Run out by a Delhi Belly. Idioms that need a relook.
Ashwin ran Jos Butler out in an IPL match after the latter had stepped out of the
non-striker’s end before the ball was balled. Though the dismissal was ‘legal’, questions came up
about whether this was in the ‘spirit of the game.’ The term ‘Mankaded’ was
bandied about quite a bit in this context. Turns out that one of the earliest Indian cricket legends, Vinoo Mankad, had
dismissed Bill Brown of Australia in a similar fashion in 1947. The term ‘Mankaded’ has stuck on since then and is used to describe similar dismissals. I learnt that that that descendants of the Late Vinoo Mankad are not happy with this association to his legacy and want the terms scrapped. This got me thinking about another term that is associated with India and in this case our food, the infamous Delhi Belly. This needs a rethink too!
first known use of ‘Delhi Belly was in 1943. A bit before the Mankad incident. The term refers to traveller’s diarrhoea and while it could happen anywhere in the world, Delhi and therefore India, has been
particularly associated with it thanks to the phrase.
followed. However, it would be silly to say that things have not changed since then. Coming to India, or to any other country, and staying away from trying the local food is indeed an unfortunate way of travelling. This post of mine is a sort of food love song to Delhi and its food, based on my latest trip to the city and my memories of visits to the city over the years.
Delhi have an unabashed love for food and for feeding people too. This, I feel, ensures that every meal that you would have here during your travels would be legendary.
customer has become a lot more demanding of quality too. The chances of getting a ‘Delhi Belly’ is therefore a lot less than in the 1940s.
Coincidentally, 18th April, has been declared as the #WorldFoodTravelDay by the World Food Travel Association. Hopefully, this post will give you enough reasons to pique your interest about Delhi and its food and that of India too. And encourage you to explore our country.
What defines the soul of Delhi’s food?
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That’s Dr Pant in the middle, chef Manisha in white and Pritha Sen in the sari at the panel that I moderated for the Times Kitchen Tales Meet at Delhi |
panel that I had hosted for the Times Kitchen Tales in Delhi earlier in March this year.
paratha and has many layers,” replied one of the panellists, Dr Pushpesh Pant. He is a former international rational relations professor
at the JNU, an acclaimed food lover and historian, and a Padma Shri awardee too.
called Attache Travel, with whom I had shot in Mumbai once. Some of the stories here are from our food explorations in Delhi this time. The others are of those which I made with my
friend, Amit Patnaik, with whom I have had many food adventures before.
Stories which I hope will leave your belly craving for the food of Delhi.
The allure of Lutyen’s Delhi
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The revamped Kwality restaurant which I had visited in March this year. One of the jewels of Connaught Place |
tourists to the city flocked ever since it was built in 1933. It has recently got a new lease of life with the old
favourites such as the United Coffee House, Kwality Restaurant and Embassy sprucing themselves up and with trendy restaurants chains such as Farzi Café
opening up outlets. You will find your Starbucks and McDonalds’ of course, which
as a foreign tourist, you might find comfort in. However, there are many home
grown favourites too such as the local legend Nirula’s and new joints such as Burger Singh.
1. Kake Da Dhaba, Connaught Place
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Brain curry at Kake Da Dhaba |
2. Nirula’s, Connaught Place
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Manhattan Maina, tutti frutti and cardamom flavours went into our build your own sundae at Nirulas |
My first encounter with Nirula’s happened when I went to Delhi from
Kolkata in ’92 to visit my aunt just after I was done with my school finals. With its sundaes, burgers and pizzas, it made
the world of Archies and Pop Tates, which we could only dream of in
pre-liberalisation India, a pleasant reality. International fast food chains were not
present in India then after all.
evening in ’92. Plain vanilla studded with coloured fruit bits. Very Wham! Meets Pet
Shop Boys in its execution. You will know what I mean if you are an 80s child too.
original Nirula’s outlet was and that this is a new branch. The old one does not exist any more he said. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of young
high-school and college kids there. Most seemed to be there on dates and we were the only adults around it seemed. Nirula’s clearly remains a favourite with the new generation of Delhites.
requested our third scoop to be tutti frutti. The ice cream flavour that folks in my
generation would order when taken to a restaurant for a treat when we were kids. For toppings, I chose
preserved pineapple syrup and which had pineapple chunks too. No sea salt, no
caramel, no dark chocolate. ‘Nothing artisanal,’ was my unstated brief.
the first bite that we took. This was sugary heaven. The air-conditioning after facing the heat while walking in CP in the sun was a welcome respite.
