Banshi Di Hatti - Rawalpindi ke Mashoor Chhole Bhature in Malka Ganj
Don’t mind the lousy attempts at humour in this piece, I just got bored of normal writing and thought this would be amusing, especially because I have extremely terrible memories associated with the area surrounding North Campus, making this attempt at humour is slightly cathartic to me.
If this is your first time visiting my blog, be assured that the other pieces are written through the lens of a sane human being, and not of a Twitter shitposter.
If you’re not interested in the humour, skip to the end. The review is serious and you should definitely check out this place if you’re in the area.
Chhole Bhatuure is almost synonymous with the food of Dilli, whether I agree with it or not (Spoiler alert : I don’t). Everybody and their uncle has a favourite spot - whether it be Lajpat Nagar’s Baba Nagpal Corner or Karol Bagh’s Roshan Di Kulfi, and in true Dilliwallah fashion, the uncles are very defensive about their pick. Disagreements over the slightest critique of their favourite Chhole Bhatuure spot turn into hour-long arguments, with a light sprinkle of ad-hominems thrown in the mix (or a handful, depending on how close the two dissenters are to each other), and onlookers hopeful that they’ll witness this verbal dispute escalate into a violent fist-fight, which they can record on their mobile phones and upload to Reddit’s Ghar Ke Kalesh sub-forum for internet points that the uploader keeps sacred to his heart, but in reality, it barely matters to anyone who is habitual of touching grass.
Malka Ganj, a residential colony in North Dilli, is home to Dilli’s Hindu Rao hospital, popularly known as “The Johns Hopkins of Delhi”, and adjacent to the much more vibrant market locality of Kamla Nagar, infamous for selling counterfeit sports shoes and low quality jhumkas that start falling apart after ten days of purchase, but most importantly, it houses a significant number of students of Delhi University’s North Campus, many of whom have no other personality apart from the fact that they smoke weed, listen to Drake and sport weird curly hairdos that make them stick out like a cauliflower in a vegetable cart. As it may be, students need a place to munch at, and Banshi Di Hatti located right by the Malka Ganj Chowk has been serving the locality since 1954, after the owner migrated to India from Rawalpindi.
At the risk of receiving hate mails from overzealous Delhi Metro enthusiasts, I will put it out there that I don’t normally enjoy Chhole Bhatuure. It is so oily that I look at my fellow customers with suspicion, fearing they may be secret USA military agents, and its too heavy to enjoy it after a point for a fafda-loving, khandwi-eating Gujarati like me, irrespective of how lip-smacking it may taste.
Let’s drop the humour for a second, for Banshi Di Hatti was a pleasant surprise for me. The bhatuuras were not that oily, and relatively light on the stomach by bhatuura standards. Their fluffy bhatuuras are served with two fillings - Paneer and Aloo, and they do not skimp on the quantity. Their dark chhole, mixed with a mint-coriander chutney were well-cooked and sufficiently flavoured with their spicy in-house masalas leave your tastebuds satisfied.
My only complaints with the establishment, apart from the fact that one has to bear an annoying North Campus crowd who believe that gedis are a more viable form of public transportation than BRT systems (which most of them haven’t heard of) are that they do not serve lassi and do not give an achaar on the side, instead, just a couple of onion slices and one chilli is served. Apart from this, I believe it is the best Chhole-Bhatuure I have had in the city so far (disclaimer needed : I have not explored Chhole-Bhatuure as much as I have other items in the city. This opinion is not definitive and will in all likelihood change in the future) and may as well be the third-most redeemable aspect about Delhi University’s North Campus. The first, of course, are the summer vacations when most hipsters vacate the area for their hometowns, and the second is the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, as that is the quickest avenue through which one can leave the area for elsewhere.
I hope my attempts at humour did not annoy you too much. If I lose subscribers after this piece, screw it. It was worth it.
Recommendations : Chhole Bhatuure (9/10)
Location : Shop No, 5877, Prof ND Kapoor Marg, Block UA, Jawahar Nagar, Kamla Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi 110007