S’treat’ food festival: Feast on delightful delicacies of Delhi

Bringing to you from the streets of Chandni Chowk, Connaught Place, Jama Masjid, Lajpat Nagar, and Chawri Bazar, Food Exchange at Novotel Chennai Chaimers Road is organising S’treats’ of Delhi, a street food festival, featuring some of Delhi’s delicious and well-known dishes.

The restaurant has four live counters- pani puri, chat, anda, and pav counter. At the pani puri counter you can stand and divulge the tasty gol gappas as you would on the streets or have it at your table. At the chat counter you can choose alter your spice preference. Keep in mind that the dishes are generally spicy. The anda counter makes different kinds of omelettes and boiled eggs and seasons them with spices and herbs of your choosing.

The pav counter has¬ anda keema, chicken keema, and paneer keema. There is also a kulcha counter that serves buttery hot kulchas with channa masala. There is also a kulfi counter that serves kulfi in a street-styled fashion and manages to replicate the original recipe to perfection.

Some of the signature dishes are- potato wedges, chicken reshmi kebab, tandoori sabzi, anda pav and keema pav, rose milk, chicken biriyani, chicken curry and lots more.

For starters, we tried their chicken reshmi kebab, chilli garlic fish, potato wedge, and tandoori sabzi. Their chicken reshmi kebab was soft and seasoned well. The smoky flavour of the tandoor added an extra edge to the dish. The chilli garlic fish was spicy with an exciting kick of umami which worked well with the garlic. The potato wedge which does not like much is deceptive in every sense. It is crispy and bland on the outside and has a moist texture and is savoury on the inside.

For vegetarians who want to devour Delhi’s kebabs, try out the tandoori sabzi. This dish has a variety of vegetables like baby corn, capsicum, mushroom, and cauliflower seasoned with desi masalas.

We were served two cold beverages- Delhi-style masala chaas and rose milk. The watery chaas were light and acted as a palate cleanser. The rose milk had cut watermelon and pomegranate into its rose syrup and milk which made it all the more refreshing and yummy. This is a must-try.

Stealing all spotlight is the pav counter. Their anda pav and chicken keema pav was sinfully delicious and you cannot stop at one serving. The anda (egg) mix which had all the house spices with tomato and onion seemed to be tastier than the chicken keema mix. Vegetarians can try the paneer keema mix which has the same ingredients. Pro-tip: Eat the anda pav before you go for rice items.

We tried their Jama Masjid-styled biriyani with mango pickle and some cucumbers on the side. This biriyani follows the same preparation method as the famous biriyani outlets in the food street behind Jama Masjid. The dish seems to lack flavour or taste in appearance but will completely deceive you. This spicy and tasty Mughal biriyani is wonderful.

For desserts, we had the malai kulfi served in a leaf bowl. The texture of the kulfi was creamy and yummy.

On the whole, there is value for money and the restaurant wins at maintaining authenticity in terms of taste. The curation of the counters is perfect and is the star of the festival. The festival is on till January 31 and is available for lunch and dinner. Priced at Rs 1450 ++ per person.