Bhel Puri at Viceroy

This friday evening we went to Viceroy on Devon for dinner. We've been going there for a decade, and it is noteworthy to me as a Chicago Indian restaurant that I've never had to cross off my list. I would wish that they would love up their atmosphere and decor a bit, clean their windows, etc. But I don't recall ever having a bad, deal-breaker meal there.

We ordered the bhel puri appetizer, a scrumptious mixture of crispy snacks, potatoes, cilantro, onions, and spices, slightly sweet. I asked the waiter if it was considered a breakfast dish and he said no, it's a dish you eat with drinks. And indeed I enjoyed it with my refreshing Gin Sling. I haven't found this dish anywhere else on Devon, though I'm sure it's served there somewhere.

To backtrack, the meal began with a platter of papadam served with tomatoes, cucumbers, raita, tamarind sauce, cilantro sauce, and a chutney. The bhel puri was followed by lamb biryani with more raita and aloo gobi served in copper dishes (the portions have perhaps gotten smaller). Quite delicious. Service was gracious and attentive.

My understanding is that bhel poori is also a street food, though with drinks makes sense, considering its vague resemblance to Chex Party Mix. I think you tend to see it more in the snack shops than the more proper restaurants (hence seeing it at Viceroy, which is both). Here's a thread about how to make it.

Funny thing about Viceroy. We have been going there for years and years. When it's good, it's really good. The tamarind sauce, samosas, lamb biryani are all outstanding. However, I find it really inconsistent. Last couple of times we've gone there, it's been mediocre at best.

Don't think I will go back, unless something changes for the better.

Mike G wrote:My understanding is that bhel poori is also a street food, though with drinks makes sense, considering its vague resemblance to Chex Party Mix. I think you tend to see it more in the snack shops than the more proper restaurants (hence seeing it at Viceroy, which is both). Here's a thread about how to make it.

It is a street food, yes - mostly a Bombay street food IMHO. Its available all over
Devon, but not in restaurants. You can find it at Sukhadia, Amrit Ganga,
Annapurna etc - all snack-type places, more than actual dinner places.

Also, if the bhel-puri was sweet as indicated by the OP - well, thats not
bad, but probably not quite as authentic as the most common version in
street food (you can get sweet, but more people IMHO would get
hot). Had bhel-puri at Sukhadia's only like 2 days ago with a group of
Indians (who eat Indian food everyday but are mostly into the less-hot
Indian foods)... and they found Sukhadia's bhel-puri (and vada pav, pani
puri etc) ridiculously hot, mouth-burning, forehead-sweating hot. Though,
they werent having it with drinks - as you mostly certainly would need to
when its that hot (I found it very hot that day too, BTW - but I sort
of enjoy that, so it wasnt too bad for me).

BTW, "bhelpuri preparations" can mean not just bhel-puri, but also
pani-puri (which can be very very spicy sometimes), dahivada (which
is not spicy at all) etc. Am adding below a paragraph from an article
about eating bhelpuri/panipuri etc...

-----------------
There is nothing mild and subdued about the taste of bhelpuri preparations.
They are hot stuff – as hot as a raging prairie fire. Therefore people who are
brought up on mashed potatoes (mashing a potato seems to me to be the worst
insult to which it can be subjected!) and who have eaten nothing hotter than hot
dogs, should not venture to taste them without expert guidance.

But once they learn to enjoy the ecstasy of setting their tongues on fire
they will realize that bhelpuri preparations are not merely hot. They are also
sour, pungent, peppery, salty, spicy, creamy, crisp, fluffy (and believe it or
not) sweet. All these tastes annoy, tease, titillate and soothe the tongue
while the fire continues to rage on.
...
_____________

As you can see, "sweet bhelpuri" is entirely possible - but sweet should
not IMHO be the primary impression one should come away with. At least,
not without some sweating and gasping for water first

c8w

fwiw, sukhadia's bhel is probably my favorite right now - I like it with some spice - unfortunately no place around town that I know of makes it with slivers of green mango.

Even better at sukhadia than bhel, IMO, is the samosa chaat, a samosa, topped with their very good channa, and then many of the bhel toppings.

nice quote by the way -that book is available at the U of C library, the whole essay kills

Oh man, thanks for the recommendation! I looooove Bhel Puri.

I'm drooling over thinking about it.

zim wrote:fwiw, sukhadia's bhel is probably my favorite right now - I like it with some spice - unfortunately no place around town that I know of makes it with slivers of green mango.

Even better at sukhadia than bhel, IMO, is the samosa chaat, a samosa, topped with their very good channa, and then many of the bhel toppings.

Yes, had the samosa chaat too - again, I liked it, but the others found it way
too spicy. (They even asked for ti non-spicy, ie they wanted to add the
chutneys themselves, but no dice).

BTW , meant to ask you but kept forgetting, have you tried the Madras
chain "Hot Breads" yet? There's a branch in Schaumburg now, but I
havent gotten to it yet (people keep telling me that the chicken tikka
croissant is very good).

c8w

c8w wrote: but the others found it way
too spicy. (They even asked for ti non-spicy, ie they wanted to add the
chutneys themselves, but no dice).

BTW , meant to ask you but kept forgetting, have you tried the Madras
chain "Hot Breads" yet? There's a branch in Schaumburg now, but I
havent gotten to it yet (people keep telling me that the chicken tikka
croissant is very good).

c8w

the trick at sukhadia to customizing your order (i.e. chutney's on the side, a little extra yoghurt, etc. is to talk to the folks at the counter rather than the older guy at front - he always seems a little overwhelmed just by the ordering chaos, and after he relays the order I think he feels he's blessedly out of it until its time to add up the bill)

I haven't tried Hot Breads yet, don't get out to the schaum very often, but next time I'm out there I plan on stopping in. Any other suggestions when I do get out there?