VRICA - Re-Igniting An Appetite For Indian Comics

Like many others my age, I grew up on a well balanced diet of Indian and Western comics. The Asterixs, Tintins, He-Mans and GI-Joes of my fantasy world were kept good company by Chacha Chaudhary, Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Billu, Pinki and the likes. And then there was the continuous servings of Marvel, DC Comics and even Tinkle on the desi front. But the fusion that has happened with our culture, lifestyle, food and the likes was clearly missing. No offense to Pran or Raj Comics but Indian comics lacked the story telling ability or finesse of their Western counterparts.

Having closely followed the evolution and growth of Chariot Comics for the past couple of years, I feel that there is change and positive change in our tiny but healthy domestic comic industry. With the VRICA line, the people at Chariot Comics have come up with a storyline that is well thought out, characters that have depth, artwork that is eye-catching and an overall concept that works. The story set in an Indian background flows well and I was able to visualize it all happening out of lets say Saket Select City Walk.

While the publishers are still finding their feet, especially with the economics of it all, as a comic lover I am delighted once again. Having grown tired of the same old comics, the VRICA series was much more than a pleasant surprise. A thoroughly enjoyable read (minus the typos which I am sure will get dealt with in times to come), it was well worth the money I spent on buying the hard copies. Look forward to the upcoming episodes of VRICA and more exciting new characters from the Chariot Comics stable. And it would not be so bad to wear a VRICA tee or put up some posters in my room.

   

DU Da China Town

Years before Momos took over North India (wait for The Invasion of The Momos to know more), a small locality in the capital had already become Chinese stronghold. To be precise Chinese & Tibetan stronghold since Momos which are an integral part of their fare are Tibetan. Kamla Nagar or KNags as the wannabe hep bhenji (no offence to the real Bhenji who can barely spell Chinese) crowd calls it, has an entire street populated with tiny twenty odd cover restaurants serving the best of Punjabi Chinese. This is DU’s very own China Town. 

But this was not what the middle class ladies shopping paradise of Kamla Nagar was like when I my first joined Stephen’s way back in 2003. Chinese restaurants and in fact restaurants as a whole were few and far between. Kamla Nagar housed a total of five restaurants of which two served Chinese cuisine – the now closed Chinese Hut and the always overflowing Momo’s Point. There also was and still is the Chinese van outside Hansraj. However, it has never been known for its food and only makes news for being an outlet to get inside Miranda House.

Getting back to my favourite food. These two dingy joints along with the awesome food served in the mess ensured I was feasting on steamed momos at least twice a week. However, I could never get my stomach around to the concept of fried / tandoori momos which are possibly more popular now. They were just a tad too Punjabi for me and of course a hell lot more fattening. Chinese Hut also served some excellent spring rolls served with the most delicious crispy fried noodles done in a spicy tomato sauce. What made the accompaniment stand out more than the rolls themselves was that they were crispy and succulent at the same time. Those were good days when you got off the rick at McDonald’s and had to only decide whether to take right for Momo’s Point or left for Chinese Hut.

By the time Mighty left and second year at DU began, decisions became much tougher in more ways than one. All of a sudden Chinese restaurants mushroomed in that entire lane behind Bungalow Road. First on the block was Noodles, then Banzai and then I lost track of the chronology. Soho, Gold Star, QDs, Shut Up & Eat all joined the bandwagon. Nine 75 located right at the end of the lane tried to be different by offering Italian and Continental cuisine alongside Chinese. But in spirit they all wanted to ride the Chinese wave and milk it too for all its worth.

But the question arises why Chinese? Taking the 7Ps approach (Chinese food doesn’t use peas though). Product – Chinese cuisine is known to most Indians and suits their palates too as compared to Italian or Mexican. Price – Is cost effective since it requires basic ingredients and hence is best suited to the limited pockets of college students. Promotion – Is not required since every restaurant in the lane serves Chinese. Place – Is absolutely perfect since it has become China Town and attracts entire North Campus crowd. People – Cooks are easy to find as Neps are in plentiful and are good enough for two jobs only. Process – Chinese food is easy to make with most sauces and base ingredients being same. Physical Evidence – It is also easy to serve and looks palatable.

If you are wondering where is the food in this blog. Here goes. The momos – steamed as well as fried – are good across all these restaurants. The wide range of soups/thukpas, noodles, fried rice and manchurian are also difficult to go wrong with. The real differentiator comes in the form of the other appetizers and main course gravies. Noodles serves some awesome starters ranging from crispy chilly baby corn to fried button mushrooms to crispy honey potatoes. Banzai has a crispy noodle pickle salad to die for and some of the best veg salt and pepper I have had. Wouldn’t recommend Momo’s Point for anything apart from their momos. Soho, QDs and the rest are ok but don’t serve anything spectacular. My overall recommendation goes out to Noodles. It has the least oily food of the lot, serves some good main course dishes including Kung Pao Vegetable & Pan Fried Noodles and is by far the cleanest.  

