Spineless: Samosa from Karol Bagh..

I heard about this Samosa walla in Karol Bagh area through EOiD (Eating out in Delhi) community, and was curious to try it out, since I live quite close to the area.

I was in the area yesterday evening and decided to give it a try, as per the direction reached the front gate or Jessa ram hospital and with your back towards Pusa Road, took right into the street opposite it (Technically the service lane of Pusa road, this shop is behind house no. 14 Pusa road), and spotting the shop was not a challenge then. As there are hardly 2-3 shops there, and spotting the halwai was an easy job.

The shop looks quite run down and old, I doubted the quality of the stuff after first glance. I was told that there were some really old guys managing it, however I saw couple of young guys manning the counter. They said that samosas were being fried and we have to wait for 10 minutes, decided to sink our teeth into a Ras Madhuri sitting on the counter in the meantime (cannot say much about it, as was too sweet and syrupy for me, but texture seemed nice). Later on we were told that even those guys were customers and and the famous old man was busy making samosa on the backside. This enjoys tremendous loyalty, so much so that peoeple actually patiently wait for 15 minutes, while the stuff is being made.

Now coming to the samosa, the main reason why it is famous is because they do not fill the mashed potatoes, but they cut them inot small pieces, roast them and then fill them. It was lovely to eat, the old man had taken his sweet time to fry them, this ensured that the crust was nice and crispy. The potatoes has subtle spices, nothing over powering the flavor, every bite and experience in itself.

We were qute satisfied with the samosa and started chatting with the old man (Mr. Dutt or popularly known as Pandit Ji)

, he said that shop was originally owned by his Mama Ji and he worked for them since beginning. it opened in 1942 and the owner was staunch follower of Nehru-Gandhi school. Infact Nehru has visited this shop on several occasions.

He also made us sample some Sandesh made from "Kajoor Ka Gud", which comes straight from Bengal and a type of Mathri.

The Menu