To add one more item to my “Been There, Done that” list, this weekend I covered most famous part of food capital of India, the Chandni Chowk.
After Delhi Metro’s arrival to this most famous and oldest place in Delhi, It has become much easier for anybody to come here. So I also took the same to reach here from Gurgaon (taken metro from Dwarka station) .
As soon as you enter Chandni Chowk streets, you feel like its a different world (specially if you are coming from city of malls). This place is a mixture of religion, food, chaos, history, modernity, tradition and commerce. People moving fast here and there in narrow lanes. On every corner you will find something special to eat.
Most of the shops in Chandni Chowk are handed over from father to son, most of them now being managed by the fourth or fifth generations. There are examples of halwais, namkeenwalahs, paranthewalahs and many others. Every shop has its own specialty.
Gali Paranthe wali
We decided to start our day with famous paranthas from Gali Paranthe Wali (गली पराँठेवाली). Some 50-60 years back there were around 15-20 shops in this street, but now only 4-5 have left.
The first parantha shop in the gali is Pandit Devi Dayal’s (established in 1886). Then the next one is Kanhaiya Lal Durga Prasad’s Parantha Shop (established in 1875). The last one was Pt. Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan (established in 1872). As we found last one as the oldest shop, we decided to move into this one.
All of these shops had photographs on the wall that showed Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Ranbir Kapoor dining in the shop.
50 years back the paranthas were just of 3-4 types aloo, gobi and matar (potato, cauliflower and peas). But now-a-days, you can try 24-25 varieties of paranthas. Apart from normal aloo, daal, methi, gobhi etc, there were special paranthas like papad, parat, gajar, kaju, rabri paranthas.
All of these are fried in pure ghee in cast iron pans (kadhai). This reminded me “The most enjoyable things in this world are either immoral, illegal or fattening !”
All paranthas are served with Mint-Pudina Chatni, Banana Imli Chatni, vegetable pickle and Aloo Subzi.
We could only try Karela, Kela, Gobhi and Tamatar Parantha (due to limited size of stomach 
).Hopefully we will try more in next visit to Chandni Chowk.
Another good part was malai wali Lassi.
Camera Market
Another motive to come to Chandni chowk was to buy accessories for my newly bought Digital SLR (Canon EOS 450D- Digital Rebel XSi).
Only few people know that within the Chandni Chowk, there is Asia’s biggest camera market. Photo market on the Esplanade Road has some hundreds of small shops offering various ranges of latest still/video cameras and accessories. This is wholesale market and most professional photographers (from wedding photographers to new channel guys) come here to buy albums, lenses, filters, tripods, battery and camera bags etc.
One of the oldest shop is Pritam Studio (owned by a sardarji), has customers from all over india for camera repair.
Good thing about this market is you will get all sort of qualities and all at a genuine price. There is no bargaining and every shop sells at a good price.
I bought Kenko UV filter, camera bag, lens cleaning kit for my SLR and a bag for my Sony Tripod.
Jalebi Wala
After shopping for the camera, we found one of the other famous shop in Chandni Chowk, Jalebi Wala. Although stomach was full, I could not resist buying a small portion just to taste it.
This reminded me the old Doordarshan TV advertisement.
Natraj’s Dahi Bhalle
Finally before starting back to home, we decided to try another Chandni Chowk special, Natraj’s Dahi Bhalle.
Shop was established in 1940 and since then it has become one of the most famous street food shop in Delhi. It sells only aloo-tikki and dahi bhalle on the ground floor.
The dish lived up to its reputation and best ingredient in dahi bhalla was saunth (tamarind chutney), tangy and slightly sweet.
Another interesting thing you will see near Natraj shop is pedestrian jam in narrow street connecting to Delhi metro way. You must have seen traffic jam on roads, but this was jam of pedestrians This was busiest and most narrow alley you will ever notice.
So we called it a day and started back to Dwarka Station through Delhi Metro.
Below are some other popular food shops we missed as we already had eaten more than we could
Gianiji ka Falooda, Ghantewala Halwai, Kanwarji Bhagirathmal Dalbhajiwallah (150 years old confectionary shop, famous for namkeens like dal bhuji (fried pulses) and aalu ka lachha (spicy fried potato sticks)). Hopefully, we will go there again soon and try all these
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Hmmmm….it makes feel going to the market and start eating..really nice..