Oh and how can I forgot Bercos. Despite having one of the best Chinese curries I have had in Seven Treasure Vegetables in Creamy Garlic Sauce, why would you fork out nearly Rs. 200 for a dish when you can have an entire meal and still save for a McSwirl in any other restaurant in Du Da China Town.

* I am a strong believer in the sovereignty of each nation and believe that Tibet should be allowed to exist as an independent country. Though it seems that the whole world has bowed to the might of the Chinese just like it has allowed Chinese food to conquer all.

Sam’s Café – Desi Dilli Videsi Fare

Jo chahiye woh mil jaega. Welcome to Pahar Ganj! Bang opposite the New Delhi Railway Station, this is Purani Dilli at its best. Keeping you company (along with thug retailers) are firangi backpackers looking for cheap lodges and selling even cheaper deals. Deals that can get you anything and everything.  Italian, French, German, Russian, Greek, Belgian, Turkish, Lebanese, Argentinean. You name it you get it. The choice is yours so is the risk and the prices are negotiable.

Nestled in the streets and by lanes of Pahar Ganj are a number of restaurants serving cuisines from across the globe. They cater primarily to the thousands of international tourists who flock Pahar Ganj. And also a select DU audience which enjoys fine food and is willing to explore and experiment for a good meal. Years ago a bunch of Stephanian friends and I happened to find ourselves at Sam’s café and ever since I have climbed the stairs regularly to this roof top garden restaurant.

Located on the Main Bazar Road of Pahar Ganj, Sam’s Café is a short walk from both the NDLS station and the Ramakrishna Marg metro station. If you get lost ask for Hotel Vivek – www.vivek hotel.com – which is the parent hotel housing Sam’s café on its terrace. As you enter the hotel via its patisserie, you are greeted by a wide range of pies, croissants, cakes, muffins and the likes. While these are scrumptious enough to be meals in themselves, keep them waiting till dessert time. An old and creaky but usually working lift will take you to the roof top where a splendid view and truly global crowd awaits you.

If you have read unto this point waiting for me to talk about exquisite food then stop because Sam’s café is about the experience. The setting and ambience contribute as much to your delight as the food. The view of Purani Dilli is beautiful especially during early evenings. You are in the centre of all the hustle bustle and yet far away from it. A windy day makes the roof top experience surreal and more so if you are smoking stuff rolled slyly under the table (like you could easily do in the days before the 2005 bomb blasts). These days the restaurant has become stricter but they do serve hukka and the pros amongst you would know what to do next.

The food in itself is good in parts. Can’t expect more when you have the same cooks cooking Indian, Italian, Chinese, Continental & Israeli. To start off, the cheese balls are heavenly and cheesy as they should be and the avocado salad is interesting. From the drinks menu you can try the refreshing mint juice or the yummy mango/banana lassi. The pizzas are average and pretty bland but the lasagna is absolutely delicious. Stay away from the falafel and also the Indian food which just isn’t meant for the desis. My carnivorous friends tell me that the meat balls, steak (not the sub standard veg sizzler) and schnitzel are worth a try too. Don’t expect good service if you are Indian because their prime business comes from firangis. Their waiters strongly believe in the maxim ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ and will ensure that your food comes late without fail.

Choose your food carefully and you will enjoy your meal at Sam’s café. Otherwise the view, the ambience and the crowd are anyways there for everyone to enjoy. Haven’t tried ever but you might also get lucky. To gather the required courage stop by at Chandni Bar which is on the way if you are coming from NDLS. That place has incredibly cheap alcohol, babu type crowd and live ghazal to get you into the mood. However, avoid it if you are under age or unable to speak Hindi because they might just fleece you for every rupee in your wallet.


If for nothing else, Sam's Cafe is worth a try because the whole of Dilli can't offer good Italian and Continental food at their prices. Where else can you host a birthday bash of 25 plus people and get away with a tab of under six grand.

Everything Sells In Punjab With Paneer

Punjab might be famous for its butter chicken but dare to ignore the street food and of course the doodh, dahi, makhan & paneer at your own risk. This is the land of the foodie. And it shows in the waistlines. People eat and eat and then eat a bit more. Walk into a Punjabi shaadi and its no different than a buffet. You pay your entry fee to the bride/groom’s father right at the gate and from then on its a gastronomical journey. You move from one food stall to another till you have had your money’s worth and exit with packets of paan and churan for the after-shaadi party. Who was the bride or the groom? Who cares!!

