Chole Bhature and Lassi, Delhi

As a Delhi-wala, I've had chole bhature many times. And you just cannot have chole bhature without two things: onion (with green chutney on top) and a sweet lassi.

Although my appetite for chole bhature has gone down over the years, I still can't have it without a lassi. They complement each other in a way that's hard to explain until you've tried it. The richness of the chole, the puff of the bhature, and then the cold lassi to cut through all of it.

More often than not, the chole bhature shop you walk into will have a lassi counter as well. They go together everywhere.

A plate of chole bhature with chutney and onion, served alongside a kulhad of Rooh Afza lassi at a Delhi street stall

The Lassi Here

The lassi in Delhi is very similar to what you get in Amritsar and Jaipur. Curd goes into a churner, comes out smooth and frothy, and is served topped with malai.

The one thing that sets Delhi apart is the Rooh Afza.

Most lassi shops in Delhi top their lassi with a splash of Rooh Afza syrup before serving. It turns the lassi a pale pink and adds a floral, slightly rose-like sweetness on top of the curd.

Chole bhature from Radhe Shyam near New Delhi Railway Station, with their kulhad of lassi alongside

What Is Rooh Afza

Rooh Afza is a sweet, deep red syrup with a distinct taste of rose. You can mix it into milk, use it as a sherbet with water, or, as here, pour it over cold lassi. It's considered a herbal summer drink, said to have a cooling effect on the body.

It was founded by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Old Delhi, specifically to help people deal with the loo: the hot summer wind that blows across North India and causes heatstrokes if you're exposed to it long enough. Delhi summers are brutal, and the loo makes them worse.

The ingredients in Rooh Afza include rose, sandalwood, and several others that fall under the Indian concept of taasir. Taasir is a word used commonly in Indian kitchens. It means the innate temperature of a food item, as in whether it heats or cools the body internally. Mint has a cooling taasir. Ginger has a warming one. Rose and sandalwood are considered cooling, which is why they went into a summer drink.

The Best Chole Bhature in Delhi

Since we're here: in my opinion, the best chole bhature in Delhi is at Radhe Shyam Chole Bhature, right opposite New Delhi Railway Station on the Paharganj side. The lassi isn't the best I've had, but it's good. Everything else there is exceptional: the achaar, the chutney on the chole, and the chole themselves.

I'll cover Delhi's chole bhature trail properly in a separate article.

Part of the Iconic Lassi Stops of India series.