In a nutshell:
Excellent dal kachoris served dunked in aloo ki subzi with a dash of spicy Kachalu chutney that makes a difference.
Address & other details: Enter parathe wali gali. Go straight, turn right, turn left, keep walking straight till u hit a T point with a shop called Sant Lal Sanskriti. Turn right & this shop is at the next corner. See map for details.
Meal for 2: Rs. 60 onwards
Cuisine type : Vegetarian
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Description:
Many years back this was one of my most favorite kachori shop. Those days an elderly gentleman used to sit in this super tiny Shop & serve fresh kachoris. The aloo ki subzi used to be so fiery that at times water wud overflow from the eyes & nose!!!! But taste was king & we loved having 3 – 4 kachoris at a go. Back then the shop was much more humble that the current avatar.
Few years back we revisited & found that the shop has had a makeover. But we cud not eat kachoris here coz most of the occasions we came here the shop was closed either coz it was a Sunday or coz it was some public holiday.
Ate here after almost 4 years recently. Lot has changed from then to now. The façade has been made more modern, the shop boasts of presence on facebook & also has a website, has all the Press coverage on the wall etc.
The shop is manned by a pretty young guy now & with the change of guard it seems the rustic-quotient of the food has gone down. The masalas r toned down, the mirch is way less, no need to huff & puff after eating this & the kachalu chutney is way less teekha than b4.
Confused? Well here is how it goes – If u do not have a baggage of the past, u wud love it. If u have eaten here in the past, the current version might seem to b toned down but then this is way superior to the Bikanervalas, Haldirams & all other Chain stores. In fact this is still an excellent option as compared to most other options in this city.
The crust of the kachori is as crispy as it can get. It is layery as well. It is optimally fried – a bit more wud have ended up in burnt kachoris & a bit less wud have left it less crispy. The dal inside was spicy & slightly hot & had super flavors of masalas.
The aloo ki subzi was very good & kachalu chutney added a zing to it.
I wud give this a 4/5 with its current version. The earlier one was surely 4.5/5.
I will surely keep going here . How about u?
Excellent Review as always 🙂
Providing a map for all of us to locate the shop is just great on your part….thanks
Ha ha, I had to draw the map on excel. Thanks for ur kind words about the review.
This is a familiar story with all the kachoriwalas in Delhi. The ‘dona’ has become smaller. kachoris have become smaller and they expect people to eat sabji like chutney even though it is not teekha at all. Kachori was always a poor man’s food, where you expected to take 3 extra servings of sabji with every plate, the idea being to eat maximum in the least amount of money. That’s who I am. Passing through a gali, 20 years ago, with about 2-3 rupees in pocket, and hungry. Maybe that is why they put so much chilli in the sahbi, to deter people like me. Then one fine day the ‘rich’ and health conscious discovered it. And even wannabe food critics discovered it. And today they outnumber people like me, for whom kachori was a snack, not a delicacy. For these first time ‘tasters’ who will have it about twice a year and rave about it for the rest of the year, the kachori has had to mellow down. For these people, the kachori is to be enjoyed in the moment and then washed down with sweet lassi or covered up with jalebi. What I remember about my kachoris is that their taste stayed with me, rose and ebbed on the tongue and in the mind in waves, for about an hour after I had had it. But today, who has the time to give the lowly kachori so much time out of their busy schedule?
Thanks Alok for writing in & writing in straight from the heart. This reminds me of what is called ‘tele bhaja’ in Kolkata – used to b super spicy, super hot & we used to buy them super cheap & eat with loads of muri (puffed rice’.
super yummraji..khaate rahiye..khilate rahiye
first of all thanks for putting up so much effort for us! seriously i have been looking for a blog where i could find some good hint and you did an excellent job in it! very good reviews and just what i wanted! thanks! keep up the good work!
i still remember going for wedding shopping with family to CC and the visit to this shop was a must! it used to be the best part about the trip to CC and as you have mentioned, the hotness of the sabji used to blow the hell out of me but that was what i loved it for…planning to go there shopping next week after 2 years!! looking forward to relishing it!!
thanks. pls share ur experience as well after u eat it