What comes in your mind when someone says street food? Chaat, tikki, golgappe and bhalle papri - , I guess I have been to lot of restaurants where they have done street food festival and served similar kind of stuff. To me it sounds PURE Delhi and infact typical Punjabi style. People have their preference and liking for this and I somehow have never been a great fan of this kind of street food. Couple of weeks back, I met Executive Chef of Claridges, Ravi Saxena, for his interview and he shared that he plans to start street food between 3PM to 7PM - daily at their saket outlet. Honestly, I wasn’t too excited and he could read though my expressions and smiled. He said “wait let me show you menu and we will talk”. The menu got me all smiling as this was something I loved – Menu had my love of street food! This special street food menu had some real street food from central and North India and it wasn’t the typical chaat-tikki kinds. My first reaction after looking at the menu was “Chef you have created a menu that I love”.As we discussed, I thought of trying it out too!. In non-veg we tried bun omelet (needs no description), a typical street food which I believe is very much popular in north India. I have had it for years during my school/college life in Allahabad. Well our chef too is from Allahabad and he could easily hit the chords of Allahabad street foodJ.
Keema pao which is a very famous Mumbai street food had excellent taste and flavor. Nicely done and the , keema was mildly spicy and had great flavor. For me, masaledar murg was the clear winner. It was both like chicken tikka nor chilli chicken – It was marinated in chef’s special spices and grilled and then sautéed on tawa to get the crispy look and served on wooden skewer along with mild chicken curry. Juicy- Succulent and extremely delicious – A different take and I would highly recommend masaledar murg!Though I am not a great fan of paneer but we tried chatpata paneer, a very popular street food which was great and was served with chilli sauce. I loved it. Next I tried Pao bhaji and Vada pao, typical Mumbai style street food. I loved the spicy flavor in vada and thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved the innovation and the originality that has been introduced in street food menu! Besides the ultimate MY KIND of street food, this brilliantly crafted menu , has some top ups - unlimited cutting chai, unlimited soft beverages and unlimited draft beer, which surely not only attract most of beer lovers, but familes would want to grab a bite before\after shopping in Saket mall.
