(report from Singapore) Indian Tapas

Name: Ghangothree Vegetarian Restaurant "House of Chaats and Shakes"
Style: Indian Street Hawker Food
Address: 5 Hindoo Road, Singapore (honest, that's how the street name is spelled)
Website: www.tasteourfood.com (sweet domain name, huh?)

Chaat seems to be basically be the Indian word for tapas, and the thing to do at Ghaangothree is to ignore all the Indian food you've ever heard of (yes, Naan and Curry are available and not bad, but that's not the point). Instead, key off of the restaurant's subtitle as the "House of Chaats & Shakes" and order lots of small plates (Chaats) and a generous amount of the various delicious drinks. The standout -- everyone should start with it -- is the house special Lime drink. Lime juice is a staple in Singapore for dealing with the hot climate, and Ghaangothree takes it up a notch by blending various spices and thickeners into it to make an amazingly cooling drink for the heat (which, in Singapore, is a constant -- it's 30C / 85F almost year-round). We also sampled one of their smoothies and their Mint Lassi at various points during the meal, which were all awesome (my friends starting joking about my "liquid diet").

But the heart of the meal is to, at your own leisurely pace, order various Chaats. Happily, like True Blue, I spent most of the meal eating foods I had never heard of before; unhappily, that means I don't remember the names of most of them. Pani Puri is the one I do remember unaided: Pani means 'water', and 'puri' (or 'poori' is it's usually spelled in Indian restaurants in America) is a puffy, deep-fried bread. For Pani Puri, the puri is tiny -- only 3-4cm across -- and has a whole in the top. You take a spoon and fill the puri first with a watery tamarind-flavored sauce, and finally with a little bit of spicy red sauce. It leaks a little, but don't worry, that's part of the point -- once it's filled, you pop the whole thing in your mouth and eat it in one bite! The liquid all sloshes around in your mouth, making a delectable taste mix. My friend Himanshu described the result as "an Indian Popper".

Another particularly good Chaat I think was called Samosa Chaat. Instead of the dumpling-like Samosa I know, this Chaat was a small, deep-friend pastry base with various ingredients heaped on top, almost like an Indian nacho in structure. Those went fast! We tried a lot of other Chaats (we had the advantage of a rolling 10-person group to keep various food flowing across the table), but the other category of food to try at Ghaangothree is Indian Chinese.

Over the years the Singaporeans have developed a few interesting mixes of Chinese and Indian foods, and the Ghaangothree it's represented as "Indian Chinese Side Dishes". These are curries, and since the restuarant is all vegetarian, your choices are to pick Manchurian, Chilli, or Sichuan; and "dry" or "gravy". The "dry" curries are pastelike and need a spoon or fork to spread them on your Naan; the gravy ones are more similar to North Indian curries. Either one is good but I recommend the Dry; it's yet another chance to try something different and uniquely Singaporean.

Last but not least, Ghaangothree is pretty easy on the wallet. Even a totally orgiastic bout of eating will only set you back S$20 or so. Take a walk back through Little India to work it off -- we went on a Sunday and so the area was packed with Indian workers on their day off.