Just an addition I’d (Amit) like to make to Adil’s post.
Kuremals’s Klfi Factory – This dingy room is where they churn out those delectable kulfis, they still do it the old school way as you you can see from the pics.
And i’m also attaching menu pics from Karim’s, they also have a fine website at
http://karimhotels.com
THE VOYAGE TO PURANI DILLI
After countless hours of calling and counter calling (mostly by Mr.Patnaik we had finally agreed to go to old Delhi. The entourage consisted of pattu,ajay ji,joshi, and yours truly.So we boarded the metro in the afternoon and got ready for debauchery(i had prepared by not eating anything for breakfast ,and by having a very frugal dinner last night ,and also by popping two Direx pills, to keep the old tummy in shape). Well we come out of the metro station into the horrible oppressing heat and come into the hustle-bustle, and congestion which defines old Delhi, and we all look up to Patnaik to ask him where we are going(since this was his plan, and he planned to stop at a shit load of places before the day got over(the only that would have happened would have been if we actually had stopped to shit at loads of place, if you catch my drift) ,and lo and behold he’s got his hands spread heavenwards as if asking for gods help, only after two minutes do we come to realize that he’s got a cell phone in his hands and is trying to catch a signal ,so that he can access his gps,and find the way to first stop(the kulfi place).
Now my take on old Delhi is that you wont realize what a great place it is if you use your gps, the only true way to do it is to meander through the maze of gallis and randomly chance upon some hidden treasures, but since it was bloody 45 degrees Centigrade! and since it was patnaik’s plan in the first place we decide to humor him and we land up at the first stop on our journey-Kuremal kulfi bhandar
Now to be honest when u hear about kulfi’s having exotic flavours like rabri, pan, aijwain etc, you are bound to get your expectations up . So we decided to taste as many kulfi’s as we could, and we ordered mango, pan, litchi, phalsa,rabri,aam panna and some more. To be honest the famed mango kulfi did not seem to be too great to me, and mean it was good, but not something that blew my mind.I felt all the kulfis were deadened(with sugar) a bit too much, and all the fruit based kulfi were lacking the punch. The phalsa kulfi was very very crappy (I mean if ive had better phalsa kulfi at nathus near the zoo). Of all the available kulfis I liked the aam panna kulfi the best, it explodes in your mouth and I think it’s a must try if you go there, even the pan wali kulfi is interesting, however unlike the usual old Delhi fare, this was a bit heavy on the pocket with each kulfi costing about 30 bucks.
By this time I was very hungry, and I wanted to go to karims and eat. But on the way patnaik made us stop to eat some so called old Delhi specialty called kulle aloo ke(which is basically a hollowed out aloo filled with chat masala and garam masala) .Now after eating eat I think I have some idea of what ass would taste like I mean I have never tasted anything so vile in my life. This guy has the gall (as wells as the balls) to give us boiled potato and chat masala and ask us to pay 30 rs for it. I mean the only way I can imagine somebody coming back to eat there once more would be because the first time he did ,the huge amount of chat masala had burned off all his taste buds.
After eating the crapiest piece of crap ever we finally headed over to karims. Now anybody who has ever said “I love da chicken(or any other meat variate)” has eaten at karims at least once. So I won’t go too much into the nitty grittys. The mutton burra was fabulous as usual, the masala of that is amazing, though I think it’s better to avoid the chicken burra. The seekh kebabs as usual were just okay nothing out of the ordinary. For the first time in my life I found the korma lacking(actually it the opposite of lacking, It had too much mirchi ,a good korma due to the bhunni hui pyaz is supposed to have a sweet tinge to it which was washed away by the heavy mirchi),the mutton stew was totally on the ball,it was lovely. The khamiri roti could have been a bit softer ,but the sheermal(bakarkhani) was lovely . I did miss the lovely tandoori machili they do in the winters (it is a must have ,and I think is one of the best ways to eat machili,though some of my Bengali friends disagree(they prefer their own style(all I can say is that they are a bunch of boka chodas)))
Clockwise : Karims, Chicken Qorma, Khamiri Roti, Mutton Burra, Mutton Stew(Ishtoo).
After eating a shit load of good food, there was only one way to end this trip, and that was at a shit pot.
Until next time.
Directions:
Get down at Sitaram Bazaar, and follow the map(attached below, all the places are mentioned in this eoid recommendations maplet) if you can, otherwise after you enter S bazaar ask the shopkeepers for kuremal, he’s well known in the ares, and here’s the imp. thing, some shop keepers will direct you to a shop which has it’s shutters down, but proclaims itself as kuremal kulfi bhandaar, this is not the place, keep going ahead in the galli and ask again, the real shop is a little way down, after taking a galli to the left, its located near a jain temple, and yeah there’s no siting, it’s literally a hole in the wall shop.
The Kuliya will fall on the left side of the road as you go from chawri bazaar metro station to jama masjid, and finding karim’s is a piece of cake, every one seems to know the place.
