BFH#2 : Pandey Ji

Being a North Indian , chaat has always been an essential part of my life, and getting good chaat in Manipal is quite a task. Unless you know where to go for every item, you can never have good chaat, because no one place makes everything really well.
So it ends up being a food trail, but more about the Manipal Food Trail later ;).

It took me 3 semesters, and my bihari friends to discover Pandey Ji. Pandey ji sits in his tiny little 6*6 shop, right next to Hotel Ashlesh. Even though many people know the place, and it’s not really a discovery, but I’m still gonna write about it.
During the 10-10:30 break, or the 3-3:30 one, a bunch of students, wiping the sweat off their brows, walk slowly towards the little place. As Pandey ji sees the familiar faces, he flashes his trademark grin and asks, ‘ Kya ho, Kya banae? ‘
There is no right answer to this question, of course. There are the regular samosas and kachoris , and chips, chocolates and cold drinks.There are the sweets, the gulab jamun, even ras malai. If you’re feeling adventurous , you can have his  maggi, but for me, the one thing that puts Pandey ji head and shoulders above all other chaat places is his samosa chaat.

For the uninitiated, Samosa chaat, though self-explanatory, is basically a couple of samosas, smashed and crushed and put in a bowl, mixed with sweet and spicy chutneys, some filler food (In this case, chole), onions, a dash of  dahi, and garnished with sev. A chaat made with samosa, hence the name.

Anyway, for some reason,this calorie loaded, carb-intensive Samosa chaat at Pandey Ji has always made me feel nice about life, a comfort food of sorts. Maybe it’s about the food, maybe it’s about Pandey Ji‘s heavily accented, ‘Aur kuch lenge?’ , or maybe it’s about the friends around me,but whatever it is, if you’re up for nice, filling and cheap samosa chaat (25Rps only, yaassss!), you know where to go.

If you’re not a samosa chaat person, you can always order a plate of Pav Bhaaji. Aah, warm soft pav, soaked with butter, the hot, spicy bhaaji, and a bottle of thumbs up. Talk about comfort food. Also, don’t talk about weight loss. Plis.

And Chai, oh god, the horror that Manipal has been for tea lovers. This wretched place has no good ‘chai ki dukaan‘ . Pandey Ji comes close, with his not-so-kadak , a little too sweet, ginger infused tea. I mean it’s not ghar ki chai, but it will do.
In the chai hell that is Manipal, we learn to make do with it.

Pro Tip : Tell him to make the chaat sweet, otherwise you’ll end up buying something sweet as well.
Nice selling strategy , Pandey Ji.