setting a new standard

The term standard translates to good food, as far as I’m concerned. Many years ago, Delhi was known for a beautiful restaurant named ‘Standard’, which was right above the then Regal Cinema. It had a band that played western music, and offered coffee and sandwiches, among other things. Years later, I discovered another eatery called ‘Standard’ in Shankar Road market, which later moved to a street in Karol Bagh. The Regal standard has stopped but the Karol Bagh standard is going strong. It sells so many delicious chole bhatures that some friends, who came to visit me when I was admitted to a neighborhood hospital sometime back, spent more time in the eatery than in my bed.

So, when I saw a restaurant with the same name in Noida Sector 12, I was in awe. I called them to ask if they belonged to the Karol Bagh standard, or the old Lyallpur Valley standard in Chawri Bazar. Well, this is another favorite and has all kinds of delicious dishes on its menu like Puri Chole, Crispy Kachori and Chole Bhature.

They are not related, I was informed. But I was not disappointed, as my interest was drawn by the fact that one of my favorite dishes – Aloo Puri – was on the menu at Noida Standard. I immediately ordered a few plates, as some of our friends were coming over for dinner. Each plate of aloo puri contains four puris with aloo curry and comes for ₹73.

The food took me by surprise as I was afraid that the puris would cool down, and once reheated, they would either become rubbery or flaky. But he didn’t. The puris were soft in spite of the stringy, buttery texture. The potato curry served with it was wonderful. Some of the potatoes were mashed into the gravy as they please, and the vegetable itself was deliciously mild, cooked with some basic spices like cumin and asafoetida. It had a pleasant lemon color, which is a color that somehow adds to the flavor of the potato curry. We enjoyed it, as did the friends, observing the way the puris disappeared from the table.

However, the idea of ​​Chole Bhature was still on my mind, so two days later I ordered some from my neighborhood sweet and namkeen shop, Bhatia Sweets (Balco Market, IP Extension). Bhatia has some of the best sweets and is particularly known for its Bengali glass balls. But its namkeens like Bread Pakora, Aloo Tikki and Dhokla also have their loyal patrons. The fare is fresh, and the prices reasonable: we paid ₹251 (including delivery charges) for a plate of aloo puri and three bhatures with chickpeas.

Bhatia’s food was not bad at all. I loved the soft bhatures and some spicy chickpeas, and enjoyed coming up with the spicy carrots and green chillies. But its entire vegetable did not match the standard. It may have been a matter of nostalgia—the Standard, after all, is my old friend—but I was glad to learn that the new Standard had kept the Standard on flight.