What's Delhi's favourite flavour?

Mumbai's vada pav to Delhi's...? What does the capital love most from its street food? We get the answers from a recent street food festival ­ where the tangy golgappa wins hands down, thanks to the girls!
When you think of Mumbai and food, the first thing that comes to mind is vadapav. For Hyderabad, it's biryani, while Lucknow has its Mughlai. But what is the most popular street food in Delhi? Last week, a food festival offering all of Dilli's famous street food under one roof was held in Dilli Haat, Janakpuri.TOI decided to do a recce of its spicy stalls to find out the favourite street food of the capital. Turns out, women are most fond of the chatpata golgappas, but the men would pick a hearty plate of chholey bhature anyday.Here's a lowdown on Delhi's street food palate.
GOLGAPPE, CHHOLE BHATURE COME FIRST
Golgappe and chhole bhature tied up for the first position ­ the former being a favourite among female foodies, while the latter is a hit with their male counterparts. Thakur Sahib, owner of Jai Baba Thakur Chaat Wale at Sita Ram Bazaar has been in the street food business for over three decades. He said, “Our specialities are chhole bhature, pav bhaji, chaat-tikki, bhalle papri and golgappe. But most of the people coming to our shop want either golgappe or chhole bhature.“One of his assistants adds, “Madamji logon ko golgappe zyada pasand aate hain, lekin babalog chhole bhature zyaada maangte hain. Mere khayaal se madamji logon ko zyaada tala bhuna ki jagah chatpata achha lagta hai."
Simar Jeet Singh, who was enjoying street food at the festival, told us, “It's pocket-friendly and one plate of chhole bhature is enough even for a grown-up.“ While his friend Kirti Juneja rebutted, “No, golgappe are the best."
THE NON-VEG RUNNERS-UP
Non-vegetarian food isn't fa behind, with the chicken tik ka coming second. The othe varieties that made it to our list include seekh kebab, chicken korma, nihari and biryani from Chandni Chowk. Mohd Arif of Anmol Chicken, Churi Walan, said, “The non-veg food of Chandni Chowk has always been a reason for people flocking to this street, which is one of the busiest in the city . People of all age groups love these items. However, since eating chicken tikka is less messy , people like it better."
AALOO KI TIKKI
A plate full of hot aaloo ki tikki grabs the third position.“It comes in so many varieties, can be mixed with meethi chatni, hari chatni, chhole or dahi and it is also prepared in front of us, so there's scope to experiment with it,“ says Yashika. Vimi Rao, owner of the company that has jointly organised the food festival at Dilli Haat with Delhi Tourism, says, “People coming to chaat wala stalls had their individual demands about the flavours of their plate of tikki. A shopkeeper told me, `Madamji har koi alag-alag demand karta hai, lekin mazaa bhi toh sabko khush karne mein hi aata hai'." But tikki, if kept even for few minutes, loses its taste, and that is one of the major reasons why it could only score third position. Shalini Bhargav adds, “I love tikki, but the only problem is that it needs to be consumed immediately , even if we wait for like 15-20 minutes, it gets so dry and all its taste and crunchiness is lost."
WHO CAN FORGET THE MOMOS
And, of course how can we forget momos, the street food that you can find outside every metro station, at every auto stand and in all the major markets across Delhi. You would think its popularity would take it to the top of the list, but it has surp risingly failed to get the top position. Yet, all Dilliwalas have a soft corner for this Chinese street food that can burn the tongue to the point of numbness with its t spicy sauce. Sanjeev Chugh, manager, Dilli Haat, Janakpuri, says, “We had initially planned to put up l mostly north Indian street food stalls at the food festival. However, looking at the demand for momos among youngsters, we decided at the last moment to put up a momo stall too."
THE LIST CONTINUES...
Though we have already got our top position holders, there were still many mouth-watering and famous street foods that need to be given consolation prizes at least.Wondering why pav bhaji was not on the list? Well, that's because it isn't a favourite with elders who don't like bread much. Dahi bhalle, bhelpuri, daal kachori and aaloo ke paranthe were also strong contenders in the fight for the favourite street food of Dillwalas, but who talks about the losers, right?
IT'S GOOD, BUT...
The food festival at Janak Puri that was attended by thousands of West Delhiites, received a mixed response.Many of the visitors missed Delhi's favourite street food ­ golgappe ­ that was not part of the food festival's menu. Kiran Jhunjhunwala, a visitor, said, “The venue is very beautiful and better than the other Dilli Haat, but if you compare the variety, there is far more in other places. This was a street food festival, so how could the organizer forget golgappe, which is a must-have?" Ritesh Madaan, another visitor, said, “The place is very relaxing and neat, but it needs to be developed further. Even the food festival has very little to offer. There are just 15-20 food stalls here. We had very little options. There should have been at least two-three shops for each type of food as well as having more varieties of food."