A Russian restaurant in New Delhi, now that’s gotta be fun!
After reading a lot of good views about this place, i finally found myself walking though it’s glass doors. Bline is located inside the Anand Niketan market complex and is fairly easy to locate. The moment i stepped inside, what surprised me was it’s decor, i was expecting a cool cafe or summin like that, but the place seemed so old worldly and classy……regally painted interiors with arty paintings, clean linen on the tables with spotless silverware, tall cut-glass jugs….took me back to the formal dinners in army messes. There is TV playing Russian channels and a set of Russian movie DVDs kept neatly stacked underneath it.
The place has only 4 tables, seating a maximum of 16, so taking a large party may have some bottlenecks.
I had read that an old Russian gentleman runs the place, but he was nowhere to be seen when i was there, the place was manned by a north eastern lady.
The menu was quite limited( i am attaching some pics of the menu, but some pages are missing), and i hadn’t heard of a few dished on it, i tried out Russian Bortz – a light appetizer, served with rice -, Mutton Capitan – Sort of a mutton stew, but the meat had a nice juicy and chewy feel to it, really good -, Bline( which is what the restaurant derives it’s name from) with Jam – Russian Pancakes, they weren’t much different from the regular ones and probably the worst thing i had there and Kompot – a fruit punch, it was nice and refreshing drink and makes a companion to the meal.
One bad thing about the place would be the meager portions, they were barely enough for a foodie like me, but I am surely gonna go back to try out more Russian delights.
Map:
The second lane of Kamla Nagar, adjacent to the main Bungalow Road is full of Chinese Eateries, who also serve Thai and Tibetan, all of them have almost the same items on the menu with the decor and the taste being the main distinguishing factor, and if taste matters more to you head straight to Momo’s Point. Momo’s Point is easily the most celebrated of the lot, you will rarely NOT be on th waiting list during eating hors on work days, it’s Crispy Spicy Potatoes are legendary among college folk, i have had it 30 times back to back and i still can’t get enough of it!
Once you do manage to get off the waiting list (a good thing is they take your order even as you wait for a seat), and get inside you will notice the rather spartan decor, which to put simply is just tables and chairs, thankfully the chairs aren’t uncomfortable and they do have an AC, clearly food is the place’s USP. The menu has a good variety of Chinese, Tibetan and Thai dishes, but not many dessert options. It goes without saying, that the above mentioned Crispy Spicy Potatoes are a must order, but what’s funny is the momo’s -chicken and veg are not that good at all- a little too hard and rubbery for my liking, but the pork momo’s are scrumptious. The combo meals are a good too,and great bang for buck.
But probably the best thing about the place is it’s super-duper-fast service, they are fast, really fast, you’re ready to dig in around 5 minutes from placing the order!, but the staff ain’t too courteous, clearly the emphasis is on efficiency.Directions: Walk till Mcdonalds on Bungalow Road, take a left turn, walk a few steps and take the left turn into a narrow street, momo’s point straight ahead.
Map:
All the way from Rawalpindu
That’s the place.Rawalpindi’s own.
I was never quite fond of this staple punjabi dish, the thought of oily bhaturas and spicy chholes didn’t quite tingle my tongue, but that was before Chacha’s happened. It was my first year in Hansraj College, DU and the adjacent kamla nagar market or K-nags was the place to hangout, chacha’s had already built quite a reputation even among us freshers and one could always spot serpentine ques around luch time emanating from their hole-in-a-wall shop, so i finally decided to find out whether it was any better from my previous bad chhole bhatures experiences, and boy it was!
The shop procalims itself and Chahcha di hatti, pindi wale, as the chhole recipe is an original of rawalpindi. It’s a tiny shop with tables outside where you have to eat standing,at the counter you will find an old, burly man taking orders and dishing out plates of chhole bhature.
The chhole was spicy and zesty and the tangy chutney on top made it heavely, the bhaturas (go for the aloo wale), were not rubbery or heavy at all, they were soft and quite light, and that’s when i became a hardcore fan of the dish. I have been going there regularly for two years now and the quality has been very consistent, the only thing i find bad is the lack of seating arrangement, come lunch time and hordes of locals,studensta and univ. staff descend upon the tiny shop, once you manage to negotiate the long que, you have to compete with a dozen people for 3 small round tables, and don’t try to edge yourself ahead, the shop has a couple of guys to maintain discipline, and here’s a tip there are separate ques for men and women, if you have someone of the fairer sex accompanying you, request her to stand in que, the women’s que is generally shorter and gets fastser service.
The best way to finish of the meal is with a banta from the numerous nearby banta stands.
Directions: Walk on the bungalow road, which is bang in front of the hansraj college hostel gate, keep walking until you see the yamaha showroom on the left, pass a clothes shop and the a left turn along the rebook store, cross the road and keep walking until you see a narrow street on the left, the shop is just at the mouth of the galli, you should be able to make out from the long ques.
Prices: everything’s under 20 bucks, i am attaching the rather sparse menu too.
Map:
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