Delhiwale: A taste of home, on the street

In the light of all that has unfolded since 2020, it is an adventure to have homely food in the office district of ‘Millennium City’ Gurugram, surrounded by fellow diners who have again shifted to ‘work from office’.

Bay leaves are floating underneath the thick red gravy. Whole-roasted red chillies too can be spotted. The dish is so hot that you can soak the aroma steaming out of it. Rajma is looking like the one maa makes at home.

A Sector 7 dweller, former property dealer Dolly Sharma runs her business because she wants to be “independent”.

In the light of all that has unfolded since 2020, it is an adventure to have homely food in the office district of ‘Millennium City’ Gurugram, surrounded by fellow diners who have again shifted to ‘work from office’.

As the pandemic appears to fade, here is an opportunity to return to the old-world normalcy.

This is an eatery on a service lane in Shankar Chowk, dishes stacked up inside a white car. Round tables (sans chairs) are arranged on the pavement, making the place look like a casual al fresco cafe. A venerable gent in full sleeve shirt and tie is finishing his plate of rajma chawal.

Prepared by ‘Chef Raju Pratap Singh’ in a dedicated kitchen elsewhere, the food is tasty, but that is not the only motivation to try this place. The lunch stall is the testimony of a fellow citizen’s spirited determination to survive and thrive.

A Sector 7 dweller, former property dealer Dolly Sharma runs her business because she wants to be “independent”.

In her early 30s, she founded the eatery three years ago after getting the idea from a friend. “Pooja suggested me to start a business to serve ghar jaisa khana for office-goers like her.” At that time nobody knew that the world will be turned upside-down by the Covid-19 pandemic. The successive lockdowns disrupted Sharma’s enterprise. The periods between the lockdowns were equally trying, as most office-goers were WFH-ing. “I hope things will now get better slowly.”

Showing the day’s dishes, Sharma points out that matar paneer and rajma are her menu’s bestsellers, while other dishes rotate throughout the week. Today, there’s chholey and karhi as well.

Across the lane is another lunch stall. Sharma calls it a rival. Since the khana there too looks yummy, maybe both enterprises can coexist harmoniously. The stall serves from 11 am till 3 pm, and closed on Sundays.