To read all about eating out in old delhi, pls clck here: old delhi (chandni chowk, chawri bazar, jama masjid)

In a nutshell:
A street side vendor selling unique chholey with good kulchas in the morning for 2 hours.

Address & other details:  Lotan chholey wala

Meal for 2: 50 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian

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I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Description:
We had heard a lot about it. So one morning we took a 35 km car ride from gurgaon to reach this place at 8 am in the morning.

We parked our car at chawri bazar metro station circle ( this place is still empty at 8 am). From there we took a rickshaw to Shyamala sweets. It is walkable also. Just ask someone which way is Jama Masjid. Keep walking towards the Masjid and u reach chhatta shahji. Shyam sweets is on the right. Ask for lotan and u will b shown a narrow lane.

The guys sit in front of a shop that is mentioned in the address above. They come in the morning with a metal container full of chholay. They set it up in an inclined fashion and set up a small fire below to keep it warm.

Then they have 3 jars full of chutneys that they make. One is chilly based that is used in different quantity to calibrate the ‘hotness’ of the dish. The guy picks up chholay from the container, pours it into a bowl, pours the 3 chutneys in different proportions ( based on request) , tops it up with juliennes of ginger and chopped coriander leaves.

The guy sits on a slight elevation to the road, entrance to the closed shop ( that shop opens later in the day). There he constantly takes order, mixes and takes the money.

Once the chholay finishes he just packs up and leaves.

The chholay looked just boiled with salt. The chutneys made all the difference. Loved the chholay. It was s mix of chholay and some daals. The chholay was perfect texture, not hard, not melting away. It retained its shape.

The taste was hot, tangy and spicy. Loved it very much and Rate it 4/5

They were also serving a hot soupy thing – the liquid of the chholay boil mixed with the 3 chutneys. Loved dipping into it. Rate it 4.25/5

The Kulchas were warm, soft and very nice. Rate them 4/5

We saw people from nearby houses queue up & take this back home in steel bowls. Some others already had a 25 g amul butter cube placed on the empty bowl b4 the hot chholay was poured on top.

Overall rating of food at lotan averages out to 4.1/5

Wud surely recommend if u r already in that area. Not worth taking a drive from a long distance though.