Imly Express

                     A Trainy Affair

Do you love street food? What if you get all the finger licking,piquant street food from across the country at one place & how will it be if you get all that while sitting in a train!

IMLY- designed  as a 250 feet long train which is parked at F-20,Hog Market,Rajendra Place,is a vegetarian stopover for street foods from various parts of India

The interior of the restaurant  is themed in the wake of a luxury train. The huge glass windows on one side and TV screens with moving pictures on the other and with the overhead luggage shelves, it gives a sense that you're actually dining in a train

now coming to the food,the presentation itself was so inventive and off centre that it blew my mind off. To mention a few, Tokri Chaat was served in a toy carriage & Dahi Golgappas in a miniature Merry go round

Food I tried: 

Chinese Bhel - nothing like the ordinary bhel...it was crispy noodles fried in schezwan sauce..how it tasted? I am not a bhel fan usually but loved this one

Pav Bhaji- tasted ordinary..not good,not bad

Dahi Golgappe- yummy..loved the way they served it

Tokri Chaat-okeish...presentation stole the show

Chilli Idly- again, very tasty

Golgappa-the Imly way- tasted mighty fine ,it was spicy and tangy and not meetha -exactly as i like my golgappas to be

Dosa-the Imly way- one of my favorites..it has cheese in it along with the potato filling..furthermore unlike the other restaurants,they served 4 chutneys along with the sambhar (usually there are two chutneys).The chutneys which were the new additions were mint chutney and ginger & garlic chutney

Banta Shikanji-Mango & Pineapple- both were refreshing

Relaxation Moment Fresh Juice-  didnot like it much...it had carrot in it & i dont prefer carrot In my juice...but if you love the flavour of carrot ,you can try it

Sunset Fresh Juice- beverage of the day

Jalebi with Rabdi- thumbs up

Bundi Pag Rabdi- was tasting this dish for the first time and I would definitely like to try this dessert more often...so the dish was basically bundi layered beneath a layer of rabdi.. or as the name itself suggests ,it looked as if the bundi was wearing a pag (turban) of rabdi...interesting ..isnt it??

USP: Innovativeness, light on pocket, courtious staff

HAPPY GRUBBING!

shruti@vivagroup.co




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Samosa For Dessert @ Gwyer Hall Canteen

            Of Humble Canteens &Simple Food !!

Factualities: Gwyer Hall is the oldest and most prestigious Men's Hostel in the Delhi University.

Initially known as University Hall', it was renamed as Gwyer's Hall in recognition of the services rendered by Sir Maurice Gwyer, the then Vice-chancellor of the University Of Delhi & the Chief Justice of the then Federal Court of India.

So,Gwyer Hall has this legendary canteen, famously known as Pandit Ji Gwyer Hall Canteen.

On entering,the place can give you the impression  of being a normal canteen(which it is as a matter of fact), but trust me, not everything is that ordinary about the place. Take one more foot forward towards the canteen and the sight of a jampacked place will strip you off of all your attempts to flag this canteen a run of the mill place
 Secondly,this place is here for a longtime now. Its here since 1954 & its still so vibrant and full of life  

Now coming to my experience ,when I visited this place a few weeks back,as soon as I entered, I was eyeing the food on other people's plate (I know you are totally judging me at the moment; I know its a bad habit ;) : D ), so that I can decide & order some good food for me. But I failed in that as I still couldnt decide because all I can see was Paranthas & cups of chai  around me. So finally my friend  sensed my exasperation and came to my rescue. She provided me with some options and all we then ordered was a plate of mix veg parantha, meetha samosa(star of the place),one masala chai  for my friend & Coffee for myself.

Parantha: Though north campus ppl will kill me for saying this but being very honest, it tasted quite ordinary to me

Meetha Samosa: So guys the samosa is not the regular samosa you are habitual to. In place of potato,it has khoya as the filling.

 The samosa is the USP of the place because first of all serving our good old favorite snack as a dessert is a task quite challenging. Secondly, the taste is mighty fine as well. It tasted like gujiya dipped in sugar syrup to me. So if you are the sweet toothed one, it will surely satiate your taste buds

Plus: Throbbing place with truckloads of value for money. The place has this old world charm to it

Minus: If you are a hygiene freak, think twice before visiting this place

Things You Should Try: Meetha Samosa, Sweet Toast

Whereabouts: Gwyer hall,Jubilee Hall Lane, Kamla Nehru Ridge, New Delhi

ZAIKA-E-DELHI:Thelewala's street Food Festival

                                       

                                 Dilli's Date With Thelewalas

                                                
                       

The event organised by Mr Sanjeev Taga made me feel butterflies in my stomach,as nothing could have provided my blog a better start than the description of the yummy chatpata street food of Dilli

If you're getting all the mouthwatering food from the big names in the domain of street food,that too without having to wander the confusing narrow bylanes of Old Dilli. What more can you wish for ?!

Since it was a one day event,dated 1st november 2015, I was even more excited as I didnot want to miss any of the stalls & I wasnt sure that whether a day was enough for this or not. So with a friend along I rushed to the venue,which was PSOI Club,Nehru Park,Chanakyapuri.

