A-Z guide to some of Delhi's eternal comfort food delights

I was inspired to make this list by a conversation I had with a dear friend - a former journalist who's now a successful PR practitioner. Whenever she gets ecstatic about the chicken patties and French hearts of Wenger's or cold coffee from De Paul's, her 20-something associates wonder which planet she lives in. These are what we grew up on and keep going back to, she dutifully informs her young associates, but they can't relate to her sense of excitement. If these are so good, why aren't they trending?

There goes the word again! Trending! This crutch of a generation with a nanosecond attention span will spell the doom of civilisation as we know it! It is this generation that I intend to reach out to with this “listicle” - the favourite literary style of the millennials. With the afternoons getting balmy, it won't be all that uncomfortable to check out these places to savour the treats that sustained a generation that grew up in the simpler times of the licence permit raj. There was nothing fancy, nothing “molecular”, about the food, but there was something comforting about its simplicity that ensured its lasting place in our memory.

Here's the list:

1. Annapurna Bhandar

This ageless shop, across the road from Sis Ganj Gurudwara, Chandni Chowk, is still the best place to go for Bengali sweets. My favourites are their malai chop, rasamadhuri, talsaansh sandesh and labanga lotika.

2. Bedmi aloo

There can be no joy greater than waking up to a breakfast consisting of these pooris with urad dal filling and their mandatory accompaniment - a tangy and tart potato curry. A lost ritual of Chandni Chowk, the twosome is coming back into fashion and though the jury is out on who does it the best, the weight of public opinion seems to be leaning at the moment on Shyam Sweets at Barshabulla, Chawri Bazar.

3. Chhola-bhatura

People call it the Republic of Chicken, but Delhi loves its chhola-bhatura like no other city. Traditionalists are unshakably loyal to Sitaram Dewan Chand of Chuna Mandi, Paharganj, but my vote is split between Baba Nagpal of Gupta Market, Lajpat Nagar-IV and Odeon Sweets of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, Gole Market.

4. De Paul’s

Time hasn't been able to dull the appeal of the cold coffee and cheese balls of this iconic little shop at Janpath Bhawan. The cold coffee now comes in multiple flavours, but the bestseller remains the cold coffee. Old-timers also remember the time when it was rumoured that De Paul's was where gay men would find their partners.

5. Embassy

If you want to know why this Connaught Place restaurant has thrived for more than 70 years, check out its chicken pakodas, dal meat, murgh mussallam and embassy pudding.

6. Fateh ki kachori

You couldn't have gone to St Xavier's School and not got addicted to Delhi-NCR's best kachori. Still sold the way it was when Fateh Chand was around, from the back of a bicycle, there's something about this combination of kachori, chholey and chutney that makes it immortal.

7. Ghewar

Do people even go near this Rajasthani speciality that looks like a honeycomb, is made with flour and sugar syrup, and comes laden with malai and mawa? Kaleva at Gole Market still makes this seasonal treat just as it used to be served in the days when a generously proportioned figure was regarded as a sign of good health!

8. Hot choc fudge

The nutty, creamy, chocolate-dripping treat from Nirula's still remains sought-after by a generation that grew up in an age when the expression “sinful indulgence” didn't exist. Nirula's may have become a vanishing memory, but the outlet at Bhikaji Cama Place still serves the way it is meant to be.

9. Ice-cream sundae

21 Love. Jamoca Almond Fudge. Manhattan Mania. Nutty Buddy. These revolutionised the ice-cream market at a time when we swung from plain vanilla and strawberry to cassata and tutti-fruitti.

10. Jalebi

No one does them better than Old Famous Jalebi Wala, the corner shop at Dariba Kalan, whose cavernous karahis have never seen a dull moment for the 105 years it has been around.

11. Karim’s

Delhi's oldest surviving restaurant remains the king of Mughlai cuisine as it was refined in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar. I keep going back to it for the juicy, smoky mutton barrah, mutton qorma, mutton badam pasanda and gurda kapura, which I polish off with their incredibly fluffy khameeri roti.

