New Delhi, the charming capital city of India is not only famous for its historical monuments, cultural heritage and shopping markets but also for its lip smacking assortments of street foods. If you haven’t visited Delhi ever, you might wonder, what’s this ‘street-food’ fuss is all about. After all, the word ‘street-food’ only conjures up an image of a squalid pushcart loaded with dirt-cheap, stale, overcooked, and unhygienic (but definitely delicious-looking) food items. Ask any Delhiite or a Delhi-returned tourist about the street foods there and he or she will probably give you a different description altogether.
You can always find these hole-in-the wall hotels and low-priced food outlets, always crowded with hungry patrons gorging on paranthas, chaats, chole bhature, butter chicken, and other mouth-watering street foods, all-year-round. Seemingly, the recent spurt in number of multinational food outlets and swanky hotels has made no difference to the thriving business of these road side food shops. It is advisable to give top priority to hygiene aspect of the street foods, too.
Interestingly, many of these food outlets are quite old and reputed for their legendary foods. Most of these famous roadside eateries are located in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and Paharganj areas.
We bring you the list of 5 places to taste street food in Delhi that you shouldn’t forget to drop in and to check out their delicious offerings.
1. Chaat Shops of Chandni Chowk
If you want to feast on a variety of chaats and other savories, then these are the places worth a quick visit (and a longer stay!).
• Shree Balaji Chaat Bhandar -> It is famous for its tasty papri chaat and is a hit with both the old and the young crowds.
• Bishan Swaroop – It is famous for its simple looking but super tasty aloo kulla.
• Lala Babu Chaat Bhandar – It offers all types of samosa and its specialty is the gobi matter samosa.
• Jugal Kishore Ramji Lal – It is the favorite shop of all fruit chaat lovers in Delhi.
• Natraj Dahi Bhalle – It is famous for its exclusive tangy, sweet, and spicy dahi bhalle.
• Bittoo Tikki Wala – Here you will get hot and crispy aloo tikkis at any time of the day.
• Old Famous Jalebi Wala – As the name indicates, this renowned shop is literally a sweet paradise for all jalebi lovers of Delhi.
2. Paranthewaali Galli
This area of Chandni Chowk boasts of a large number of shops that sell budget-friendly paranthas that taste heavenly. However, you will get only vegetarian paranthas, here.
3. Khandaani Pakode Wala
This outlet is located near Ring Road area of Sarojini Nagar. Here you can choose from an assortment of 10 different types of pakodas and binge on them along with various chutneys to your heart’s content. However we suggest you try its bread pakoda and paneer pakoda atleast once.
4. Kulcha King
This outlet serves authentic and taste bud-friendly Amritsari Kulcha with chole. You can also help yourself with its equally yummy chole bhature. It is situated opposite Khandaani Pakode Wala.
5. Al-Bake
This small food joint is located in New Friends Colony market. It is famous for its appetizing Shawarma rolls that cost less but taste wonderful.
Of course, the capital of India has its share of multinational food outlets, swanky restaurants, and branded pizza corners such as KFC, SubWay, MacDonald’s and Pizza Hut, too. But if you really want to get a taste of Delhi, then heading to its roadside eateries and food stalls, will not disappoint you.