Mouthwatering….Delhi has such colours…and nothing can beat Chandani Chowk..
Too good. Lovely food. Lovely camera as well.
Parathas!! Mouth-watering stuff!! Nice post!!
@Kalpesh
Thanks
Hey…..Pankaj……..this is also Pankaj here…….today i have gone through most of the articles of urs…..tat was vry…..good…..and specally ATM one was vry good….keep donig buddy……
I have eaten most of the items mentioned and they are all lovely. the ambiance adds to the flavour! The parathas though are rather heavy on the stomach, ‘fried’ as they are in kadais! the post made me remember the tastes and drool!
HOLY SMOKES I WANT A PLATEFULL OF – A L L- OF THAT PLEASE!!! O_O
Thanx for bringing my attention this way
Lovely ! I enjoyed it, the way you covered the places the photographs and your write up!
The camera EOS 450 D photo is striking. The angle of ambiance light is superb.
cheers
Krishna Baalu
Good.
Now I am a regular visitor.
A very good post.
Its a tribute to chandni chowk.
@Zanil
Thanks sir.
good information
and pics make it so beautiful
thanks for virtual trip
Thanks for appreciation.
very detailed, Nice pics. I enjoyed reading and now I am hungry!
You brought back some wonderful memories through this post. I remember visiting Chandni Chowk as a kid with my uncle. This was ages ago when I used to spend Diwali at delhi and the outing used to be a regular one, to buy crackers for the whole family. we used to fill our huge bags with crackers and then head over for some fantastic chole bhatutre! it s been so many years since then, but i still can remember the wonderful taste….
After seeing these pictures,waow, I’m doing my best to visit Chandi Chowk 24-27 February 2011, while my visit to Delhi.
Iqbal.
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Hi Pankaj. Im a fourteen year old girl and Im making a magazine for my personal project. If you allow me to put this article of yours, it would be great. Thanks, and Im giving my email address below
@Sameera
Sure, you can use it.
But please make sure to give proper credit with website name as its a copyrighted material.
I’m heading to Delhi in the fall, and I’m looking for interesting things to see. Chandni Chowk sounds perfect! I’ll be sure to bring my SLR, too.
Awesome! I aim to be in Delhi over December hols – this is a handy primer
hi dear, i want to buy DSLR, would you guide me about, where to buy in Delhi?
you mentioned chandani chowk is great market for cameras, (love ur article), would you suggest me, would i buy from them or somewhere else?
@Pankaj
As of now, You can get good deals on online e-com sites like LetsBuy, TimTara and FlipKart etc (use discount coupon codes available on internet).
I would recommend you to buy it from there as they have genuine products.
You can also buy from Chandni chowk, but make sure you buy with bill and proper warranty. Pritam Sons there is a good dealer.
thanks a lot for quick reply, very helpful, best wishes
i am a regular at chandni chowk..love this place!!
http://www.pankajbatra.com/
Yummy account of chandni chowk
loved it!!!
Guys i am a delhite and i have visited almost every possible place in delhi.
I must say ‘Delhi is truly a city with rich legacy, vibrant future and misterious eternity’.
Its always a wonderful experience every time i roam in chandni chowk.
If one wants to see the real delhi please go and see the its historic beauty and you will get to know that history itself has something which can be appreciated today also no matter how crowded or how conjested it is.
For foodies & shopaholics it is the best place to hangout.
I know there are places like CP, saket which are famous for their charm and modern culture but Chandni chowk has something unique on its own.
So its my advice to people in or outside delhi, or from any other part the country to visit this place atleast once.
And please give me feedback whatever you feel about the place.
Regards,
Ankit Grover
Hey Pankaj this is an awesome post on Chandni Chowk. I was wondering if you’d know any guide for chandni chowk? I’m planning to visit in Feb but I have only a day and i wanna fully utilize it for Chandni Chowk. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Zaheera.
@Zaheera
Local guides would be available around Red fort area. They should be able to guide you in covering all important places there.
As such, you should not need a guide there, there are 7-8 places there, which you can cover yourself. You can search more on internet and you would find these places. Like this is the NGO walking tour guide for Chandni Chowk: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/delhi-walking-tour-2/