Bheru Ji Chat & Bhel Pakodi Centre

We’ve been running Bheru Ji Chat & Bhel Pakodi Centre for a good while now. Our spot is at Dholi Bavdi 353. It’s not a big place, just enough room for the big iron pans and a few people to stand around. Every afternoon, we start chopping onions and boiling potatoes. The smell of the hot oil fills up the street pretty quickly. It gets quite humid in the shop when the stove is on full blast, but that’s just part of the job. Most of our regulars come from the nearby houses when the sun starts going down. They want something spicy to take home or just a quick plate of bhel while they chat. We don’t have fancy chairs or anything like that. People just stand or sit on their scooters outside. Sometimes the crowd gets a bit much and we have to tell people to wait their turn. We try to keep the spices right, but every batch of chilies is different, so some days are hotter than others. The counter is always a bit sticky with tamarind chutney no matter how much we wipe it. It's a simple life here. We open up, feed the neighborhood, and then clean up the mess at the end of the night. It's mostly just about getting the crunch of the pakodis right. We don't worry about much else. Just the daily work and the same faces.