'Chai Galli' plays it simple and yields the desired results. It capitalises on age old traditions, masala and flavours to bring about a glorified confluence celebrating the vintage in a modern redefined avatar. It brings to light popular street food from various regions across India with a cutting edge. The best part is you would find that local essence intact giving it a lovely old school feel. They have also innovated to varying degrees by blending Indian with Indian as also other cuisines to add a diverse portfolio.
From the moniker, it's pretty clear that tea is the most prominent factor. Tea is the most consumed beverage across India and it has a history to the way it's made, viewed and drank in different parts of the country. The beverage epitomises a local element and it's in petty shops that it's most popular with loud dance music playing at the background. They've captured this beautifully by serving them in those small glass shots retaining the flavour with the presence of loud epoch Bollywood music playing from yesteryear. Movies play a major role in the ambiance setup and you would find wall arts depicting posters of popular movies from down the years.
Food, music and movies are perhaps the 3 most loved things in the country and kudos that they've been able to make justice to it and in fact with the setup and ambiance, pay quite a homage to these ever loved delights. I admired the fact that they could put this across rather well without sounding too obtrusive and on your face. It's been carved out artistically and you wouldn't call it as being over the top with the interiors. It appears larger than life but yet within limits and not too garish. The colour combinations have been used very well and you'll surely associate with the bright spots paying tribute to the colour and retro era from around the 60's onwards.
What they have in their attic to consume is quite a lot. Apart from the traditional fare, innovation is the name of the game here. Tea occupied almost a third of the menu with variants of classic, capturing borders - from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, western touch with imported flavours, green tea, black tea, white tea and even handcrafted ones. They also have iced versions and for that tete a tete, a few coffee varieties also along with oolong tea and those classic drinks ranging from Shikanji, kokam, masala soda etc. There was too much to try but I would suggest you give a shot at one of the authentic classical ones. We had the Adrak chai with parle G biscuit and it was quite an effect drinking it held up in small glass containers. The hibiscus tea which a mild majanta colour to it was invigorating and in the iced kind, the Bulldozer which is a chilled drink drawing upon the combination of ice tea and red bull was kick ass and killer, just about ideal for the scorching heat.
They have a section "Chai ke murmur dost" which underlines the accompaniments that go along with your tea. They had further sub sections highlighting on the shandaar (popular), chatpata (crispy), samosa/vada pav alternatives, puchka shots and pakhoda and Baaki sab (everything else). We tried two of the pani puri shots viz Namkeen and a Corn based one which was enjoyable. It was served with a twist as the puri's in the former were ballooned up with a sweet/salt mixture and the latter had a gregarious coating of cheese with tartlets of corn inside. The absolute stunner from the chai's company side, well and truly happened to be the Dal pakwaan. It was absolutely delectable with flavourful lentils on top of a papad base and soaked with a sweet as well as savoury tinge and topped with salad veggies. The poha layered on a papad base somehow didn't appease me much.
The main course section is categorised as "Khana Shuru" which loosely translates as start the food. We had an aloo paratha which was well made with nice stuffings of potato inside that comes with a tomato & chilli dip. The Tadke wali maggi with zing of fried onions was quite lovely to slurp. In pizza's, the Italian flag which is the usual expectant pizza was quite nice but what took the cake was the concocted one in the form of the 'Veggies on a Khakra' which in the sense is the marrying of pizza and khakra infusing italian pizza ingredients over a quintessential Indian crisp khakra base. This Gujarati classic corks up a feast with a melange of sauces, spices and veggies generously spread along making the eating experience both crispy and crunchy. The pink sauce panther pasta was another winner as it had all the ammunition to rise to the top being creamy with just the right amount of herbs and spices to go along with exotic ingredients like broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini and garlic.
The final finale was no less. The watermelon juice was of the usual kind. I took a liking to the dry fruit falooda which was bunched with a pleasing degree of assortments and also being creamy on the bottom layer. The chikku cream had that sappota twang right on the button and you could feel the flavour hitting on every spoon. However the outright starlet in the dessert section was the "Chai Galli special falooda". It had a perfect motley of fruit, sweet and nuts with the texture and thickness being bang on. It was a delectation decorated to devour. Easily would say, one of the best falooda's I've ever had.
On the whole, Chai Galli turned out to be really pleasing and engaging. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if you fall in love with the place. I had a personal connect with the decorations and the music playing in the background which had a lot to do with the 90's which is in sync to my growing up childhood phase. The service was quick witted and they were more than willing to help us with our choices. The prices won't worry you much as they are all rated within the normal border range.
