Beloved hole in the wall: authentic Indian "street" food at Warsaw's Delhi 6

When a close friend began lobbying for a visit to a "street-food" Indian restaurant located pretty much in the same vicinity as the Ethiopian joint reviewed in the previous edition of The Corners, Yours Truly was hesitant.

Obviously, there are plenty of restaurants in Poland, plenty of cities, and yes, plenty of districts, neighborhoods, restaurants and food haunts to hit in Warsaw. There was also the fact that another hole-in-the-wall, this one in Gdansk, had already popped onto the radar of this esteemed and not always particularly discerning editor.

But really...

I mean... Erm...

Honestly...

Did I really want readers to believe I spend all of my time on a rather notorious strip of kiosks of JanaPawla II.

Yet my buddy continued to lobby-and I did begin to rationalize, noting that well, I do like Indian--although anything with the "street food" moniker tagged on at the outset is often enough to scare me away. But at least I would be on the other side of the street (with long-time Warsaw residents certain to know exactly what I'm getting at).

Thus, weak-willed victim of peer pressure that I am, I found myself in Delhi 6, a tiny alcove of an eatery that begins right at the beginning of the kiosks and small shops that line the NORTH side (emphasis on NORTH) of Jana Pawla II 41.

I've got to admit that the hole-in-the-wall atmosphere that old dogs such as myself want and love immediately hit me walking in the door.

The restaurant was cramped and crowded. It smelled of curry an turmeric and I was greeted by a grinning manager and a couple of wild-eyed cooks frying and stirring away behind him.

All right, thought I. This has potential.

My guide, Emmanuel, himself born and raised in India and also clearly an expert on all things both Indian and street was also unafraid of laying his bets on the line.

"If you want Indian street food, this is it," he said. "There are some very good Indian restaurants in Warsaw, but this is what we eat [in terms of "street food], and it is 100 percent authentic.

And here I've got to say that I was inclined to take him for his word. For his lovely wife had once prepared possibly the greatest Indian dinner of all time for both me and my family, which meant that if Emmanuel was impressed, likely I would be too.

So, purely trusting to instinct, I had him choose for both of us.

The result was an array of starters, vegetarian dishes and a meat dish, all of which impressed.

But first the obligatory background.

Delhi 6 is a relative newcomer to Warsaw, having opened only on Sept. 8, 2022. Co-managed by Girish Chandara, it is just tiny enough that you might miss it (look hard left if you are leaving the center and hitting the pavilions).

The ownership, based in Dubai, previously opened Indian Summers in Warsaw’s Bemowo District (and no, Your Truly, has not made it there yet), but Chandara made a point to add that Delhi 6 is based on a “street food culture” that matches the fare right down to the specific ingredients on offer back home.

“It’s totally the same,” he said. Then added: “Totally the same.”

Which, while concise, is quite convincing.

Now for the dishes served.

We began with starters, gol gappe and dahi puri and masala chai tea. Regarding the latter, I’ve typically drunk masala cai/sweet tea with milk and cardamom after a meal, but perhaps the nature of street fare is to eat at speed. At any rate, Yours Truly is a bit of a masala chai snob, demanding just the right mix of milk, sugar, cardamom and whatever else it is that is thrown in to make something akin to a warm, ,sweet, but not too sweet desert.

Delhi 6 nailed it.

Now back to the starters. The connoisseurs out there may also know these as panipuri . These are essentially crispy balls of fried batter, made from semolina flour, which contain potatoes, chickpeas and onions.

Dahi puri is also filled with yogurt and various spices, but the trick to gol gappe is to fill the treats through the hole on top with a mixture of sweet and sour flavoured water that comes on the side.

For the uninitiated, these may come as a surprise, as they are both served cold. Westerners (especially those from the southern US) are wont to expect anything fried to be served hot to the point of sizzling, but after a quick brain reset, I greatly appreciated both and found the gol gappe addicting.

Likewise, I can only recommend the chili chicken roll sheikh—and Indian-style chicken roll filled also with eggs, vegetables and what I would describe as Chinese-influenced sauce and spices. The corresponding butter chicken roll consisted of shredded chicken with a “home sauce,” special spices, eggs and veggies.

I must admit I didn’t quite catch the ingredients. Apparently, these are a bit of a secret. Yet they are onto something here, and in the appetizer department Delhi 6 is a win.

It was then time for the house speciality, lapjapat magar chole bhature. This was advertised as the best-known street food from North India, and I would describe this as a masala chick pea dish served with a deep-fried bread that at first resembled a puffed-up tortilla chip. Yet the texture is absolutely the opposite—soft to the point of being delicate, it was airy and light and served the purpose of nan.

This dish was phenomenal. We chose medium spicy, which was perfect when it came to allowing the flavour too veritably bloom. For such a simple dish, this was surprisingly complex, and I was tempted to ask for a second helping. Yet another dish awaited, the gabbar tawa mutton with paratha (these guys like extended names), which was essentially a minced mutton curry with a kind of golden saffron nan.

This came spicy, a bit greasy, was exceptionally tasty and quite filling.

I found it remarkable.

In fact, I have to admit that my first experience with Indian street food was an unexpected winner. The dishes were just enough street to make me think...erm... street (which I like), but also sophisticated and original when compared to the typical Indian found in Poland. Plus, it just has that atmosphere that you want in Jana Pawla II pavilion-land--kind of the cool, retro barber-shop draw where you could see yourself hanging and drinking tea all day. Or into the evening. Or any time in between.

Here it should be said that there seemed to be a double draw of both Indian nationals and young Poles, which likely means Delhi 6 is a bit of a hit.

True, the health conscious might want to go more veggie--I'm at an age when fried plus fried plus a bit greasy is not going to be a staple of my diet--but Delhi 6 is going to draw on me any time I'm in the area. In fact, knowing me and how much I liked the main courses, I'd be tempted to eat there every single day.

The Corners hole-in-the-wall ratings?
* Four of five for food (only because much of it is fried--and hey, I can't eat so much fried food).
* Five of five for hospitality.
* Five of five for food. Ok, I had to go back and score this a five, as I loved the main courses.
* Six of five for the ambience and hole-in-the wall feel.
* And five of five for real Indian street (or as far as I know anyway.)

FINAL VERDICT: Yep. I really dug it.

Photo by Sara Smith.