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Delhiwale: Momos in Paharganj

ByMayank Austen Soofi, New Delhi
Mar 17, 2021 05:59 AM IST

Some of Delhi’s best vegetable momos are to be found in the backpackers’ district

According to logic, the city’s best vegetable momos should be found in Majnu Ka Tila. After all, which other place can be more idyllic to enjoy this Tibetan dumpling than Delhi’s Tibetan refugee camp?

The cook here fills his momos with a variety of chopped veggies, and paneer (you might ask the waiter to avoid the latter though, for the momos are superior without it).(Mayank Austen Soofi)
The cook here fills his momos with a variety of chopped veggies, and paneer (you might ask the waiter to avoid the latter though, for the momos are superior without it).(Mayank Austen Soofi)

Well, don’t rely on logic only.

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Some of Delhi’s best and most affordable vegetable momos are to be found in the touristy backpackers’ district of Paharganj. At Appetite German Bakery.

Yes, Germany is far from Tibet, and yet.

The cook here fills his momos with a variety of chopped veggies, and paneer (you might ask the waiter to avoid the latter though, for the momos are superior without it).

True, only a Tibetan or somebody extremely familiar with the native cuisine could tell if these momos are authentically Tibetan, but… they are so light on the palate, and so delicious! You feel the flavours intensely and yet the presence of each individual ingredient remains elusive. A single bite is like inhaling an air perfumed with the aroma of fresh carrots and cabbage.

The cafe also used to serve another version of momos, crammed with spinach and mushroom, but they weren’t as good—and anyway they’re no longer available. Like most businesses, the coffee shop suffered during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown months. Most of its cooks have left, and the only one still there, politely explains, that it is not possible to make spinach momos.

In the pre-pandemic era, the waiter would take a long time (20 minutes at least) to serve this dish, but nobody would complain. The momos were a lunchtime hit among the foreign backpackers of Paharganj, who would be so commonly spotted in its lanes. But this afternoon no foreigner is to be seen in the hotel district. The coffee shop itself is empty, though open. The cake counter has no cake—the yummy almond cake with the white frosting is but a memory. Each table, however, still has a sauce bottle, a cruet set and paper napkins—strongly evocative of the recent past, when you would always see foreigners here, busy with their book, mobile or guitar.

For one plate you will get 10 momo pieces, along with tomato and cucumber salad.

The accompanying chilli sauce is ear-burning but super-yummy. End the meal with honey ginger lemon tea.

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