Delhi Streets

Delhi Streets have captured the culture and flavours of Indian street food and created a little space where you can have a brief escape to the streets of India right here in Melbourne. Winners of The Age Good Food 2015 cheap eats award, Delhi streets offer an amazing menu at affordable prices. The family business brings authentic Indian dishes to the table that are full of flavour and packed with awesomeness. You could say it’s Delhicious!

It’s a cute little space in ‘the archway’ that houses lots of delciousness. They have posters stuck up on the roughly painted walls and street signs to give you that street feel. There was lots of colour, which created the fun, lighthearted and casual atmosphere.

We got the party started with Pani puri shots. They were these crispy lentil crackers filled with potatoes, chickpeas, onions, tamarind and chutney. You pour the savoury spice water into the crackers and fill the shells half full and then you pick it up and eat it in one mouthful. It’s a fun starter and they are absolutely delish. It’s crispy, soft, sweet, sour, yoghurty and spicy. Amazing. It was a great starter.

Next we had the Bhel puri which is a puffed rice indian salad. It had a variety of puffed, onion, tomatoes, potatoes, coriander and tamarind chutney. It was like a meal version of the Indian snack mix. There were a few crackers to put the mixture on. The salad had lots of spices and different textures, chickpeas, crunchy pieces, soft potato, fresh tomato. It was nice.

I love how the menu incorporates favourite dishes from the family. The Aloo tikki is Grandma Bibi’s potato cakes –which where like big croquettes of smooth potato and green peas. It had a nice battered crunch on the outside and was smooth and tasty in the middle. It was topped with mint yoghurt which added a freshness.

Did i mention we had mango lassi? Sweet, creamy, yoghurty. Love.

The masala dosa was like a giant Indian crepe. Yum! The texture of the dosa was crisp on the outer and soft and crepe like in the middle but was super thin. It was filled with spicy potato and had coconut chutney and sambar (lentil based vegetable soup) to accompany.

The chicken biryani had lots o flavour and had a nice balance to it. Biryani is a classic Indian rice dish. And this version was packed with flavour. It had beautiful aromatic herb and spices, it was sweet, spicy and delicious. It had pieces of chicken throughout that intensified all of those beautiful flavours.

The chana bhatura was spiced chickpeas with fried roti. Omg the fried roti bread. As if roti wasn’t yum enough they had to go and deep fry it. And im glad they did. It looked like a partially deflated beach ball of fried delciousness. It was crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle and somehow was still super airy and light. It was amazing. Love to the fried roti. And it came with a spicy sour chickpea dish, vegetables with chilli pickle and yoghurt. Delish.

The Thali was amazing. It was a platter with a selection of curries, rice, naan, pappadums, raita and salad. The curries were incredible. They were not too hot but full of flavour. We had the butter chicken, beef vindaloo, eggplant masala and dal makhani, which was a spicy and a bit creamy lentil curry. They were all incredibly tasty and mouthwateringly delicious. Thali is a classic Indian dish and it really hits the spot. The curries all had very different flavours and techniques and it was great to try a little bit of each. And then you’ve got the rice and the naan and the yogurt and the fresh salad then you crunch into the papadums. It’s a satisfying meal.

Then onto the desserts. Nutella naan. OMG. The naan is quality naan, soft, fluffy, chewy delicious and then it’s smothered in nutella. It was incredible and my kind of dessert. Simple and wonderful. Love love love.

They also had an M&M version which had little melted M&M minis through it. Yumness.

The carrot halwa was interesting it was a sweet carrot pudding. It’s grated carrot that is slowly cooked in condensed milk over a long time. Sweet sweet carrot. It was lovely.

Gulab jamun is syrupy doughnuts and one of my fave Indian desserts. They are cottage cheese dumplings soaked in warm syrup. They are a little bit like soaked cake but they melt in your mouth. Amaze! This gulab jamun was particularly delicious.

We had the pistachio kulfi, which is ice cream delicately flavoured w pistachio, cardamom, saffron and cinnamon served on a stick. The texture was icy but the flavour was super creamy (like condensed milk!!) with light fragrant flavours on an easy to eat popsicle.

We finished the meal with a warm homemade masala chai, which was spice and creamy, just lovely.

It’s no wonder that this place won an award at The Age Good Food awards. The food is remarkable. I love that it has a combination of quirky street food and classic traditional dishes. With a world of family recipes on the menu, at Delhi streets you are sure to taste the essence of India.

I heart Delhi Streets!

Olives x

Delhi Streets
Address: Katherine Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000 (in The Archway)
Website: http://www.delhistreets.com.au/
Phone: 03 9629 2620
Trading Hours: Mon-Fri (lunch): 11.30am-2.30pm, Mon-Sat (dinner): 5pm-late

Note: Olive Sundays was invited as a guest to Delhi Streets.