Sadak Chaap - vegetarian Indian street food
Sadak chaap is a small vegetarian eatery in Karama. The name literally means "of the street" (or "born on the street"). The word "chaap" is also a dish. The name is a nice play on words.
Chaap is usually made from meat, but the speciality of this place is that it is made form tofu (soya-bean).
While my food was being prepared, I started with a garam chai ki pyali (tea). They make this with honey which is nice if you are trying to cut down on sugar. It did taste pretty good; a bit on the sweeter side though.
For starters, they have the veg chaap (tofu kebabs). They've named them after different states, and the mix platter that we had is called Sanyukt Rajya (unity of states). It has all of their chaap varieties, namely Amritsari, Haryanvi, Lahori, Lucknowi, Rajasthani, Gujarati, and Italian.
Though the spices that each one is coated with is different, but all have the same underlying ingredient, i.e. tofu, they do have the same texture. They were soft which is the good part. I liked the Lahori and the Lucknow ones a bit more than the rest. The Italian one was different, and I liked this too, but at first bite it did feel a bit out of place.
It definitely makes sense to get the platter instead of individual ones since 2 people can easily finish it and you get to try a good variety.
For our mains, we had the Hyderabadi chaap. The chaap is prepared in a spicy gravy and it tasted delicious. There wasn't too much chilli, but the other spices which actually made it spicy. It was finger-lickin' good. We had this with the lachha paratha.
I also wanted to try another gravy, and so asked for a spicy one. They got us the Punjabi chaap. This wasn't as spicy as the Hyderabadi, though looked similar. The flavour was nice, but I found the previous one to be better.
We ended our meal with the sadak chaas (spiced buttermilk). It is served in a mason jar with enough spices to give it a greenish colour. Though I do like spices, these were a bit on the higher side for my buttermilk.
One thing that I would like to mention is that the place is really small. It has four tables and seating for about 8 people. It felt a bit cramped to sit. Also, if you're sitting on the tables near to the entrance, it might get a bit awkward when there are passers-by on the street as it would feel like you're sitting in a glass showcase.
Now if you compare it to a street style eatery where traditional you stand and eat, this concept is much better since you have a place to sit, but if you're comparing to a restaurant (which mostly might be the case), it does feel really small and a bit awkward to sit.
The staff was really polite and courteous, and so I don't mind giving it a generous rating.
This is a place that you should visit for the interesting tofu chaap if you aren't concerned about the seating.
Follow me on Instagram to know about great places and food in Dubai.
Chaap is usually made from meat, but the speciality of this place is that it is made form tofu (soya-bean).
While my food was being prepared, I started with a garam chai ki pyali (tea). They make this with honey which is nice if you are trying to cut down on sugar. It did taste pretty good; a bit on the sweeter side though.
For starters, they have the veg chaap (tofu kebabs). They've named them after different states, and the mix platter that we had is called Sanyukt Rajya (unity of states). It has all of their chaap varieties, namely Amritsari, Haryanvi, Lahori, Lucknowi, Rajasthani, Gujarati, and Italian.
Though the spices that each one is coated with is different, but all have the same underlying ingredient, i.e. tofu, they do have the same texture. They were soft which is the good part. I liked the Lahori and the Lucknow ones a bit more than the rest. The Italian one was different, and I liked this too, but at first bite it did feel a bit out of place.
It definitely makes sense to get the platter instead of individual ones since 2 people can easily finish it and you get to try a good variety.
For our mains, we had the Hyderabadi chaap. The chaap is prepared in a spicy gravy and it tasted delicious. There wasn't too much chilli, but the other spices which actually made it spicy. It was finger-lickin' good. We had this with the lachha paratha.
I also wanted to try another gravy, and so asked for a spicy one. They got us the Punjabi chaap. This wasn't as spicy as the Hyderabadi, though looked similar. The flavour was nice, but I found the previous one to be better.
We ended our meal with the sadak chaas (spiced buttermilk). It is served in a mason jar with enough spices to give it a greenish colour. Though I do like spices, these were a bit on the higher side for my buttermilk.
One thing that I would like to mention is that the place is really small. It has four tables and seating for about 8 people. It felt a bit cramped to sit. Also, if you're sitting on the tables near to the entrance, it might get a bit awkward when there are passers-by on the street as it would feel like you're sitting in a glass showcase.
Now if you compare it to a street style eatery where traditional you stand and eat, this concept is much better since you have a place to sit, but if you're comparing to a restaurant (which mostly might be the case), it does feel really small and a bit awkward to sit.
The staff was really polite and courteous, and so I don't mind giving it a generous rating.
This is a place that you should visit for the interesting tofu chaap if you aren't concerned about the seating.
Follow me on Instagram to know about great places and food in Dubai.
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