [2 variations] and sweets [for dessert].
Their vegetable curry preparations are near similar in taste, which is a pity considering the variety on offer. Though, in winter, there are some changes in the menu, and the METHI MALAI MATAR was an impressive dish with very well-balanced flavours. The Rajma and Dal Makhani are quite dull, or simply put, taste average. My Mum can prepare them with better gusto and deliver the right punches, too! Haldiram's Dal Makhani wins hands down! What has always been a personal favourite is their baby onions marinated in vinegar and green chutney, which complement the staid food brilliantly. I could simply savour the breads with these two offerings and return home happy! The dishes are all priced between Rs. 300/- to Rs. 500/-
Pickle, Green Chutney, Onions
Lal Rajma
Visits to Veg. Gulati have now become a circular and hence repetitive process of an unhappy realization. As time passes, I feel the desire to drop in for a meal. Once there, the food doesn’t blow my mind off and hence the disappointment over the excitement to be there. As my Mum says, ‘admit it, the food isn’t worth scampering to go back for. It’s not even value for money, beta!’ The restaurant has been awarded one of the best veg. restaurants in the capital by HT. It amazes me as to how they couldn’t have found an outlet to beat Veg.Gulati in this category. Maybe the judges were to lazy to taste around and just decided to settle in on pedigree. Not a good decision, though.
The only joyous part about visiting this locality is the KULFI counter right outside Gulati. This lovely joint has maintained its quality over the years, and the pricing of the dessert is just right. They have numerous flavour providing a twist to the traditional kulfi, served on stick or in a matka. It’s our favourite part of the visit! You must try the Pan Kulfi.
PS: Gulati was a unique dry fruit-laden dish of rice cooked in milk, prepared for the Nawab of Jehangirabad by his Khansama Khaleel. [a royal version of our standard N.Indian Kheer!:P!]
Added later: In 2013, I visited the outlet twice with friends. The long gap since our last visit made me enjoy the dishes quite a bit. Our orders included Gulati's speciality dish of Amritsari Chhole and Punjabi Kadhi. Both of these were well-cooked and were quite delicious being mildly, and not strikingly, flavoured with spices.
Good things come in small sizes, and sometimes with limited access, too! Such is most certainly the case with a small bakery located in New Delhi’s Meher Chand Market. I am unsure if such a location for an eatery dishing out YUMMM pastries is an asset or a liability. For not many may have access to its delicacies. Word-of-mouth publicity may probably not supplement business as much as a swisher location or multiple outlets would. Leaving their business decisions aside, let’s focus on what they have to offer for our palate. GOPALA is an outlet serving snacks, bakery products and an in house dairy supplementing its sweets’ produce.
The vegetarian pastries on offer comprise of the usual chocolacious affair. But their flavour and gooey-ness are unparallel. My favourite is the Chocolate Roll pastry. If I may sheepishly admit, I have never been to their outlet and have always savoured this pastry at home, licking the excess chocolate off my fingers! Once, I had access to four of their pastries at a go. This leads to the realization that their technique to make all these pastries is the same, without any variation in layering. It has two layers of cake sandwiched between layers of chocolate. The topping differs owing to the name of the pastry.
So, Chocolate Flakes has brown choco-flakes sprinkled on it, and C.Truffle has a small plume of chocolate on one side. The most interesting of the entire lot is “Chocolate Supper” with an enticing design of round pastry, covered with tempered chocolate on the side and a red cherry sitting pretty on top!
Their sweets are not as impressive, though. The Milk Cake and Motichoor Laddoo are barely passable which is a pity considering they have their own dairy. The blogger’s brother happened to taste their Tiramisu and Black Forest pastry and pronounced that they are equally good. The pastries are all reasonably priced at Rs. 30/ Rs.40. The sweets, though, are priced on the higher side with their taste not doing justice to their rates. I'll always long for their Chocolate Roll pastry, for obvious reasons!:-P!
What began as a humble sweet shop on the streets of Old Delhi has today metamorphosed into a veritable food giant. Haldiram’shas come a long way from being a halwai, to having outlets that offer a wide range of food items and drinks. Their flagship store in Chandni Chowk has undergone massive renovation since their installation and is quite swish by that area’s standards. They also have more ambitious food joints at Gurgaon on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, and one right in the heart of the capital, Connaught Place.
The one en route to Jaipur has a really huge dining area. Outlets serving a variety of food are arranged in an approachable row pattern. On the outside of this eating area is a small stall of pan and other variety of digestives. There is ALSO is separate room dedicated solely to fresh sweets and namkeen. This is a supremely impressive outlet, not only in terms of space, but also for the variety of foods it offers. This was also the first outlet of theirs that I had gone to.
More recently [around 8 months ago], they opened another similar outlet at New Delhi’s nerve centre. This outlet, though smaller in area, is relatively quite huge compared to other food joints in CP. It is a two-storey structure, with the upper one dedicated only to seating customers. The ground floor has managed to retain the essence of the Gurgaon outlet, but has been shrunk in size due to space constraints. Apart from one counter for billing, there is an entire row dedicated to offering food items. From left to right, they have fresh savouries, sweets, cakes and pastries, and main course food items. Sadly no pan on offer, though.
