Snack trail.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

So risky to declare that a phala-phala establishment makes the city’s best samosa. Cautious gourmands hedge their bets with qualifiers—“arguably,” “among the best,” “one of the finest.” After all, any such bold claim is bound to provoke outrage, perhaps even the triumphant presentation of a genuinely superior samosa from someone’s own hyperlocal mohalla. A survey of the city’s thousands of samosa outlets is anyway impossible.

Whatever, after months spent sampling samosas across Delhi—at long-time eateries, roadside stalls, cinemas and restaurants—it can be nervously asserted that the city’s finest samosa is to be found at KD’s Kadimi Dukan in south Delhi’s congested Bhogal market. The immediate question is: which samosa? The 100-year-old shop offers samosas with a range of fillings—gobhi, mixed vegetable, dal, paneer, matar… there’s also something called the Chinese samosa! But since the aloo samosa is “arguably” taken as standard in our part of the world, the potato filling of the samosa at Bhogal is indeed robust, seasoned with a precise and moderate balance of masalas that enhance the flavour rather than overwhelm. Encasing the aloo filling is a deep-fried maida shell that is thin, evenly blistered, embedded with a hint of ajwain, shatteringly crisp, yet tensile, bearing none of the greasiness that mars lesser specimens. The samosa here also travels well, tasty even when no longer hot. Lastly, a good samosa ought to be affordable, and the one at Bhogal costs 20 rupees.

That said, this on-the-ground reportage is not an exercise in belittling other samosa establishments. The variety produced at Kailashji Samose Wale in Kotla Mubarakpur is infused with the aroma of whole dhaniya seeds, and has an addictively tasty shell. The samosa at Delite Cinema in Daryaganj is delicious, though outsized—closer to a meal than a snack. The samosa at Embassy restaurant in Connaught Place too is huge. At the opposite extreme are the tiny and tasty “cocktail” samosas sold by vendors on KG Marg. There are of course many more good samosa places across the megapolis, but here’s a little crib about the chosen samosa at Bhogal. A conservative is likely to insist that a classic aloo samosa must contain only potato. By that reasoning, the aloo samosa at Bhogal isn’t wholly satisfactory, for its filling does contain a smattering of peas, and an occasional kishmish or two. Nevertheless, “our samosa is a virasat of our elders,” says one of the Jain brothers who administers the establishment. The shop bears garlanded portraits of his grandfather and father.

The shop founder, Lala Sultan Singh Jain, began his career working in a Paharganj sweet shop before opening the Bhogal establishment in 1925. Today, cooks—Satbeer, Ompal and Ram Prasad—oversee the preparation of all the sweet and salted items. Everyday, the samosas are deep-fried on the street-facing karahi from 8am to 9pm. This afternoon, a fresh batch of aloo samosas are reaching their golden peak in the bubbling oil, the cook’s ladle about to deliver them into the hungry world.