My aunt, who had grown up in Delhi, later told me that the hot fudge sundae at Nirula’s was something that they would covet but be unable to afford when she was in college. It’s still on the menu so do think of her if you have one at Nirula’s.
3. Wenger’s, Connaught Place
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Wenger’s Shammi Kebab |
does not have their own “my parents took me to Wenger’s when I was a kid” story.
bakes and sandwiches still. Its display shelves are packed with patties, sandwiches, pastries,
eclairs and sponge cakes with icing of the sort which you can still see in old Irani bakeries such as Merwan’s in Mumbai or the Jewish family run Nahoum’s in Kolkata. Food that is far removed from today’s gluten free and
lactose intolerant hipster world.
pieces which were as tough as the heart of Cersei (GOT), it turned out to be the rare Delhi dish about which one could say, “we do
it better in Mumbai!” Especially in Candies.
Manisha Bhasin of the ITC Maurya, who told me that she remains from her childhood days, a fan of
the eclairs at Wenger’s.
Shop and eat at Bengali market
4. Bengali Sweet House, Bengali Market
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Papdi chaat at Bengali Sweets |
favourite is the papdi chaat. I find the delicious harmony of the contrasting
flavours, colours and textures of the ingredients that make this treat bewitching.
have many favourites when it comes to chaat joints, my choice of place is often dictated by proximity the
hotel I am staying at. In my market research days, it would be at the sweet
shop at Khan Market when we stayed at the Ambassador Hotel next door. When staying at a
Connaught Place or Barakhamba Road hotel, then I go to Bengali Sweets at the Bengali market. The name
has nothing to do with my community by the way.
Mughal rulers of Delhi and was meant to be a dish that could boost the immunity of people and
help them fight waterborne diseases in the process. Ironically, the use of
unfiltered water in chaats today is a worry many have while having chaats etc on the
streets. You are likely to be protected from this when you have your chaats at established sweets shops such as the Bengali Sweet Shop, who put a premium on hygiene and use filtered water.
The experience would be less ‘atmospheric’ than having chaats on the streets no doubt but definitely more Delhi Belly-resistant.
Breaking bhatoore with the backpackers of West Delhi
5. Sita Ram Diwan Chand, Paharganj
the channa bhatoore. I have had it before at sweet shops such as Nathu’s and Evergreen
and in old Delhi, at Shivam Mishtann Bhandar. The latter has a slight cheese-like taste thanks to the paneer added to the dough. During my previous trip to
Delhi, I had an exquisite one at the very posh and newly revamped Kwality. Each offers a different experience from what I have observed.
decided to go there for breakfast the day after we met.
be popular with foreign backpackers as a place to stay at and which is a busy local market
too. I Ubered it from Barakhamba Road and it did not take me long to reach Paharganj. The
last mile involved us driving down narrow lanes, past grocery shops and jalebis
stalls in a world which very different from Lutyen’s Delhi that we had left behind twenty
minutes back. When GPS was unsure about where we should go, I would roll down the window and ask for
direction. “Woh chhole bhatoore walah?” would be the answer. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew where the
shop set up by the descendants of the late Sitaram Diwanchand is located. It is the Taj Mahal of Paharganj after all!
here. He continued till he opened a small shop in 1970. The current shop
is apparently bigger than the original one.
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Channa bhatoore prep at Sitaram’s |
bhatoore on a flat tava and then putting them on a plate along with channa (chickpeas) and
pickle and then handing it out to those who had bought a token (Rs 60 a plate). There is a
section inside behind them where you can stand and enjoy your stash of the legendary channa bhatoore.
bhatoore at Sitaram’s is not fried after you place your order you see and hence is not the
puffed up ball that one is used to at sit down eateries. The bhatoore here is flat, soft and chubby inside. It seemed less deep fried therefore and felt more comforting for someone of my age! The dough is seasoned with
chillies and coriander leaves and masalas which add layers of flavour to it.
