Today we were in Surrey to check out the newer Indian street food cafe named “Puchkaman”. Their mascot, a superhero with cape dawning this name. Naturally, they specialize in Puchka. This is a popular South Asian street snack designed to be popped into your mouth and eaten in one bite.
It is a hollow, crispy, fried dough ball that is traditionally stuffed with a spicy mixture of mashed potatoes, chickpeas, and spices, and then filled to the brim with tangy tamarind water. However, here they do it different here. Not just the Indian classics like the above, but fusion puchkas with more Western influenced ingredients as well, and they even have ones that they make sweet with dessert fillings.
We went for the Mushroom Corn cheese Puchkas, which is like a self-contained chip and dip. Each ball filled to the max, giving you a mouthful of cream when you bite in. I would have liked a thicker ball shell to help balance out all the heavy spread. As is this was too bold with hot spice and salty seasoning. It had me looking for more than water to quench.bThankfully we ordered some masala chai with our meal.
For dessert we also tried their Chocolate Puchkas. Same thin shell, but this time filled with milk chocolate chips, whipped cream and topped with rainbow sprinkles. Once again my issue is was with how thin the shell was. It needed to be thicker to carry all this sugar, like cake dough or a pancake vessel. As is this felt like I was just eating a mouth of cream. Fun on the first round, but overwhelming and overplayed the ones after.
Overall the menu is hard to navigate if you are not familiar with the cuisine or language. There is no telling what has meat it in and what doesn’t. It describes the flavours of items using adjectives like “zing”, “hearty”, and “creamy”. However taste can be subjective so you can’t be sure of what you are getting with these. There is no mention of ingredients or filling. So you have to know, or to ask the staff. We were forced to do the latter, relying on the owner’s recommendations to steer us towards our ideal meal.
However, the result was 4 out of the 8 dishes we tried being too similar. They were all made with the same spicy tandoori mayo. It was the featured and finishing ingredient in our savoury Puchkas, their dumplings, the rice bowl, and the wrap. This meant that these four things tasted the same, despite us wanting to try a good variety of their offerings. We were only able to muster a bite of each before feeling like our palates were too spent to have or enjoy more. Sadly, this is one of the things I often encounter at Indian restaurants, and often find myself sticking to what I know to avoid the monotony of one single or similar flavours.
We originally wanted some steamed momo (Indian style dumplings), but were convinced to order the Kurkure Momos instead. These were 8 chicken filled dumplings steamed first, then battered and fried, and lastly served with a generous drizzle of the above mentioned tandoori mayo. I did like the texture of these. Each had a good crunch, and retained their texture even well after they cooled. I would have liked some acid to help cut into these, like vinegar, as they do with Chinese style dumplings. Instead, the spiced mayo only made things heavier. I had two and could not see myself taking on more after it.
The only rice dish is the Tandoori mint bowl with your choice of chicken or vegetable. You can barely see anything past the orange of the tandoori mayo that seemed like overkill. When we mixed up we unearthed yellow rice, green peppers, and purple onion alongside our choice of tandoori chicken. The mint in the name comes from the green chutney that is also in the mix. The bitterness of the vegetable helped to balance out some of the over abundant sauce. Sadly this made the dish too salty to finish. This would need to be cut with plain rice to make palatable.
The same over saucing was seen in their Chicken Kathi Roll. This was like a wrap, but filled with chicken, onion, and peppers rolled tight. It was drowning in sauce that got squeezed out of both ends after I took my first bite. Another one that I could not bear to finish because it was exhausting. I did like the texture of the roll as is.
Just as saucy, but thankfully in a more refreshing way was the Papri Chaats. These are basically Indian nachos with lots going on in terms of both texture and taste. Crunchy bits of thick fried dough at the bottom, topped with a carpet of minty cooling and tamarind tangy chutney; plus yogurt, tomatoes, chickpea, pomegranate, and potato. This was a lot of food for one and definitely meant to be shared.
I would have liked the chips on the side to stay crispy and act as a scoop for the topping that would be better served as a dip. Some fresh vegetable like cucumber and more tomato would have been additionally helpful. I thought eating this like a salad with the crunchy bits in the place of croutons would have also been more enjoyable.
I love a good grilled cheese so ordered their version of Grilled Cheese Vada Pav. This is basically a potato patty served in a slider bun, with the addition of cheese. There was more than just potato in the patty, it also included a nice mix of vegetable to add more health and substance. But there was not enough cheese to have this be called a “grilled cheese”. I did like this as one of the more neutral bites and helpful in giving my palate a break, even with the tamarind dust atop the bun.
In short, I was overwhelmed by all the one toned flavour. The Chai was necessary, but could only do so much to alleviate. I would recommend ordering a dish or two and sharing it. For those looking for a late night snack, they do close at 2am and even offer car service, where your order will be brought out to you. Although, I am not familiar with the area, but this doesn’t seem like a party zone or a destination in need of such a service.
Street Food Cafe – Puchkaman
9253 120 St, Delta, BC V4C 6R8
(778) 794-0222
puchkaman.com