12. Lollipop chicken

Jugs of beer and these fried chicken balls suspended on a bone, better known as drums of heaven, are like heaven-mandated partners. Brushed with chilli sauce, these taste even better and make you root for more beer. Berco's (Connaught Place), Drums of Heaven (Aurobindo Place Market) and Golden Dragon (C-Block, Vasant Vihar) are my favourite sources of this comfort food.

13. Mutton mince

You know a Stephanian from the ones who only dreamt of going to college, and not making it, when he goes into raptures over the mince and scrambled eggs, and remember Rohtas for his Hall of Fame samosas.

14. Nihari

Meant to be eaten in the morning to sustain you for the day, this slow-cooked working class dish has divided its seekers into rival camps. Some love Haji Shabrati's nihari served at Chitli Qabar, others swear by Haji Noora, whose shop is not hard to find on Bara Hindi Rao Road, but I have been a lifelong fan of Kallu Nihari, who operates his cart in the shadow of Jama Masjid only between five and seven in the evening.

15. Omelette

You can't match a well-made green chilli omelette that comes between two slices of generously buttered toast. Mohammad Nadim's served outside Jawahar Hotel at Bazar Matia Mahal, Jama Masjid, has a seductive charm that's hard to explain.

16. Paan

Imagine a meal without a paan at the end to digest it. There may be as many favourites as people eating paan, but mine remains the perennially crowded shop run by Panditji outside The Claridges, New Delhi.

17. Question

Why doesn't the name of any Indian dish start with a “q”? We have a restaurant named QBA in Connaught Place, whose terrace I would recommend highly.

18. Rabri falooda

Traditionally, we have associated rabri with Vrindavan and Mathura - the playfields of Lord Krishna - but Giani's rabdi and falooda dipped in Rooh Afza has been a Chandni Chowk favourite since 1957. On a Sunday, you'll get dizzy trying to count the number of portions that get sold.

19. Seekh kebabs

My three favourite places to sink my teeth into these juicy temptresses: Karim's, Chor Bizarre and Kwality.

20. Tib dhabs

Oh, it was so groovy to dig the thukpas and tingmo that used to be served at the crowded and not so-salubrious confines of the Tibetan Monastery, but with the passage of time and the rise of New Aruna Nagar, you can revisit those carefree collegiate days, albeit with WiFi replacing your copy of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, at the rarefied Wongdhen House Hostel.

21. United Coffee House

My favourite for more than three decades, this 70-plus-year-old restaurant is the go-to place for old favourites such as French onion soup, chicken a la Kiev (though many of us may quibble about the recipes they follow!) and nargisi kofta.

22. Vegetarian restaurants

That sounds like an oxymoron in a city where restaurants condemn vegetarians to the unholy triumvirate of aloo gobhi-paneer, but there are a couple of restaurants that buck the trend. The Gujarati Samaj canteen on Raj Niwas Marg, for starters, followed by Suruchi at Karol Bagh.

23. Wenger’s

Opened by a Swiss couple named Mr and Mrs Wenger in 1926, Delhi's oldest surviving confectionery shop predates the official opening of New Delhi and is famous for having introduced French bread, Swiss rolls and margarine pastries to the capital.

24. X-Factor

Which is that one traditional Delhi dish loaded with the X-factor? I cannot think of anything more enticing than the imarti, which is made with urad dal batter, desi ghee and sugar syrup.

25. Yakhni

It's my favourite Kashmiri preparation, but do I have a favourite Kashmiri restaurant? Chor Bizarre at Hotel Broadway, Asaf Ali Road, may not officially be a Kashmiri restaurant, but the contents of its tarami are as good as what a waza would serve back in Srinagar.

26. Z ZZZ... Is there a Delhi favourite that we have had enough of? My vote goes to butter chicken.