The channa is competent no doubt, but the bhatoore is the star of the dish at Sitaram’s.
lassi instead. There are chaiwallahs outside at Paharganj as well as tiny cafes to hawk coffees to the backpackers here if you want either for breakfast.
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With Greg in the middle and Alex on the right. The Attache Travel team |
Can one ever tire of Old Delhi?
6. Al Jawahar, Jama Masjid
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The world of Al Jawahar |
to go there for years to eat but it seemed so inaccessible from
New Delhi back in the day when I would go from Mumbai to conduct focus groups in the city. Then the Metro happened and I actually managed three food trips to old
Delhi and have ticked off most of the famous places there by now.
3 and the entire vehicle). My brother later told me that there is a station at
Jama Masjid now which takes one straight to the Karim’s area.
social media told me I should have gone to when I went Karim’s a few years back.
I called my friend Amit Patnaik and he
suggested that I go to Al Jawahar and that’s what we did. On the way back, our electric rickshaw
driver with whom I shared the front seat (travelling business class as I put
it), told me that one restaurant is run by the uncle and the other by the nephew.
“Both are the same,” was his verdict. He added that the restaurant was named Jawahar after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, who had inaugurated the restaurant.
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The rotis and kebabs were the stars of our dinner at Al Jawahar |
geared towards a middle ‘cosmopolitan’ clientele the way Karim’s is. Neither serve beef for this reason.
How was the
food? The sheekh kebabs were juicy and pleasantly flavoured. The nihari was
flooded in oil and the taste of the dish left no memories once one I left. I also called for
the chicken changrezi as I had heard so much about this dish. The dish was very spicy
as the waiter had warned us it would be. I
found it tasty but the chilli heat was a bit intimidating for me. The two foreigners at the table loved it though!
The fresh rotis from
the tandoor were lovely. We ordered a biryani too. It was again very spicy and greasy
with the most interesting thing in it being the pickled chillies that I found
in them.
not sure about that! A case of ‘the journey being more fascinating than the destination,’ perhaps.
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Al Jawahar: Roti, chicken changrezi, mutton biryani, mutton nihari, sheekh kebabd |
Sadar Bazar With ma homie, Amit Patnaik
6. Ashok & Ashok Meat Dhaba, Sadar Bazar
the traffic on the way is just too much. Unlike the Jama Masjid part of Old Delhi which is over- run with
folks on food walks all thanks to the metro now, you will not find any tourists here.”
to drive cheerfully while I sat next to him in his car. Amit is a food blogger and writer too and above all, a true food enthusiast and a very kind soul who often leads me to great food.
We were headed to Sadar Bazar. Our destination? Ashok & Ashok Meat Dhaba, a palce which I had first read of in Pamela Timm’s blog.
We soon left the order and neatness of New
Delhi and entered large roads packed with chaotic traffic caused by trailer trucks and
buses heaving with people, not the BMWs and Mercs that you see at Chankyapuri and Connaught
Place in Lutyen’s Delhi. The old buildings on both sides of the road reminded me of those at Central Avenue in
Kolkata and Md Ali Road in Mumbai.
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Fellow pilgrims at Ashok & Ashok |
literally a hole in the wall joint. They dish out the kormas to those who came to their altar. With an unlimited supply of green chilli spiked aata rotis, baked fresh
in the tandoor, to mop the curry up with. There are a couple of tables set on the pavement outside and
you can stand there and eat.
The mutton gets over within 15 minutes of the shop’s
opening we were told and the place is open only for lunch. We had reached our destination at 2.30 pm. So, chicken korma it was for us that day.
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The majestic chicken korma at Ashok & Ashok |
The korma is slow cooked over 3
hours we were told. When you place your order, they take out your portion
(priced according to the no of people and around Rs 300 PAX), put it on a stainless steel
plate and then place that on a small coal fire oven. The plate is brought to you once
the curry begins to sizzle. I guess we stuck out as being ‘tourists’ what with the phone
videos that we shot and the visible enthusiasm on our faces. This possibly prompted the waiter to actually get a sigri (oven) to our table. Our korma began to sizzle in front of us. Amit suggested putting the raw onions on the plate to sanitise them.
