Sizzle and grill ... kebabs in Old Delhi.Credit: Reuters
Joe Ray follows one of Delhi's top food bloggers into a labyrinth of alleys to find some of the old city's best dishes.
Delhi is in the middle of one of its hottest months on record when I visit. When I email street-food blogger Pamela Timms to set up a meeting, she quips: "I hope your expenses budget includes salt tablets."
We meet in the sprawling mass of Old Delhi - its hidden mosques, giant gates and crumbling mansions pushed against utilitarian modern buildings. Timms quickly scans a handful of eating places a local has suggested and immediately knocks one off the list. "That place is a grease factory," she says. I'm in good hands.
A journalist by trade and Scottish by birth, Timms has lived in Delhi for four years and chronicles Delhi's street-food scene on her blog, Eat and Dust, which has helped her land a book deal and requests to write food columns for Indian newspapers.
"They're fascinated that an expat - and a lady - is tramping around Old Delhi, looking for food," she says, making reference to the unofficial boys' club of street food.
"But they [the men] are more weirded out than I am."
We meet at Chawri Bazaar, where a modern metro entrance emerges from the ground into the chaos above and she immediately steers me to Ashok Chaat Corner (3488 Hauz Qazi Chowk), 10 steps away.
"All you have to do is stagger out of the metro and you're here," she says, ordering papri chaat, a tiny bowl with crisp pastry discs (the papri), potato and fried chickpeas under a mix of sauces that include a yoghurty curd, tamarind and spicy coriander. It's soothing and calm, a perfect counterpoint to the hot, busy day.
From here, we look for one of her favourites, Jain Coffee House, a spot on a square with an alley-like entrance that's so easy to walk past that we do two U-turns on Chawri Bazaar before we find it. (From Chawri Bazaar metro, walk along Chawri Bazaar until almost at the left turn into Nai Sarak. On your left is a small gully, Raghu Ganj. Walk in and turn left.)
Timms points to a grain merchant in the corner and asks: "Want a mango shake?"
Silly question.
The "coffee house" is a side project for the grain merchants and, along with shakes and chai, they make tiny sandwiches with seasonal fruit (one of her favourites is made with pomegranate seeds), fresh cheese and what Timms calls "a lashing of marmalade".
"They're not traditional but they've been here for about 50 years," she says, grinning at the slight contradiction while a white-haired man sifts wheat beside her.
There's no reason to stop for dessert at this point but we happen to be walking past Old & Famous Jalebi Wala (at the corner of Dariba Kalan and Chandni Chowk), where all they make are samosas and jalebi - sweet rounds of fried batter, often with an orange tint. Old & Famous is one of Timms's favourites and clearly not an opportunity to miss.
"These are the ultimate sugar hit," she says, biting into a jalebi after we've had a small plateful weighed out for us. They are deeply sweet but not sickly, which is perhaps one of the main reasons Old & Famous has been around since 1884.
"Only the owner is allowed to make the jalebi mix," says the man at the cash register.
As we turn to pay, he smiles with a bit of a star-struck look, pivots his laptop and clicks a bookmarked page, bringing up Timms's website. This rock-star moment makes her blush momentarily.
Dessert consumed, we climb on a rickshaw and wend through the crush towards Hotel Adarsh Niwas (483 Haider Quli Corner at Chandni Chowk). It's technically a sit-down joint, where you buy a brass token at the till and exchange it for their signature thali, all under the watchful eye of owner Satnarayan Sharma.
"It's cool and clean and all the breads are very good. Simple, tasty and fresh in a good atmosphere," Timms says, as if summarising an upcoming blog entry. Or street food itself.
Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific fly to Delhi via their home ports. One of the cheapest fares currently is with Malaysia Airlines for about $1060 low-season return, including tax, from Melbourne and Sydney; to Kuala Lumpur (8hr) then Delhi (6hr). Australians require a visa for a stay of up to six months.
THE BEST FROM THE BLOGGER
Best korma: Ashok and Ashok
If you eat out only once during your stay in Delhi, go to Ashok and Ashok: the chicken and mutton kormas here have been known to make grown men crumple. As well as having an edgy gangster heritage, A&A makes chicken korma every day, mutton korma on Wednesday and Saturday (invariably sold out an hour after opening at 1pm) and biryani. The meat just melts, hinting at a magical mystery masala (up to 30 different spices, apparently), pistachios and a devilish pact with the ghee (clarified butter) tin.
42 Subhas Chowk, Basti Harphool Singh, Sadar Thana Road, Sadar Bazaar.
Best kebabs: Ustad Moinuddin
For just a few rupees you can eat some of the finest kebabs in Delhi. On Lal Kuan, close to where the great Urdu poet Ghalib once lived, you'll find the beef kebab maker Ustad Moinuddin. As you wait your turn, you'll have time to watch the master at work, packing soft meat on to skewers, judging the exact cooking time for optimum succulence before tipping them quickly onto plates and into waiting hands. This is the real deal.
Lal Kuan, at the corner with Gali Qasimjan, near Chawri Bazaar metro.
Best kulfi: Kuremal Kulfi
The Kuremal family have been making kulfi (ice-cream) in the old city since 1908. They turn out more than 50 varieties, including pomegranate, tamarind, rose and custard apple and also make a wonderful stuffed kulfi: mango or orange flavours stuffed into fruit skins.
Kucha Pati Ram, off Sitaram Bazaar, near Chawri Bazaar metro.
Best paratha: Kake di Hatti
Head to the Old Delhi spice market in Khari Baoli and once you've inhaled the fumes from a thousand sacks of chillies, turn into Church Mission Road and order one of Kake di Hatti's divine tandoor-fresh parathas. There are many flavours but favourites include potato, cauliflower and mooli (radish). And don't miss the faluda (a rose-flavoured creamy vermicelli confection) at Giani's next door.
Church Mission Road, Khari Baoli.
Best kheer: Bade Mian
Bade Mian's kheer shop (opposite Badal Beg mosque in Lal Kuan) sells the finest kheer (cardamom-laced rice pudding) you're ever likely to taste.
Lal Kuan, near Chawri Bazaar metro
Best breakfast: Shyam Sweets
Old Delhi is a wonderful place for breakfast. Try the bedmi aloo (deep-fried spiced bread with a spicy potato curry) at Shyam Sweets, about halfway along Chawri Bazaar.
Best sweets: Chaina Ram
Try the Karachi halwa and other treats cooked in ghee at this Sindhi shop on Chandni Chowk.
Best snacks
In the Jama Masjid area, stroll along Matia Mahal and stop at any of the little stalls - it's almost impossible to eat badly here. A highlight is shahi tukda, labelled by one enthusiast as "bread pudding on steroids".
Best way to get around
It's a good idea to hire a cycle rickshaw to get around Old Delhi. I recommend driver Rahul Pal (+919 871 533 849), who knows all the places mentioned. Rates are about 200 rupees ($4.39) an hour.
Directions and maps can be found at Pamela Timms's website: eatanddust.wordpress.com.
- Guardian News & Media
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