Almost all bloggers, youtubers covering Varanasi, make this joint – Kaashi Chat Bhandaar a must visit joint.
So when we visited Varanasi, recently we were taken to this outlet by a local blogger. No we hadn’t requested for it, it was just that we were in the vicinity – Godowlia, and hadn’t had anything to eat since a long time (we are early dinner time folks) and it was already 9.00 pm (way past our dinner time).
About the ambience – there is nothing much to talk about, its a small outlet, not much space, crowded, people sitting on the road, dirt and grime all around, people park their 2 wheelers also. There are 2 dustbins but people still prefer throwing the waste on the road.
Location is very simple – its on the Godowlia Luxa Road, the same road which leads to Girijaghar (Church in Hindi) crossing opposite Harsundari Dharamshala and M. Bhattacharaya Homeopathic clinic.
You would be lucky if you get your order in 10 minutes of ordering because of the crowd. Items are fixed and the highest price item here is Kulfi Faluda (a sweet ice cream like milk based dish served with noodles like item made from arrowroot or cornflour), priced at Rs. 60.00. The most popular dish here is Tamatar Chat (a tomato based dish very popular in Varanasi), priced at Rs. 45.00.
So we were told to try the Tamatar Chaat, we also opted for Aaloo Tikki (potato based dish) and Dahi Bhalla. Thankfully we were able to get our order in 10 minutes. With no place to sit, we stood next to the outlet outside a closed shop, holding our food items. The local blogger was nice enough to hold on to some of the items while we were eating (as he himself was not eating).
One good thing about the outlet, all items were served in a terracotta vessel (or Mitti Ke Kullahad मिट्टी के कुल्हड़), with wood spoon, so it was not creating any plastic waste, eco friendly in the long run and also giving employment opportunity to traditional artisans (Potter कुम्हार).
Other than this there was nothing much to talk about – Taste wise Tamatar Chat was nothing but overhyped, highly acidic (sour beyond comparison) dish made out of cooked tomato pulp mixed with spices, covered with green chutney (mint coriander and green chillies) and red chutney (probably made of Tamarind इमली, but this was not the traditional सौंठ) more on the sour side, less on sweeter side, lemon juice and some red colour oil. It also has dried peas (सूखी मटर or what Delhi guys get in matara chaat) in summers and boiled green peas in winters. We could not finish it because of the highly acidic content. Aloo Tikki (आलू टिक्की) was decent, nothing much to talk about, again the chutneys had created an acidic combination. To be honest we have had much better aloo tikki in various locations in the country. Dahi Bhalla was again okay – the dahi or curd was thankfully not sour (as it sometimes happens in peak summers) bhalla was not very soft ( we have had melt in mouth bhallas but this was not that soft). The spices and chutney were again overpowering.
It was not a good experience and we would not like to go or recommend it at all. In fact many other outlets in the city serve better chaat (same items). We also realised that many locals especially old dwellers of the city do not visit this joint.
It was clearly an overhyped joint, and visiting it was as a tourist is just like a must do activity in Varanasi. Clear case of good marketing, good advertising and over the top publicity effectively using the bloggers, you tubers, so called influencers.
P.S. this is not a reflection on food and food joints of Varanasi. Its our opinion on a joint which has become so popular. We didn’t ask for freebies, we were there as normal customers and did pay for what we ate.
Pravāsavarṇana 