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When the tourist was made to feel at home at Ashok & Ashok’s |
we were told, in shudh desi ghee with a melange of masalas. The taste of the korma was very, very
intense and unforgettable. The chicken in this majestic curry was very tender.
They had used the small sized chicken here and cooked it on the bone. It made for
a rather imperial treat with the rotis, had in a nondescript by-lane of old
Delhi.
I truly owed Amit big for this experience, and there was more to come that afternoon.
7. Sardar Meatwala, Sadar Bazar
to coax me at the end of the very filling meal at Ashok & Ashok. He wanted us to head out in search of the mutton (goat meat) that had eluded us at Ashok
& Ashok. He suggested going to a place called Sardar Meatwala close by at
Sadar Bazar which he had heard of. He told me that a source of a lot of his ‘discoveries’ were the writings of Rahul Verma, the veteran food writer. Amit checked with those eating at Sardar and
Sardar and the staff there too about the place. Everyone vouched for the quality of the food at Sardar Meatwala and confirmed that it
is open all day and hence we should get our meat.
the scrawny driver was briefed by his fellow rickshaw drivers. “Daroo ke dukan
ke paas,” (near the booze shop) they said and he said that he knew of the place too.
Kolkata. We then came on to a bigger road. A road packed with traffic…rickshaws, water tankers, bullock carts, porters carrying big bojhas on their heads…every
Steve Mc Curry and foreign TV channel India cliché that you could think of, was on display there. A bull with huge horns, who wanted to whisper sweet nothings
into Amit’s ears, gave our intrepid young foodie a bit of a scare while we waited in the rickshaw.
‘Time lagta hain, jaldi karne se kuchh nahin hoga,” it takes time, we have to accept this truth, said our rickshaw driver sagely.
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There’s Lucky Singh. The new gen Sardar of Sardar Meatwala |
(cauldrons) in front of him from which he served his food. People stood by his stall and ate, walloping curry
and rice as late as 4.30 pm, way past lunch time.
We asked for a plate of mutton and rice (there were plain
rotis on offer too) and a side serving of mutton liver. There was chicken curry on
offer as well. The curry/ gravy was common. The meats separately cooked. Once you
place your order, sardarji would dunk in the meat in the curry and then serve it to you.
seeing that we were sharing a plate, the kind gentleman put some extra rice on
our plate. He later told me that his name is Lucky Singh. That the shop was started
by his father, the late Attar Singh, who operated out of ‘Rui Bazar’ first, way back in 1970.
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The most beautiful plate of food that you can ever come across |
used our fingers to mop up the mutton curry and rice. I broke into a big smile
with the first bite. If the korma at Ashok & Ashok was a 70mm Mughal-E-Azam-like
blockbuster, this was more like a mellow Hrishikesh Mukherjee love story. Each mouthful was
so soulful. It tasted just like home food. The curry and rice was flavoursome and
yet not excessively oily or high on chilli heat. The mutton tender too. The liver, had just the right bite to elevate its texture.
To me,
this was the standout dish of the trip.
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Me and ma homie, Amit Patnaik. Auditioning to be the Gully Boys of the food writing world. Luckyji clicked us in between dishing out his curries |
The memory of standing on the
pavement at Sadar Bazar and eating the meat rice an unforgettable one.
I was in my elements. I felt so alive, so free, so rejuvenated as I dug into the meat chawal at Sardar’s. This is where I was meant to be. This is what the phrase ‘happiness in this world’ translates to in my life!
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At home at Sardar Meatwala |
Ashok & Ashok’s, where Amit had parked his car. This seemed like a Lexus
after the cycle rickshaw and it used wider roads too.
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Rush Hour at Sadar Bazar |
8. Madan Lal Sweet Shop, Sadar Bazar
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The jalebi at Madan Lal took me back to the jilipi of Kolkata |
to have some jalebis and we were not sure if we should pick some at the folks
making and selling them on the streets. Which is when we spotted an old and
sleepy-looking sweet shop in the lane outside Ashok & Ashok and Amit suggested that we go there.
fresh jalebis too (minimum order of 200 g for this). The jalebis took me back
straight to the jilipis of Kolkata thanks to their crunchiness with the first bite that I took. We tried a
samosa too and that was lovely as well.
