100 Days of Travel Sketchbooks Project
Day 9/100 – Kuk’s Shack Pav Delights
Once off the aircraft, and through passport control, we joined the usual rugby scrum at the baggage collection belt, where we stood praying, really hard, that both of our bags had arrived in one piece. Trevor’s arrived quickly and mine was a good 20 minutes behind. I was starting to sweat at the thought of trying to clothes in my size in a city full of much smaller sized people!
Relieved, and with both bags firmly in hand, we headed towards the taxi rank and were pleasantly surprised to find the Meru cab stand fairly easy to find, and to pay for, by Apple pay, no less. The driver, dressed in a neat branded uniform, guided us to a clapped out, little white car with a huge gas tank filling most of the boot, meaning that one bag had to ride up front on the passenger seat.
On previous trips we had stayed in the Old Town but it was always very noisy and a bit sketchy at night for wandering around so, this time, we checked into a romantic old Haveli (old style house in India), within a gated community, in the newer and more prosperous district of Hauz Khas.
Our host Ali was keen to give us a big welcome and after the customary welcome chai while completing the paperwork in the very big ledger beloved by Indians, and a full potted history of the area, we were free to escape to our room and take a breath. Despite being almost full, the house was gloriously quiet and our room was ridiculously large with a balcony shaded by lush trees. It was decorated in the usual eclectic style and had the faded glamour feel of a house that was very rich in the past, but still much loved for it’s rich heritage.
Despite our many good snacks on the flight, the first stop after a very short rest, was the local food market where a variety of eating options were available from Nepalese and Northern Indian street food to more western style chains selling Italian and Chinese food, the latter mainly being Kung Po sauce which they seem to adore and try to serve everything with lashings of it on top. There were also coffee and chai cafes and lots of fancy looking cake shops to tempt us.
Our host Ali was later dismayed, or even completely taken aback that out of all the eateries at the market, we chose the ‘snack place’ called Kuk’s Shack. It was basically a hole in a wall with a menu and three tin tables set outside. We happily tucked into an array of Indian curries, a paneer* one with rice, and an Ambasari chicken one served with a ‘pav’ (a sweet roll with a brown crusty top). We then had a couple of Desi** chai teas along with the two chicken soups we had ordered in haste, and didn’t need, but drank anyway as everything was so tasty!
The meal shown was the Ambarasi chicken Keema Pav meal , served with a European spoon, just for us. This generous and super tasty feast cost us just under £6 and we had the pleasure of dining outside opposite a little park lit atmospherically by the surrounding cafes and shops. It was so relaxing, I even felt inspired to sketch the dusty potted plants and random home-made ladders that surrounded our little food oasis in the chaos that is Delhi.
*paneer is an Indian style cheese which is kind of rubbery and smooth at the same time
**Desi – the slang term for something made or from India
Prices on the menu above are in Indian Rupees and you get roughly 10 to £1 GBP
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