Slaphappy P.
Yelp
I enjoyed this place despite my friend's constant, good-natured hectoring of me about it being vegetarian. She hadn't realized that before we got there.
They must be the real deal, as it was crowded and we were the only non-Indians in the place, eliciting some curious looks.
I had thought the counter screen would be full of pics, but it was not. I had seen them online. Just saw one reviewer said you can check them on a screen pad when you come in. As it was, I was lost at "can I help you" with a line behind me. I got chole bhature and Idly sambar as I was a bit familiar there, then the chat platter to share after an uncomfortable silence- feeling the pressure. My friends got onion pakoda and schezuan noodles.
The chole bhature was excellent, wonderful sauce. Delicious bread puff.
Idly is not for everyone, as there is not a lot of flavor. For me, its a texture thing and I loved them, nice and fluffy.
The variety of chaat dishes were ok. Many of the same flavors/ ingredients shared between them though. The Dahi Puri was my favorite. The really stand out flavors were of chaat masala, besan batter and black salt. I like those flavors very much, and as far as I have seen with my limited knowlege, they are mostly used in snack food like that here. The yogurt sauce was nice too.
The schezuan noodles had NO heat, but delicious. Unfortunately I had to begrudgingly agree with my abusive friend that I kept looking for the chicken flavor however (oh, the tortures of the damned!). The pakoda was pretty good, but very good with a couple packs of cholula hot sauce on them.
In the end, it was a bad choice for us at the time, as we were really ready for a dinner. I don't know what I was thinking because they served SNACKS, and were just that. Add them up, and its still not dinner.
If we go again, I'll have my menu choices lined up when we get there. And I think I'll get one of their enormous dosas (you could fit over a baby's arm) and a paneer dish. The batter fried fenugreek sounded interesting too.
It would be the PERFECT place on a hot hot August day, for a little snack and some ice cream, of which they had a myriad of flavors, many unfamiliar, ripe for exploration. I'm glad we went, all told.