In a NUtshell

Fabulous freshly made mini littis with chatpata YUMM chokha, served after a full show of the making of the food, waiting time 20-30 minutes

Address & other details: next to the nimtala ghat (steps going down to river ganga)

Meal for 2: ₹100 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian only

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.

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

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

We heard about this eatery from famous food blogger Indrajit Lahiri (moha-mushkil.com). So one morning we decided to drive 30 km from where we were to eat at this place.

The shop does not have a printed name. It’s near bhootnath temple & hence the name. There is another smaller litti ship, again without the name. I have no idea how that one is. However I noticed that locals were crowding at this one & those who did not want to wait, went to the other one. In short, the other one seemed to be plan B. U can identify the shop visually with pictures from this post.

We arrived at 1030 am. We noticed that inside the shop a boy (looked like twenties) was sitting on the 2 ft elevated floor & making food. On his right was a showcase with few things kept inside. There were two other people helping him.

The chulha was on the raised floor, made as a pit. A table fan was kept on the front side to blow air in it!!!

Customers were not supposed to enter the shop. They were sitting facing the shop, on plastic chairs laid out on the metalled road. The chairs were arranged in theater style.

The setup was as if The boy in the shop was on the stage, he was doing the steps of making the food, one by one & offering puja after every step.

He seemed absolutely immersed in the process of Food making – looked like food making is worship.

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The Customers were waiting patiently watching what was unfolding in front of them. No one was in a hurry. They seemed to be Waiting for the show to get over.

First the chokha was completed & then the tiny (smaller than ping pong ball) littis were being made.

The first batch was offered to fire god – it was put into the fire, with the boy chanting mantras.

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The way he was serving the chutney on a bed of chokha, it reminded me of the way European chefs do it.

Then he Started serving the customers on the correct order of arrival. Amazing how he did not get it wrong & strictly followed the sequence of arrival.

Once the first set of customers are done with even the repeats, then he was moving to the next customer.

One family got off an expensive car & said we are in a hurry. He refused. Said ‘so many people are waiting. I am sorry. You will have to wait t least 20 minutes.’

This whole experience makes such an interesting Memory.

The wait was worth, for us. Loved the food.

The chaiwallah in the same premises is a different business. We had to pay separately.

He also had a lot of showmanship built in the experience. The cha was very good too.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

Littiwala

The Littis were very different that we have had at our Bihari friend’s homes / at potbelly & other restaurants. Unlike the big sized (2/3rd the size of a tennis ball) littis with a thick cover , the one here was tiny – smaller than a ping pong ball, larger than a marble.

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This in the first place made a huge difference . the littis were bite sized – one could pop it in the mouth at one go. The outer atta layer was very thin, almost as thin as a roti. The sattu filling was small. The thin layer & the easy size meant that the ratio of atta to litti was almost uniform in every bite – unlike the big ones.

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Another challenge of the big ones is that many people are unable to have consistency in the atta being cooked properly. This one did not have that problem. Thin layer ensured perfect & consistent cooking.

Once done, the littis were being dunked into liquid ghee, taken out & served on dried sal leaves (bio degradable). We absolutely loved the taste & the texture. Flavors of mustard oil & sattu were prevalent. Rate the littis 4.75/5

Chokha had a mix of boiled potatoes & roasted tomatoes. The chokha was also made in front of us. They started mashing freshly boiled potatoes when it was still smoking hot. The mashing was being done with a piece of wood.

Parallely the tomatoes were roasted on chulha. Then both were mixed & masalas added.

Chokha was excellent. It had a lumpy feel to it, was chatpata to taste & had excellent balance of seasoning. The smokiness of the tomatoes gave it a very good feel. Rate it 4.75/5

Green chutney was made fresh, again in full view. It was teekha, flavorful & really nice. Rate it 4.5/5

Rating of good at bhootnath litti wala averages out to 4.7/5

Chaiwalla

The guy in the Chai shop made the chai with huge fanfare. He served it in thick clay glasses – heat resistant & hence easy to hold.

Loved the strong tea with just flavor of tea. Milk was the balancing factor. Rate it 4.25/5

Loved this experience. For sure will get back here again, in time to come.