Rajinder da Dhaba

One of Bangalore's finest eating locations for the budget-minded, or anyone for that matter, is Johnson Market. Nestled in between the old and new centres of Bangalore, it has quite a few places that serve amazing rolls. Phanoos, the most popular among them, serves a series of beef rolls named Jumbo, Mambo and Shambo. They even have a good chicken liver roll, though that is not for everyone.




Somewhat similar is Rajinder, which is in Safdarjung Enclave. No beef, though.

These mutton sheekh rolls are very different from kakori kabab rolls at Aap Ki Khatir, or those at Khan Chacha or Nizams. A singular roll is a bit of a meat overload - like the Phanoos roll. The chutney is nice.


















Here's a look at some Afghani Chicken. Drool, you sinners!

Nizams

For several years, Nizams meant the following four items: the beef roll for fifteen bucks, the beef-egg roll for twenty, the chicken roll for twenty and the chicken-egg roll for twenty five.
Every year they would come to college on invitation and serve us these delicious rolls while we entertained ourselves and our guests. Occasionally, I miss their taste. There is a Nizams in CP. Apparently it is the mother-ship. When I went there the first time, it was a big disappointment. It was great food, but it was expensive. More importantly, Nizams lost its spine and did not serve beef.



Yesterday, I went there. Among other things, we nailed this Malai Keema Kofta. Really tasty.
You can even see the shiny battooras in this pic.

Non-Sagar sambar-vada in Defence Colony

One of the things I miss most from Bangalore are cheap opportunities to eat several vadas.

An old lady waits with her cafe on wheels, as soon as you turn into Defence Colony from near the Andrews Ganj flyover. She is comfortable speaking Tamil or Hindi, and even understood me when I spoke to her in Malayalam. Last time I ate there, random policemen were fleecing her, and from what I saw, it could not have been a one-off experience.

The sambar had too few vegetables and too much asafoteida, and on my return to office I was feeling like a bit of a gas cylinder. It was quite tasty, but maybe I was too hungry. It did not matter. Two parippu vadas and two uzhunnu vadas for twenty five rupees is as cheap as you get at any Bangalore darshini.

In Malayalam you call them parippu vada (darker ones on the left) and uzhunnu vada. But as far as I know, parippu (kind of dal/lentils) is ground with water to make uzhunnu.















Here she is.

Mt. Bread Pakora

It is amazing how people are able to get away with building pandals on arterial lanes in Lajpat Nagar, blocking traffic for up to several hours. But since it was a festive occasion, I forgave easily and photographed this huge and growing pile of hot bread pakoras.

Parathas all sorts.

A staple of the North Indian breakfast (and more), the variously stuffed parathas can fill you up in less than twenty rupees. This mooli (radish?) paratha, I came across in Manali. Pickle of indeterminate origin.

Varathameen

INA Market has four or five specialty Malayali eating joints. I didn't eat this fried fish. I was on the way back from some satisfying appams, fish curry and beef fry that I saw this and wished I was not so stuffed.

INA: Ivide Nursummar Alayunnu. (Nurses roam here.)

Chilli Chicken

Apart from being a decent place to drink, 4S, in Defence Colony is also a good place for reasonably priced (think Delhi) Chinese and Thai food.

The Chilli chicken goes well with some Old Monk and coke.

The 4S style mixed fried rice is also quite good.

Kakori Kebab

App Ki Khathir is near Nizamuddin, and I have not seen it open before sunset. During the day, some kind of garage operates there. Forget the chicks, these kebabs are probably the best thing about South Delhi.

A touch expensive for street food, two of these come for sixty rupees. I was told that the lamb would be marinated for three days with curd and papaya - among other things, to get the meat this soft.

Biriyani

Nizamuddin. Near the Dargah. I wasn't really a great fan of the biriyanis in Delhi. Hyederabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode seemed to offer much better. This plate, costing a grand total of fifteen rupees, changed my mind. As you can see from the scales in the photo, it is sold by the kilo.

Those hands belong to the Media Baron. The meat was very tender.

Eggs.

Omlette.

Lajpat Nagar. Central Market Road.

Boiled eggs. Same guy who is usually near the Axis Bank ATM.

Melty halwa stuff.

Nizamuddin. These stalls come up at every Urs. Or so they told me.

Tikki, Making of

Lajpat Nagar II

Muffins

Angels in my Kitchen, Defence Colony, New Delhi