Few things can compare with the clean and pure joy of having freshly fried jalebis and samosas in my book.
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The ustaad at Madan Lal |
elderly of the two called us in to eat. “Beta, andar baith ke khao.” He later told me
that his father had come to Delhi from Lahore and had set up the shop in 1947. The
two gentlemen at the counter were the son and grandson of the founder. They
then treated me to a glass of kanji, a drink made with fermented black carrot.
A winter special here. A beautiful palate cleanser after the afternoon’s
multiple feasts.
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Madan Lalji with the first PM of India, Pandit Nehru. He had the makings of a food blogger if you ask me |
dignitaries who had eaten here. The first prime minister of India, Jawahar Lal
Nehru, had inaugurated the place it seems, just as he had Al Jawahar’s where I had gone to the previous night. He
seemed to have been quite a foodie as I saw his picture at the Kwality
Restaurant too. There were pictures of his daughter and former prime minister,
Indira Gandhi, railway minister Babu Jagjivan Ram and many others with the family.
love that I had been here and across Delhi during the trip.
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Raising a black carrot kanji toast to the founder of the shop the late Madan Lal, with his son and grandson |
Let’s hear it for the Delhi Belly.
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When a Mumbaikar roots for Delhi |
Does this list qualify to be the ‘Best of Delhi’ or the most
comprehensive list of Delhi eateries?
have eaten at many of its other iconic places before. I would put the buff
niharis at Kallu Mia’s in Old Delhi & Javed’s at Jamia, way above those at
Al Jawahar and Karim’s. For every Sitaram channa bhatoore fan, there will be
those who will root for the ones Nagpal or at Chache Da Hatti. There will be those who will
say that the place to have chaat is at the UPSC guy’s and not Bengali Market. Or that Kake or Ashok &
Ashok or any other icon is not “what it used to be.”
as Indian Accent and the Bukhara which have made waves among the upscale diners
from abroad. I have eaten at both in the past. There’s north eastern food and I
have eaten at Yeti before and I heard it is still going strong. The regional
food at its state ‘Bhavans’ and I made it to the one at Andhra Bhavan sometime
back.
read in this post and that is what makes the city so special. What I can tell
you for sure though, that this list is a good place to start off to understand
the heart of Delhi’s food.
Open your heart to Delhi and Delhi will love you back. Delhi Belly be damned.
Come to think of it, this applies to the rest of India too. And to anywhere else in the world.
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Can one ever get enough of Delhi? |
Appendix:
1. A video that we shot at Sitaram Diwanchand for my YouTube channel, Finely Chopped TV, courtesy Greg:
2. A video that we shot at Ashok & Ashok and this is courtesy Amit Patnaik:
3. More food from this trip:
China Kitchen, Hyatt Regency: Delhi Posh
With expat chefs who need interpreters and imported produce, surely places such as these in the five star hotels in Delhi would be as removed from the ‘scary’ world of Delhi Belly as the chicken tikka masala of the pubs of London are from the world of Indian food!
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Amit Patnaik, the Thailavva of the food world |
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With Alex at Nirula’s |
You can catch more of my Delhi stories in my book, The Travelling Belly. Here is where you can order it from.
Here’s the Attache Travel Guide to Delhi. The food bit starts after 7 min 20 secs:
From the Finely Chopped archives on Delhi:
Kwality
Old Delhi nihari & kebabs
Old Delhi Kareem’s and Aslam with Mohit
Old Delhi Breakfast with Amit
First time at Kake
Evergreen chhole bhatoore
First time at Bengali Sweets
Connaught Place with Manisha Bhasin
Channa bhatoore at Nathu’s with Pamela Timms
Pandara road food explorations with Amit
CR Park, Delhi’s Bengali settlement
Sources referred to:
WSJ on Wenger’s
Merriam Webster: Delhi Belly
Pamella Timms: Ashok & Ashok
Wikipedia on Mankad
Fantastic blog. For someone who hasn't really gone on a food trip to Delhi, this made me salivate several times. Keep exploring places and capturing them through such articles ��