In a nutshell:

Excellent parathas – many times better than at the disgustingly famous Parathewali gali, Superb vegetarian curries, raita & daal in a low profile restaurant with an ‘airconditioned section’ for families.

Address & other details: Once out of the Chandni Chowk Metro Station, take a rickshaw to Fatehpuri Masjid. Once u r in front of Fatehpuri Masjid, (facing the masjid) turn right & keep walking for 50 meters & u get Giani on ur left. This restaurant is just beside Giani.

Meal for 2: Rs. 200 onwards.

Cuisine type : Vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

I heard about this place for the first time from one of my ‘Shudh Shakahari’ friends. He praised the food a lot but said ‘it is a bit dingy & is not an attractive eating place’. The food at my friend’s house is usually very YUMM & I thought – If the guy who is used to eating good food at home everyday is saying ‘Kake di Hatti’ is good, there must be something about it.

A week back when I reviewed ‘Asha Ram Foods’, one of my readers suggested this same place again. He was very nice to give a list of his favorite items as well. So without wasting any time, we made it a point to descend here on a weekend.

We reached the Restaurant at 2.30 pm – all the way from Gurgaon, to see that it is jam packed & people are waiting. We decided to wait & approx. at 2.45 we were standing in the 1st floor ‘family section’. This section is pretty nicely done with white painted interiors & air conditioning.

I was advised that I shud take my ‘female friend’ with me to make sure I am let into the 1st floor. That was a good piece of advice & I recommend that u take that advice as well. Else, ground floor is always an option.

A Gentleman with big moustaches who seemed to be the owner / a family member was managing the traffic on 1st floor with amazing effectiveness. He made sure that within a minute of one family leaving, the table was ready for the next.

As we sat for the lunch, he smiled at us & warned – Order moderately, else u might need to pack the balance for dinner. We heard him & for four of us ordered 4 paranthas & 2 curries. Let me tell u, we cud not finish all of that in our dinner as well. Portions r not large, they r mammoth.

Service is fast. The guys who serve r young, good natured normal human beings without obviously any formal ‘Hotel Management training’. They managed to impress me a lot with their warmth & their ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ kind of approach.

The walls r adorned with loads of notifications some of which r interesting & others plain funny.

The menu card is unexpectedly nicely done. It has two pages & is laminated.

Food rules & u can easily forget the rest. Wonder why the shops in malls & most stand alone shops in New Delhi cannot even reach a fraction of where these guys have reached in terms if terms of pleasing ur tastebuddies.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

Paranthas r made in dozens per minute in Chandni Chowk. So the traditional way of making paranthas (put on a tawa, cook it sookha, then add oil/ ghee & fry it) is not used. Parathewali gali guys deep fry the paranthas & turn it into a disaster. The guys here tandoor the parantha, apply liquid butter from the top & serve. This one comes out way better

We started our meal with Paneer parantha. This was crumbled paneer & tiny slices of onions & green chillies within. Superb is the word. Non spicy, excellent paneer & a great balanced taste. The outer layer was slightly crispy & the inside soft. I wud give this a 4.5/5.

Next came Lasan (garlic) parantha. We loved this – strong taste & flavor of garlic. Wah. However, I realized that 2 of my co-diners did not like this as much as they r not used to eating minced garlic & the strong flavors of garlic. I wud give this a 4.25/5 again.

The third in line was a Cheese Capsicum onion Paratha. I am usually a traditional eater – like to njoy food as it is , in its purest traditional form. So Cheese parantha is something that I wud never order but ended up doin that on request from a co-diner. Was pleasantly surprised – It was good – crispy outside & super soft melt in the mouth cheese, onions & capsicum within. Loved it & wud rate it 4/5.

The 4th paratha that we ordered was ‘Dhuandaar’ literally meaning ‘emanating smoke’. We asked what it was & the reply was ‘super hot parathas that might lead to smoke coming out of ears’. We ordered this & as expected, it was super duper hot. The source of chilly was not obvious but it was effective. The taste of the overall paratha was however ‘good’ but not beyond that. So I give this a 3/5.

We ordered Pineapple raita & were told it is sold out. So we ordered lauki raita. When it was served, I noticed there were thin strands of lauki in a bowl full of curd. A spoon of the raita in our mouth did not impress us much – it was not bad either. It was then that our waiter walked up to us (probably seeing our expression) & said ‘pls sprinkle ‘that’ masala on this………………. & yes, it was magic. The super duper masala transformed the lauki raita into an outstanding chatpata food that we wiped off in flat 60 seconds. I wud give this a 4/5.

Coming to the curries we ordered Kadhai Paneer to start with. It was served with a dollop of butter. The taste was one of the best I have had in Delhi in the recent past & we were pleasantly shocked. We looked at each other in utter disbelief & then polished off the serving plate in a way as if there was nothing in it ever!!!! The paneer was super soft melt in the mouth kind as well. I wud give this a 4.75/5.

The next curry was a malai kofta curry. The kofta was super soft & extremely tasty. It had dry fruits in it. The gravy was quite average however & stood nowhere near the outstanding paneer gravy. The gravy gets 2.5/5 & the kofta gets a 4.5/5 & thus overall the score for the dish averages out to 3.5/5.

Overall the rating of food at Kake di Hatti averages out to 4/5.

We finally rolled out of the restaurant & headed straight to Ved Prakash Nimbu Pani wale……………..

I wud surely revisit this place. How about u?