Matar Kulcha
There is also a live Pasta station and a drinks and dessert corner, offering an interesting range of mocktails and ice-cream shakes. Their menu includes the standard suspects with nothing novel, as such. There are Chaats, Sandwiches, Chhole-Bhature, Matar-Kulcha, Pav Bhaji, Biryani, South Indian Platter, and our standard North Indian Thali [fixed]. The Chaats and Sandwiches are priced between `50- `60. The main course food items range between around `100- `120/- each. Mocktails are all priced at `72/-.
Two interesting items on their menu are the “One-Go-Salad” which is steamed sprouts, corn, fruits, etc. served in a platter and Pasta which is whipped up right in front of you, as per your specifications. Both of these are priced at ` 120 each. They look delicious and taste equally well.
Their normal Kachori is my favourite item on the menu. It is crisp, not oily, and the filling inside is not spicy or bland, it’s just perfect! The Dal Makhani is finger-licking good , without ANY hint of oil or unnecessary condiments but their Biryani [`120/-] is strictly okay. They do use good quality extra-long Basmati rice, but the flavours are average with oil being slightly visible. Delhi’s favourite ‘filling’ street-food –Matar Kulcha- is offered without the unhygienic accompaniments! The Matar is comparable to “Ragda” of the Bombay streets, and has an interesting tinge of lemon to it. The flavours in the Dal Chila do not leave a taste on the tongue, as there is nothing striking about it.
The Pav Bhaji is utterly boring for those who know how it is REALLY supposed to taste. The Bhaji here is a lousy mash of tomato and potato [with a li’l bit of carrots and peas], oil visible floating up on the sides, overpowering the [already unexciting] flavour of the veggies. To add salt to wound, the ‘pav’ has a hint of sweetness to it. The Kulfi-Falooda also tastes quite nice, priced at `70/-. Chocolate pastry was quite decent, considering bakery items are not their speciality. The pastry part of it could have been a little fluffier, though.
Biryani [served with Dal Makhani, Raita,etc.]
The overall taste of their food is quite good. Both the outlets have a self-service format. They provide an excellent option for a wholesome meal, or just some munching at reasonable rates [considering their brand value and quality]. The Chandni Chowk outlet is much smaller and perpetually crowded. It offers only all their variety of sweets, namkeen, chaats and kulfi. They have a seating area on top which is a luxury in that locality.
To conclude, apart from all of the above, their main revenue [probably] comes from sweets. Their forte includes a wide range of long-lasting as well as quick-eat traditional sweetmeats of north India and Bengal. The blogger has also been to the Haldiram’s Food Court in Nagpur and it was an excellent outlet. In Calcutta, it is spread over three-storeys, one each dedicated to sweets, chaats and a high-end supermarket on the top!
Hotel Sarvana Bhavan is a “South Indian High Quality Vegetarian Restaurant” chain, with outlets across South India, UK, Canada and Dubai.
In New Delhi they have two outlets, both in the upmarket Connaught Place area. Their menu has a wide range of options including the usual favourites of Idiyappams, Dosas [priced between `65- `105] Uttapams, Adai-Avial and a Rice corner [`65/-]. Paneer dosai, Vegetable Dosai, Karai dosai and Panchavarna Uttamapam have been listed as their specialty dishes. They also have a variety of “Sarvana Dairy Rich Ice Cream” [10 flavours], sweets [Adhirasam, Coconut, Ellundarai], halwa and savouries.
Sambhar-Rice
The blogger lunched their along with a dear friend, who was also a GREAT help in identifying some of the dishes, as well as dissecting them. We ordered a Fixed Thali [`130] and Sambhar-Rice. The Thali comprised of Sambhar, Rasam, Avial, Dal, Aloo ki subzi, curd and another subzi. For sweet there was Imartee and pieces of apple dipped in tamarind juice, which the waiter insisted was ‘raita’. This was served along with pooris, a big bowl of rice and papad. The friend had to settles for watermelon juice [ `70], since her original choice of lemon juice [`35] was not available.
Fixed Thali
The dishes in the Thali had a soft flavour to it and nothing was over-spiced. The dal was staid with an identifiable hint of asafetida. Honestly, there was nothing outstanding about any of components of the Thali. Presumably then, they were NOT meant to be standing out, but just providing a wholesome meal to someone who wants a taste of the most common S.Indian preparations, at one go. My companion also ordered small idlis soaked in sambhar. These were actually a delight to have, since the piping hot sambhar had seeped through the smaller spaces in the idli, making it almost melt in the mouth!
Small Idlis [14] dipped in Sambhar
Most interesting part of the entire meal was the side-serving of chilies. These were not just any chilly, ready to fire up the tongue. They were small green chilies, deep fried and salted...perugu mirapakayi. They look like they’ve been burnt, but the deep frying actually serves the purpose of taking away the fieriness of the usual chilly. So this one can be easily bitten into, without having steam blowing out of the ears!
Watermelon Juice
To wrap up, HSB offers a good range of authentic South Indian food. The ambience of these CP restaurants is quite relaxed. The waiters are attentive yet non-intrusive. Their pricing is appropriate with the service and location. Certainly worth a visit if one is in their vicinity and hunger CALLS! I am extremely grateful to my lovely friend Ashrita for accompanying me to HSB and for her indispensable inputs on South Indian food. It was for the first time that I dined at a S. Indian joint with a S. Indian friend, so the commentary was quite insightful!
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The “Bharva Gol Gappa” is a plate of small puris stuffed generously with soaked bhallas [vadas] and topped with curd, red and green chutney, and their “chaat masala”. It is the capital’s version of west 
