Head To Chawla's In Sion Koliwada For Dilli-Style Chhole Kulche

Chawla’s Dhaba in Sion Koliwada is just one of the many great Punjabi eateries on the Guru Tegh Bahadur {GTB} Road, and we recommend you head there for the mouth-watering chhole kulche.

This is not the place you go for ambience. At Chawla’s, we find a few shaky stools, dim lighting, and newspapers being used to soak up the grease underneath our kulche. The crowd also is very local – you will find everyone from taxi drivers, auto drivers, local workers and families sitting in the limited seating area. Head here for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The menu here is basic Punjabi goodness, as well as an excess of what is traditionally called ‘dirty Indian Chinese’. You’ll find everything from plain naans to dal makhani being doled out here. The chhole kulche usually aren’t served past 3pm, so be careful of the time that you head there.

Their chhaas is creamy and delicious, and we could easily have finished three or four more glasses if we weren’t leaving space for the food.

We ordered a meal for two – two plates of chhole kulche, bhature, chhaas and cold drinks for under INR 100. The tandoors outside the dhaba also allowed us to watch the entire process of our dough being cooked. The chhole are full of the Amritsari flavour we so miss – the curry is dense, the chhole aren’t overcooked or bland, and the bhature were fresh, soft and pliable.

Head here for an unpolished, but amazingly fresh and nostalgic meal of chhole kulche, which will summon up childhood memories for the most Mumbai-loving North Indian. Where: Chawla’s Dhaba, GTB Road, Sion Koliwada, near Satyam Shivom Mandir Price: INR 100 for two Timings: 7am to 11.30pm