Nothing exemplifies the tag of 'foodie land' more than the wide array of street food jo galli galli main milta hai. So lets take a walk down bhukkad street. Golgappas, tikkis, samosas, chole-kulche, pav bhaji, bargar (spelt as pronounced), rolls are all common fare. Whats uncommon is the munda eating this food from the same thela as a rickshaw-wallah but seated in his Honey Singh blaring tainted Mercedes for fear of ruining his aan & shaan. Equally uncommon are the other dishes that are available on Punjabi thelas. You have the Madrasi dosa, thick crust pizzas and (this one is more legendary than Barney himself) authentic Italian pasta. Drool as much as you want coz Penne Arrabiata is now served right outside your home.

Let me ask the quizzer in you - What connects all these dishes? Hint: refer to the blog title. Bingo! The correct answer is indeed Paneer. While most of you might not be salivating at the thought, in Punjab nothing sells like Paneer. Sukha golgappas are topped with a slice of paneer. Tikkis and samosas are stuffed with paneer.  The bhaji and chhole have paneer pieces as do the rolls. Paneer dosas are very popular just like paneer pizzas. Thankfully the pasta doesn’t have paneer but the bargar does. And it’s a bargar that rips apart McDonald’s “Aap ke zamane main, baap ke zamane ke daam”. A ten rupee juicy bargar created with aloo tikki, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, mint chutney, chowmein and what else but paneer, wrapped in a foil and served with a ketchup sachet and napkin. Or a twenty five rupee burger with an unappetizing patty and some tomatoes, onions and thousand islands dressing thrown together (I love their fries though). The choice and appetite is yours.

As much as Punjabi women love downing one snack after another, they hate cooking. Mostly fat and lazy they keep it simple at home. Lunch and dinner usually have the same menu with easy to cook dishes like rajma-chawal and kadhi-chawal being staple diet. Sabzi and dal once cooked are consumed across multiple days. Sundays are strictly no kitchen days with breakfast specifically reserved for puri-chole and lassi. This brings me to the root cause of why Punjabis love eating out. What else can a foodie when is served such drab food at home?? People in Punjab enjoy their food and the only place to truly do so is on the streets (and of course the dhabas).

Want to make money in Punjab? Sell food. Want to successfully sell food in Punjab? Add paneer to every dish. Want to charge extra for a dish in Punjab? Add paneer to it. Want to create a healthy upmarket dish in Punjab? Substitute the paneer with soya paneer. Yup this is the future. As you can clearly see Punjabis are very healthy conscious. Soon everything will sell in Punjab but with soya paneer on it!!

Puchka – The Real Deal

The beauty of India lies in its diversity. This is manifested in the culture, traditions, language and food of the various states and even smaller regions within the states. Being a foodie I am normally interested in trying out the dishes that are unique to each region. But there is a pan Indian dish that has intrigued and puzzled me for a long long time. Call it puchka, golgappa, paanipuri or anything else that you like, I am certain most of you have feasted on it at some point or there other. Such is the popularity of this dish. which to my mind is undoubtedly the most popular Indian street food, that its stalls have the longest line at shaadis despite there being dozens of other delicacies.

I grew up devouring Bengali puchkas during my winter holiday trips to Calcutta & Coochbehar. Sikkim, where I lived, had no variation of this dish at that point of time. It did have momos – the invasion of which we shall talk about in another post.  As my lifestyle became more nomadic, I was introduced to the golgappa (in Delhi & Punjab), the paanipuri (in Maharashtra & Gujrat), the bataasha (in UP) and the gupchup (in Orissa, Jharkhand & Chattisgarh). Each of these variations has their own unique taste derived from the subtle differences in the paani and masala being used.

The fight for supremacy is between the three metros – Delhi golgappa, Kolkata puchka and Mumbai paanipuri. Chennai could possibly promote a sambar/rasam based contender and enter the fray as well. The bataasha and gupchup which are fairly close cousins of the golgappa and puchka respectively can be termed as regional players and are hence discounted.                

Lets begin with a mouthful of the golgappa. Much like the Punjabi aunties who gorge on it, the golgappa is the biggest in size. The streets of Delhi and Punjab are laced with any number of them trying to gobble one full golgappa without breaking it. The focus in the golgappa is on the paani which is akin to pudina dominant jal jeera. While this spicy paani is much in demand with people drinking multiple platefuls after eating their golgappas, the sweeter saunth version is also very popular. The ‘hep’ cities like Delhi and Ludhiana offer pure mineral water paani for those who are health conscious. There are also other options like jeera paani and hing paani which offer more novelty and less taste. The masala of the golgappa takes a complete back seat with only plain boiled aaloo and channa being used. This to my mind is its undoing.

\Moving on to the puchka which along with the jhalmuri is just as much a part of Bengali heritage as Rabindro sangeet. Sized to perfectly fit the east Indian mouth, the puchka is precisely prepared. You get to taste both the paani and the masala at the start so that you can spice it to suit your palate. The key differentiator for the puchka is the generous use of imli in the paani which gives it that tangy taste and livens up your taste buds. The masala is a well mashed mixture of potatoes, channa, dhaniya, mirch and an array of spices. Unlike the golgappa which is drowned in the paani, the puchka is equally filled with both the paani and masala. This along with the extremely reasonable pricing makes the puchka a massive hit.

