Chaat Cafe

All the physical labor involved with unpacking our new office has left me hungrier than usual. My stomach told me salad wasn't going to be enough, so down the street I went to Chaat Cafe. This little chain is known for decent Indian curries and little appetizer snacks (chaat), but it's most famous for its wraps (probably because not many others in the Bay Area has thought to make a naan wrap. I've been told Naan and Beyond in DC does a fine version, and I would eat there just for the excuse to say that name over and over.)

Here's the drill at Chaat Cafe: order at the front, grab your own water, utensils, sauces, find a seat, and wait for someone to bring your order to your table. Nothing on the lunch menu seemed exceptionally unique, so I got two chaat instead. Besides, it was too hot for a steaming plate of food.

Papri Chaat was my "something new:" fantastic! A bowl of yogurt, potato batons, garbanzo beans, tamarind sauce, powdered spice mix, and crunchy broken chips of deep fried dough. The crunch pieces tasted like like deep fried wonton skins, and were in fact probably deep fried samosa skins. I've also been told Indians use tortillas at home. It sounds like a bizarre combination, but the contrasts of soft versus crunchy, savory versus sweet, and mild versus spicy were pleasingly surprising. It was soothing and cool on a hot day. My only negative reaction to it was that it tasted like eating breakfast. Papri Chaat, I dub thee Indian muesli! Don't order it if you don't like plain yogurt and granola-type combinations.

Samosas were my "something familiar:" The samosas are generous and well made at Chaat. The skins aren't quite as thin and crispy as at Little Delhi, but the potato filling has more spices in it and the samosas come with a side of garbanzo beans. The samosas are nice and hot, which really matters (although these samosas still tasted pretty good as they cooled down). The garbanzo beans were good, and had a flavor remniscent of a good beef chili what with all the cumin and peppers.

Sauces were fine: the tamarind was not too sweet and had some complexity beyond sugariness. The mint chutney leaned toward cilantros in flavor and didn't pack too much heat. The samosas were spiced enough that I just used the tamarind for most of it. What really caught me off guard was the chutney. I didn't know what to expect, but the flavor was overwhelmingly that of a Chinese medicine shop. I did not like it at all. Does anyone know what it is? It's not any of the usual spices (cumin, fennel, anise, tarragon, coriander, paprika). It's something I don't know the name of, and a mouthful of it was incredibly hard for me to swallow.

Sharing is good here; there was no way I could finish both of these chaat, even though they were just appetizers.

Nice room, efficient service, good portions, reasonable prices, and not at all crowded between 11:30-12:30 on a weekday. Not a destination Indian food spot, but nice to have as an option if you work nearby.

Chaat Cafes Website