Inside Gur Chini in Jubilee hills
The discussions over pani puri are never-ending. While the fans of this most-loved Indian street chaat will always defend it, they too sometimes fall short of defence when their detractors question the quality of the water, hand hygiene of the server and so on.
At Gur Chini, a luxury sweet and chaat restaurant in Jubilee Hills, all doubts about hygiene and type of oil can be put to rest. When we mention luxury, we mean food being served on hand-painted muradabadi kansaware. And since luxury comes with a price, this place is not for anyone who is expecting 10 pieces of pani puri for ₹50. Pani puri is served with three types of flavoured water — pudina, santra (orange flavoured) and hing (Asafoetida). All the three waters come in three small pourers. They serve ragda (dried white peas and flavoured boiled potatoes) for the stuffing. They also have a choice of puri. One can choose either whole wheat, suji or moong dal. The waters make the pani puri-eating experience an exhilarating one.
Palak patta chaat at Gur Chini
At Gur Chini, being a modern Indian sweet/chaat place, the variety of specialty sweets and chaat items will leave you spoilt for choice. Right at the entrance, a speciality sweet menu greets you. Some of them are Amritsari aam papad laddoo, pink motichoor laddoo, salted caramel badam laddoo, kesar moti choor, nolen gur wood fire bars, and Bournvita burfi.
Since sweets are meant to end a meal, I continued with the food they had to offer. Between my dining partners and me, we ordered choley bhaturey, palak patta chaat, alu tikki and Agra parathas.
Pani puri at Gur Chini with the three flavoured water
I absolutely loved the alu tikki chaat. The tiki continues to have the crunch even after being dabbed with the flavoured curd.
The choley bhature served as our main course. The masala aloo, which they serve as a side, with the choley and pickles is a wonderful addition. The bhatures do not need a dab with tissue paper to soak the extra oil, so some guilt is taken care of here.
The one dish that will take you on a guilt trip, and yet you won’t stop is the Agra paratha. It is like having layered parathas that are deep-fried in oil. Despite the oil, the crunch and flakiness will keep you going. The parathas are served with sides of spicy vegetable gravies.
After this heavy-duty meal of chaats, choley bhature and parathas, desserts were already on the way. There was halwa, ghewar, kheer and gulab jamun with rabdi. The moong dal halwa meets the sweet tooth of those who like their mithais less sweet. The gulab jamun comes hot with a slather of rabdi. It was truly a hearty, Indian eating experience.
The speciality sweets at Gur Chini can be custom packed for special occasions and gifting.
Gur Chini opens at 12..30pm onwards. Table for two: ₹1000