“I haven’t eaten lunch to prepare for this,” announced my son, as we set off on our quest for the chaat places of RS Puram. My husband’s expression was a mixture of anticipation and apprehension while my face, I suspect, wore a frankly greedy look. We’d been talking about chaat in office for a while and a friend had helpfully chipped in with how good Agra Chaat was. Her reply, when asked for directions, was a vague “Oh you know that RS Puram-wala.” So I Googled ‘Agra Chaat RS Puram’ and found many more options. And off we went.
KSL AGRA CHAAT
Shanmugha Theatre Road, RS Puram
The board stood next to an empty plot but had an arrow pointing in the opposite direction. We dithered at the entrance till the fellow manning the stall waved us in. “You can sit in the car and eat,” we were told but chose not to. KSL Agra Chat was made up of a stand on the right, a temporary shed on the left and a few plastic chairs. My son wandered over to the study the menu card tacked up on the wall. I peered inquisitively into the shed. Apart from the refrigerator for the curd and cool drinks, this was where the chopping and boiling happened. The actual chaat was mixed over at the pushcart. We ordered a pani puri, dahi papdi chaat and Bombay bhel and settled down. The pani puri arrived first. “Just one each for you both,” ordered my son, filling the puris with the water. A burst of pudina was the first impression followed by the tasty filling. The fresh curd in the dahi papdi chaat had us digging in for more. We offset the spiciness of the Bombay bhel with the remaining pudina water. Not satisfied, my son ordered a bhelpuri. Unusually the regular mixture of puffed rice, sev, papdi, onion and tomato was served on a bed of ragda. The first spoonful was tentative but the mixture of flavours saw us emptying the plate in no time. With the most expensive item on the menu being just ₹40, this place doesn't make much of a dent in your wallet. Not surprising therefore that the place is quite crowded in the evenings. The only downside here was the plates were all Styrofoam and the glasses plastic.
Delicious cheesy Khakra chaat at Ridhi Sidhi
RIDHI SIDHI CHAAT HOUSE
Sri Shanmugam Rd, R.S. Puram
Situated right next to Chai and Gupshup, this was a bit more upmarket. What piqued our interest on the menu was the khakra chaat. We opted for pav bhaji and a sev puri as well. The well-toasted pav was glistening with butter and my fitness-freak husband recoiled. The bhaji was nothing to write home about; a tomato-flavoured mash. The sev puri came covered with flecks of beetroot and carrots. “One way of getting vegetables down your throat,” I jeered at my son. “I don’t mind if it’s like this,” he retorted demolishing the puris. The sweetness of the veggies offset the spicy potato filling. But it was the khakra chaat that was the piece de resistance. One khakra had been topped with finely chopped onion, tomato, and cucumber and that was topped with grated cheese and sev. The mixture of textures and tastes had us wanting more but we decided to be sensible as we had more places to visit. By now my husband had called it quits.
Dahi puri at Agarwal Sweets
AGARWAL SWEET PLACE
Diwan Bahadur Road, RS Puram
With Calcutta Chaat near Ridhi Sidhi being closed, Agarwal was the closest. After having negotiated the hazards of parking on and crossing DB Road, we found ourselves squeezed into a small room whose width I could have measured by just standing arms akimbo. Given the crowd and the din, we had to order in a hurry and went with the first items that caught our eye: Dahi papdi chaat and alu tikki with dahi. Instead of the first, we got dahi puri floating on a bed of green chutney. The crispiness of the puri was tempered by the green chutney below and the curd above. With a thick layer of sev and flecks of sweet chutney, it was the best we’d had so far. The alu tikki was crisp on the outside and meltingly soft inside. Slathered with the spciy and sweet chutney and a generous helping of curd, it ticked all the right boxes.
Bhelpuri on a bed of ragda at KSL Agra Chat
KSL AGRA CHAAT
TV Samy Road, RS Puram
By this time, we were clutching our stomachs and groaning. “We haven’t had samosas,” I wailed. I got an “are-you-mad” look but wouldn’t give up. Google had shown me four KSL Agra Chaats and we’d done only one. And this was on the way home. The set up was similar to the first: A pushcart on the pavement, near Cafe Coffee Day, and the room behind to store and cook stuff. I ordered samosas and got a gruff query in return: “with ragda or without?” It broke my heart to say ‘without’. Two hot pieces in a Styrofoam plate, with chutney, was handed over. First I broke off all the crisp bits — and there were quite a few — and ate those. Then I went after the filling. Just the right amount of spice. A mother was feeding her young child pieces of papdi chaat. I gave her a silent cheer for not worrying about ‘dirt and germs’ as I left.
