City Food – Tea Stall’s Account Book and Chai, Roshanpura, Gurgaon
The ecosystem of chai. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Each pavement chai stall looks alike in its extreme modesty—there’s the pan, or kettle, the stove and the gas cylinder. But each chai stall is unique, its character coming…
City Food – Manjeet Singh’s ‘Car-Restaurant’, Sham Nath Marg
The karhi chawal consolation. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They always look old. No matter how recent they may be, street food stalls always seem dated, deeply rooted to their hyperlocal address. Often, they look like they’ve been…
City Food – Mathew’s Masala Dosa, RK Puram
The real dosa. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s tough to find a masala dosa in Delhi that isn’t compromised with the city’s over-spiced aesthetics — the dosa served in the Indian Coffee House has a potato filling…
City Food – Snack Cart Pots, Mathura Road
The great Indian pateeli show. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You would expect to find this kind of huge brass container on display in the museums on Rajasthan kings instead of a Delhi pavement stall. This pateeli for…
City Food – Mathura ka Peda, Kucha Pati Ram
The charm of an out-of-town delicacy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some of the most universally loved Indian delicacies are identified with towns and cities where they were probably invented or given a special treatment — Agra ka…
City Food – Aloo Paratha, Barakhamba Road
Old food, new stall. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every so often one runs across something in Delhi that is almost too good to be true. But the spiced potato mix served at this pavement stall clearly wins…
City Food – Muhammed Sajid’s Sooji Halwa, Turkman Gate Bazar
The hyperlocal halwa. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Muhammed Sajid’s mithai shop in Old Delhi’s Turkman Gate Bazaar is as fickle as a moody chameleon. It shows different colors at different times of the day. In afternoons you…
City Food – Nankhatai, Around Town
A buttery treat. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nankhatai is like Indian English – a foreign import slapped, beaten, fermented and baked by us Indians till it becomes total desi. An egg-less cookie, its origins are traced to…
City Food – Maha Samosa, Delite Cinema
Delhi’s biggest samosa. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What is Delhi without its tombs? What is a samosa without its potatoes? Boil it, mash it, mix in the spices, scoop it up into a maida casing, deep-fry and…
City Food – Jane Austen’s Chai Stall, Bharat Ram Road
The love of pavement tea. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If British writer Jane Austen was still alive and happened to stumble across this unusual tea stall she’d probably express ardent admiration for its owner. Mahaveer runs this…
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