COMFORT FOOD – CHAAT @13TH MAIN INDIRANAGAR.

Most of us have one special dish or drink that we turn to for comfort, food that makes our mouth water, food that we can have any time when offered to us, comfort food that offers just that…comfort. For some it is a mug of hot chocolate or piping hot noodles. It could be chocolates, or a special curry that only mom makes. For me it is usually chaat. And chaat, especially from a street vendor in Indiranagar 13th Main.

Being a foodie and a chaat-o-holic, I’ve had my fair share of chaat from various places. From fancy restaurants that charge exorbitant prices to the roadside vendors who are a dime a dozen on the streets of Bengaluru. I am yet to find any chaat place that offers better chaat than the one I visit at 13th main Indiranagar and the chaat is sold in a cart. Yep. No address. Just landmarks (next to Ginger Tiger and Lakeview milk bar).

The chaat offered here are the usual fare, masala puri, pani puri, bhel, sev puri, dahi puri, papdi chaat, samosa chaat and my all time favorites – Aloo puri and tomato chaat. All are reasonably priced and served in a way that the presentation is as good as the taste. There are disposable plates and spoons for those who prefer them. There are days I have waited rather impatiently for 4 p.m. the time when the chaat cart is open, dreaming of puri’s stuffed with boiled potatoes, spicy gravy (unlike anywhere else I have tasted ) , decorated with chopped onions, coriander and mixture or a bed of thin tomato slices with chutneys and gravy drowning in puffed rice.

This place has been around for ages. I have eaten here with my brother during his extremely rare visits to India (our only bonding factor is the chaat we eat here whenever he is in the city), with many friends, with a theatre group I was once a part of…..like I said for ages!

I have eaten chaat here when I have craved for it (which is often), when I need to sort things out in my mind, when I feel down, when I feel happy, and against doctor’s orders, even when I had typhoid and could barely walk up to the cart!!

Yet years later I have not got tired of it.

Most people in Bengaluru would have tried chaat sometime or the other and swear by their favorite place (there is no dearth of chaat joints here in the city). As for me, I know exactly where to head to when I need my dose of comfort food because what I get here is not just chaat but a plateful of happiness.