The fest was first of its kind.why?!. Because,first: It showcased the best of Delhi's street cuisine. Second:All the vendors were allowed to showcase only one of their best dishes at the event..and this concept saved me a lot of time and hurly burly of mind

The first thing i tried there was Golgappa..this lipsmacking delicacy which one can find in every nook and corner of the city tops d list of my favorite street foods..But the ones i tried there were not one of the best i have tried...they were very ordinary...they were not bad but not something i would like to try again..and also have forgotten the name of the shop they were from..so I wont be able to mention the location Of the shop

Next we headed to the stall set up by Hira Laal Chaat Wale and the dish they were showcasing was Kulle ki chaat or Kuliya.. It is basically a fruit chat with a difference !!

It is made by scooping out different vegetables and fruit Into cup shapes which are then stuffed with pomegranate seeds,chick peas,various tangy spices,dash of lemon & garnished with shreds of ginger. 

One can get their kuliya made from cucumber,sweet potato, tomato, potato, apples, watermelon &pineapples..the ones i tried were pineapple,potato, banana & watermelon. My favorite among these were pineapple and banana as the sweetness of these two fruits blended perfectly with the sour-tangy masala.

The shop of  Hira Laal Chaat Waale  is located on the Chawri Bazaar Main Road, somewhere between Hauz Qazi Chowk and the intersection with Nayi Sadak close to Raghuganj.

The next stall we hopped on to was  Ghalib Kabab Corner...Being a huge kabab lover,I started drooling as soon as I saw their stall... there we tried Chicken tikka, Paneer Tikka & Chicken Seekh Tikka

Paneer tikkas were flavoursome...paneer was very soft as it should be...but i wont say tht i haven't tried paneer tikkas  like these ever

Next ,very Hopefully i gorged onto d chicken tikka..but as soon as i tried to chew it,all my hopes got shattered :D ..It was leathery ..was a huge disappointment..But then the Chicken Seekh Kabab lit up my mood,as it was tender,cooked to perfection and it just melted inside my mouth..so all in all i loved their stall n i would love to visit their shop in Nizamuddin 

CHICKEN TIKKA

CHICKEN SEEKH KABAB

LOCATION: SHOP NO.57,GHALIB ROAD, NEAR HAZRAT NIZAMUDDIN POLICE STATION,NIZAMUDDIN

The next stall we went to was the one about which I was super excited and it was the stall of Manohar Japani Samosa Walla.

Now, the thing is that no one really knows that why this old Delhi samosa is called Japani. According to a few speculations the samosas are called Japani because these were invented during the Second World War when Japan was bombed and according to a few others,these are named so because the flakes make it look like a Japanese fancy fan..however none of the speculations can said to be 100% authentic

So the samosa is flaky,with as many as 60 wafer-thin crust and filled with peas and potato and its served with chole and tangy pumpkin pickle

LOCATION: CHANDNI CHOWK RD, BHAGIRATH PALACE,CHHIPPY WADA, OLD DELHI

Next thing on our plate was Desi Ghee keema Mutton from the bylanes of old dilli & Chole kulche from Gaffar Market, karol Bagh

Coming to the taste,while whereas on the one hand the chole kulche were finger licking, the Mutton tasted a bit bland to me 

Keema Mutton with Rumali Rotis

Chole kulche

There was a very interesting stall right adjacent to the keema mutton stall,it was the stall of Sweet kulchas, I got quite fascinated because I never have had sweet kulchas before ,so I was thinking about trying them when the owner of the stall came to me n offered me the kulchas.the ones I tried was laddoo -barfi kulcha & it had a unique flavour to it..I did not click any pictures of it..But yeah it looked like a stuffed chur chur nan

LOCATION: CHALO PUNJAB,WZ-686E,Jail Road,Hari Nagar

While we were still eating,my friend suddenly quipped that we havent tried the badam milk...But till that time my stomach has turned into an active volcano,about to explode at any moment..but did for a moment i thInk that I should leave that damned Badam Milk alone?!..nahh...so i did gulped it down..n did for a moment i regret my decision?!..obviously not!!

LOCATION: Sudarshan's ,4097,BARSHABULLA CHOWK, CHAWRI BAZAR,NEW DELHI

Since I am a belly centric person, I couldnt hv thought of my foodie plunders as enough for the day without having the dessert..and I did have the very famous Kuremal's kulfi  for dessert .. Though they have had a wide range of flavours in their menu,we tried the PAAN and the PLAIN CREAM one ..and oh boy!werent they yummy ?!..well m still drooling!

LOCATION: KUREMAL MOHANLAL KULFI WALE,526, KUCHA PATI RAM, BAZAR SITA RAM, NEAR CHAWRI BAZAR METRO STATION,CHAWRI BAZAR,NEW DELHI

Though it was obviously the food which was the main attraction,several other performances and games were also being organised to keep people busy & I personally enjoyed the food games organised by DILLI KE 3 BHUKKHAD..The golgappas and the gulabjamun eating competitions were hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed it

I wont say that the event did not have any loopholes..it did have...not one or two but many ..But since i knw that the organisers had the time frame of just two weeks to plan and organise everything and since the thought & the concept which was the cornerstone of the event was amazing, I am surely going to give them that. If it wasnt a 5 on 5 thing ,it was surely a 3 or 3.5