And finally we come to the paanipuri. In the mad rush that is Mumbai, multi tasking is the order of the day and even the paanipuri is not spared. The ragda that is used as the masala essentially comes from ragda patties (or pattice as most street carts spell it). The paani is similar to that of the puchka but lacks the tanginess. Kanda is served alongside the paanipuri as an accompaniment and in true Indian style people end up eating more of it than the paanipuris. Interestingly many more people eat the paanipuri without the paani as compared to the golgappa or puchka.

No blog on the puchka / golgappa / paanipuri can be complete without mentioning its secondary variants. The paani is replaced by dahi to create the dahi puchka in north and east India. Golgappa gluttony in Punjab is followed by the sukha which is a big golgappa stuffed with masala and topped off with pakodi and what else but paneer (read more in Everything Sells In Punjab With Paneer). Similarly puchka excursions are incomplete without chur-mur which is a puchka chaat that even Chandi Chowk would be proud of. But Delhi created the mother of all variants with its ingenious vodka golgappa. I mean how can you resist getting drunk on something that yummy. 

All in all, the golgappa is dominated by the jal jeera paani and the paanipuri by the ragda. The puchka scores the win with its well balanced flavours. That’s the opinion of a man who can eat a half century of puchkas while being dismissed in single figures at the golgappa and paanipuri stand.

The Bhukkad Guide to Buffet Killing

Don’t get fooled by my once diminutive frame. I CAN EAT!! Ten years of hostel life spiced with plenty of inedible food has given me the ability to skip meals and then compensate for it by eating them all at once. The latter can be aptly called the Bhukkad mode and to an extent I can switch it on and off at will. So when there is a lavish buffet spread to be devoured, alive comes the Bhukkad in me. And so it should in you as well!!

Buffets are an I-Banker’s dream product – fixed investment with unlimited returns. The onus of maximizing these return lies with you. Making full use of every paisa paid for is no easy task anywhere let alone at a buffet. It requires a lot of strategic planning combined with impeccable execution. For starters, you need to decide on your buffet visit well in advance so as to build your appetite for it. Selecting able-tummied people to go with is important because a buffet is much like the Gaul village feast. A big group of people also ensures that some people can take naps while others keep the flag flying high. 

But perhaps (actually obviously) the most important factor is how you go about eating the food. The seven course French meal is not the way to go. You must mix all the courses and create the Calcuttan jhal-muri effect. This ensures that desserts get due attention. Alternating between the different flavours also ensures that you are able to eat that much more. So next time at Barbeque Nation make sure that the blueberry cheese cake or firni is stationed right next to your mushroom tikka. 

A lot of people make the most basic mistakes at buffets - eating things just because you have put them on your plate, eating things you could have eaten anywhere else, eating too fast as if the food supply is going to run out and most critically behaving in a civilized manner. When piling up your plate, ask yourself this basic question in front of each dish, “Can I eat this somewhere else without having to pay so much for this?” This will ensure that you weed out the filler dishes in a buffet. A smart restaurant will try and tempt you with these least expensive and most filling dishes first. Your job is to find your way around these dishes (aloo chaats, pakodas, sprout salads and the likes) and reach the ones you want to eat and are worth paying the bill for. 

A good way to begin is by surveying all the dishes before you fill your plate. Make up your mind on what it is that you really want to hog. If you are still confused take only spoonful servings to help you decide. But by mistake if you do fill up your plate with stuff that is completely unpalatable don’t think twice before taking a fresh one. Also at regular intervals keep assigning the rejected portions to the side plates making space for fresh food. (Disclaimer – you are likely to be termed bourgeoisie so try at own risk and with like-tummied people only)

Thalis are the desi version of buffets but require as much planning. Places like Rajdhani and Andhra Bhawan disguise quick turnaround time in the garb of instant service. They specialize in bombarding you with so much food in the first five minutes that you actually end up eating much less than a normal meal. But there are a few tricks of getting around this too and ensuring a full tummy for the next few hours. Don’t ever look up at these places because it will immediately attract the attention of the waiters meaning more unwanted food on your place. If the waiters still continue to pester you, ward them off by asking for things like water, salt, pickle and other inconsequential items. And finally be shameless and take your time with the thali. 

While appetite is important for killing a buffet so is the spirit. Aan do ji…

** We levy no service charges apart from publicity and comments for the blog. 

*** The next few courses to be served are “Puchka – The Real Deal”, “Everything Sells In Punjab With Paneer”, “Sam’s Café – Desi Dilli Videsi Fare” and “DU Da China Town”.