Chaats and Wraps, Viman Nagar, Pune

Restaurant Name: Chaats And Wraps, Viman Nagar, Pune
Phone: +917219222727, +917798288998
Address: Row house no. 2, Clover Corner, CCD Chowk, Konark Nagar, Clover Park, Viman Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014 India
Time: 10:30 AM – 11:00 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 600
Cuisines: North Indian, Street Food, Fast Food, Beverages, Desserts
Facilities: Breakfast, Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Free Parking, Indoor Seating, Desserts and Bakes, Outdoor Seating

Believed to have originated in North India, today chaat is popular across the country. Each region has its own versions and adaptation of the various popular chaat dishes. The holy town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is known for its unique chaat dishes available in misthaan and chaat bhandars and hand carts in the city. In Pune,it is rare to find Banarasiya chaat. Located in Viman Nagar, Chaats and Wraps was conceptualized and started by friends turned business partners Shashank Agrawal and Rahil Roy, who are originally from Varanasi. They offer a range of chaat dishes from Varanasi along with a range of other snacks and north Indian dishes.

Chaats and Wraps, Viman Nagar, Pune: Decor

Chaats & Wraps is housed in a row house at the Clover corner on West Avenue in Viman Nagar. This road is dotted with numerous fast-food restaurants, street food carts and has a ‘khau-galli’ feel particularly in the evenings. The outdoor space is well decorated with lots of planters and hanging lights. During the day, large gazebo umbrellas provide shade to the whole section. Seating is a mix of metal chairs and wooden picnic benches with wooden tables. Comfortable and practical. The vibe is relaxed and informal and the music elevates the ambience.

Food:

As the name suggests,I was expecting Chaats and Wraps to be a crowd pleasing, run-off-the-mill chaat and snacks restaurant. But after a bit of snooping around their social media posts, I realized that they offer Banarasi chaat which is a rarity outside of Banaras. Some team members in the kitchen have been brought in from Varanasi and so are the special spices used in the recipes. After a quick chat with owner Shashank,we decided to try their range of chaat dishes. The most striking and unique part was the absence of raw onion and tomato as toppings on the dishes. We started with the incredible pani puri. Ten khasta puris filled with a mashed potato and white peas mixture and served with tangy and spicy green water. While I like my pani puri with a dash of the sweet tamarind chutney, I absolutely did not miss it. We tried the tamatar chaat next, which was probably the most unique dish we tried. A thick curry of sorts made from tomatoes,peas and potatoes and topped with ghee, sugar everything chaat should be a perfect blend of sweet,spicy and tangy. As they do traditionally, it was served in a kullad. In Varanasi, the best place to try this is the Kashi chaat bhandar. But this one is definitely the next best option. The dahi papdi chaat was impressive. Again a great balance of flavours and toppings. The aloo tikki chaat was great,but I would have liked the tikkis to be a bit more crisp. The chana kachori chaat was probably the only dish which had a topping of raw onions. It was rightly spicy and quite tasty. We accompanied our chaats with the refreshing Banarasi thandai and kesar lassi. We went slightly overboard with our chaat order, but enjoyed every bit of it. With hardly any space for mains,we simply got butter chicken with garlic naan and a portion of their signature chur chur naan. The butter chicken was creamy,mildly smokey and perfectly sweet owing to the addition of honey. It paired well with garlic naan. We couldn’t leave without a plateful of crispy and delicious jalebis fried in desi ghee and served with a katori of kesar rabdi.

Chaats and Wraps, Viman Nagar, Pune: Plus & Minus

The Banarasi chaats, north Indian mains and the sweets were impressive. In fact, everything we tried was absolutely topnotch. Genuine, unadulterated and balanced flavours and delicious taste. The menu is quite elaborate and we missed out on some other dishes which looked promising. Definitely, reason enough to make that hour-long journey from Kothrud to Viman Nagar. I will be going back soon for their Subah-E-Banaras, a special breakfast menu available exclusively on weekends.