Delhi is one of the Indian cities that has the highest in-migrants numbers from across the country. While people from across the country leave their hometowns and migrate to Delhi, the city not only welcomes them with an open heart but also adapts to the growing population of migrants of a state in more ways than one. In the past few decades, the city has opened various eateries to make the migrants feel at home. Bihari cuisine is one of the most popular ones among Delhiites, but you will not find enough places serving authentic Bihari cuisine in the city. To much surprise, we found one new cloud kitchen that offers authentic Bihari food and drinks.
Located in the very vibrant sub-city of Delhi NCR - Gurgaon, The Chhaunk is a cloud kitchen that brings to you the finest Bihari cuisine in the city. Established in July 2021, the brainchild behind the Bihari food serving at the doorsteps is of mother- and sister-in-law duo Hiranyamayi Shivani (58) and Manjari Singh (35). Both the founders are born and brought up in Bihar and are passionate about the cuisine. Their aim behind The Chhaunk is to offer 'home-cooked' food to all the Bihari food lovers. Soon they will open outlets in Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Bangalore and Jaipur.
Litti Chokha with Mutton
Litti Chokha may be the crown jewel of Bihari cuisine, but that's not the only delicacy the East Indian state has to offer. With Nepal on top, Jharkhand to its right and Uttar Pradesh to its left, Bihar is a fairly large state with a majority of vegetarians and few meat and fish eaters. We started off with Ghugni Mudhi, Kala chana chaat, Chura Matar and Jhalmuri. While Ghugni Mudhi was an interesting mix of kala chana, spices and puffed rice, Chura Matar stood out and ignited our appetite.
Chura matar
Badami Chura Fry
Jhalmudhi
In the main course, we ordered Champaran Meat, Chicken Curry, Litti Chokha with Mutton Curry and Aloo Bhujia. For breads, we straight away went for Sattu Paratha and Tawa Rotis. Champaran mutton is a traditional delicacy from Bihar that is cooked in earthen pots or matka on dum style. The mutton, intermixed with spices, is then cooked on low heat. The steam inside make the mutton robust and decadent! In other words, Champaran Mutton was as delicious as it sounds. Not just that, the chicken curry was quite comforting and bursting with flavours. I am definitely going to order it again. Litti Choka with mutton curry was an absolute delight too. While littis were a little dry and harder than usual, chokha was bursting with flavours.
The house-made beverages are a good try too if you like experimenting with traditional flavours. Sattu ka sherbet and neembu chai were liked the most by our table.
Chicken Curry
Champaran Mutton Curry
Aloo Bhujia
In desserts, we picked rice kheer and malpua. My vote goes to the rice kheer - light kheer with some dry fruits on the top was an absolute delight.
Rice Kheer
As The Chhaunk delivers home-cooked food, there is absolutely no decoration on the food preparation to commercialise it like any restaurant food, but it is kept exactly the same as you get if you visit any Bihar home. The founders are totally committed to being a 100% green company and are not using any items in the restaurant which will do any to the ecosystem. The packaging is completely free from plastic and is entirely biodegradable. The team uses glass packaging in order to deliver lead-free, safe freeze, leak-proof food.
Price for two: Rs. 250 (approximately)
About Shubham BhatnagarYou can often find Shubham at a small authentic Chinese or Italian restaurant sampling exotic foods and sipping a glass of wine, but he will wolf down a plate of piping hot samosas with equal gusto. However, his love for homemade food trumps all.