Recently during my annual home trip I got a chance to pacify my long standing/lasting desire of having parathas from the very famous Parthey Waali Gaali of Chadni Chowk , Delhi.
So we boarded the Metro which dropped us till Chadni Chowk Metro station, from there Parathey waali gaali is just a 10 min walk. Those who are going very first time are in for a surprise as it is not like what one might have imagined, it’s just a small bylane which is just a meter wide and there are chances that you can totally miss it if you don’t ask constantly for directions from the shop keeper’s of very Crowded but vivid Chadni Chowk.
Once we went inside this bylane it was typical Delhi :)….Scooters, People all trying to get the max of that 1 meter wide road and then there were many cloth shops for which Chadni Chowk is so famous. Nice place for girls for getting their bridal gears for the D day.
To my right and left there were few Paratha shops offering the tempting but oily (but who cares :)) Parthas. I didn’t find many shops, just 5-6 were there which was quite a disappointment as I was expecting a road with some 20-30 shops :( (may be it doesn’t make much business sense). Anyhow we settled for one place and went to first floor of the shop where few college goers and few aunties were enjoying their afternoon meal.
To start with we ordered our regular choice like Gobi, Aloo & mix Paratha. Which was served to us in accompany with one sweet chutney ( with a slice of banana in it) , one green chutney ( very regular in north ), One Aloo Gravy , One Aloo Dry Sabzi and One dry pumpkin Sabzi and last but not the least pickle. The Parathas were a bit small in size and were deep fried instead of being fried over the pan but that’s the specialty of this place which makes it so famous.
Stuffing was good and side dishes were making the experience more and more pleasant. I specially like the pumpkin gravy. After finishing the first round we went for another one this time we were in experimenting mode so we order ‘Papad ka Paratha’ and green peas partha . Papad ka paratha was quite a delight as the stuffing was giving the taste of a real papad :) and green peas was quite nicely stuffed. To finish it up we ordered for sweet lassi which was good. Cost wise it was Ok as each paratha costed us 30 bucks.
After coming out of the shop we roamed around a bit to see other shops were people were jostling to get a place for there meal. All in all it was an satisfying experience. The place has lost its shine but still it is a must go place for any one who is visiting Delhi.
We wanted to go to Kareem’s (Near Jamma Masjid) which is very famous for it's non veg but we were full till our neck so we gave it a skip,did some shopping and again boarded metro from Chandi Chowk for our destination.
It was quite aptly written by great urdu poet Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq about delhi….
“Humne maana ki dakkan mein hai bahut qadre sukhan; Kaun jaaye Zauq par Dilli ki galiyan chhod kar ”
One reason which I could find behind his thought process must be food :) for which Delhi is so famous and Parathey Waali gaali is a proof of it!!!!