This place would surely ignite a tinge of nostalgia within you. Your love for Bollywood and happy loud good ol music will be satiated here. It's lovely the way they have captured and brought in all these quirky elements within the minimalistic surrounding environment. It definitely felt nice visiting this outlet and if you're the one looking for some shiz in a local langoti set-up, 'Chai Galli' is your direction forward.
From the moniker, it's pretty clear that tea is the most prominent factor. Tea is the most consumed beverage across India and it has a history to the way it's made, viewed and drank in different parts of the country. The beverage epitomises a local element and it's in petty shops that it's most popular with loud dance music playing at the background. They've captured this beautifully by serving them in those small glass shots retaining the flavour with the presence of loud epoch Bollywood music playing from yesteryear. Movies play a major role in the ambiance setup and you would find wall arts depicting posters of popular movies from down the years.
Food, music and movies are perhaps the 3 most loved things in the country and kudos that they've been able to make justice to it and in fact with the setup and ambiance, pay quite a homage to these ever loved delights. I admired the fact that they could put this across rather well without sounding too obtrusive and on your face. It's been carved out artistically and you wouldn't call it as being over the top with the interiors. It appears larger than life but yet within limits and not too garish. The colour combinations have been used very well and you'll surely associate with the bright spots paying tribute to the colour and retro era from around the 60's onwards.
What they have in their attic to consume is quite a lot. Apart from the traditional fare, innovation is the name of the game here. Tea occupied almost a third of the menu with variants of classic, capturing borders - from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, western touch with imported flavours, green tea, black tea, white tea and even handcrafted ones. They also have iced versions and for that tete a tete, a few coffee varieties also along with oolong tea and those classic drinks ranging from Shikanji, kokam, masala soda etc. There was too much to try but I would suggest you give a shot at one of the authentic classical ones. We had the Adrak chai with parle G biscuit and it was quite an effect drinking it held up in small glass containers. The hibiscus tea which a mild majanta colour to it was invigorating and in the iced kind, the Bulldozer which is a chilled drink drawing upon the combination of ice tea and red bull was kick ass and killer, just about ideal for the scorching heat.
They have a section "Chai ke murmur dost" which underlines the accompaniments that go along with your tea. They had further sub sections highlighting on the shandaar (popular), chatpata (crispy), samosa/vada pav alternatives, puchka shots and pakhoda and Baaki sab (everything else). We tried two of the pani puri shots viz Namkeen and a Corn based one which was enjoyable. It was served with a twist as the puri's in the former were ballooned up with a sweet/salt mixture and the latter had a gregarious coating of cheese with tartlets of corn inside. The absolute stunner from the chai's company side, well and truly happened to be the Dal pakwaan. It was absolutely delectable with flavourful lentils on top of a papad base and soaked with a sweet as well as savoury tinge and topped with salad veggies. The poha layered on a papad base somehow didn't appease me much.
The main course section is categorised as "Khana Shuru" which loosely translates as start the food. We had an aloo paratha which was well made with nice stuffings of potato inside that comes with a tomato & chilli dip. The Tadke wali maggi with zing of fried onions was quite lovely to slurp. In pizza's, the Italian flag which is the usual expectant pizza was quite nice but what took the cake was the concocted one in the form of the 'Veggies on a Khakra' which in the sense is the marrying of pizza and khakra infusing italian pizza ingredients over a quintessential Indian crisp khakra base. This Gujarati classic corks up a feast with a melange of sauces, spices and veggies generously spread along making the eating experience both crispy and crunchy. The pink sauce panther pasta was another winner as it had all the ammunition to rise to the top being creamy with just the right amount of herbs and spices to go along with exotic ingredients like broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini and garlic.
The final finale was no less. The watermelon juice was of the usual kind. I took a liking to the dry fruit falooda which was bunched with a pleasing degree of assortments and also being creamy on the bottom layer. The chikku cream had that sappota twang right on the button and you could feel the flavour hitting on every spoon. However the outright starlet in the dessert section was the "Chai Galli special falooda". It had a perfect motley of fruit, sweet and nuts with the texture and thickness being bang on. It was a delectation decorated to devour. Easily would say, one of the best falooda's I've ever had.
On the whole, Chai Galli turned out to be really pleasing and engaging. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if you fall in love with the place. I had a personal connect with the decorations and the music playing in the background which had a lot to do with the 90's which is in sync to my growing up childhood phase. The service was quick witted and they were more than willing to help us with our choices. The prices won't worry you much as they are all rated within the normal border range.
This place would surely ignite a tinge of nostalgia within you. Your love for Bollywood and happy loud good ol music will be satiated here. It's lovely the way they have captured and brought in all these quirky elements within the minimalistic surrounding environment. It definitely felt nice visiting this outlet and if you're the one looking for some shiz in a local langoti set-up, 'Chai Galli' is your direction forward.
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