I love Sundeep and Bedabrata, the antithetical, distinctive duo behind DelhiFunDos.

I love Indian food. I have backpacked in India numerous times. In Kashmir, camping by the Jhelum river, eating vegetable biryani with dum aloo, surrounded by the Himalayas. Himachal Pradesh with its variety of tomato and chutney sandwiches and delicious apple juice. Punjab, with its Dhaba culture, eating naan with spinach, and the variety of dals and washing it down with a cold lassi. My senses were awakened by eating chole bhature, kachori, and chaat in Lucknow. A simple breakfast in Gujarat is made by dipping puri in mango pulp. The Jain vegetarian thali with chapati in Madhya Pradesh was exotic but the spices gave me different layers of flavors that kept on exploding in my mouth. In Delhi, having a naan with the most delicious masala omelet I have ever eaten. Finally the magnum opus, the piece de resistance Bombay. The vada pav washed down with fresh coconut juice on Chowpatty Beach changed my definition of bread and potato.

The variety of Indian food is amazing. Each state has its own food, language, and traditional clothes, and the colors mesmerized me. The next time you go to an Indian restaurant, choose a greasy spoon. Eat with your hand, order a sweet lime drink, and get one step closer to heaven.

I admire Bedabrata and Sundeep’s approach to food. There is no snobbishness. They are real, down to earth, authentic and sui generis. I have been following their IG profile for a long time and love theirs out of the box approach to food. DelhiFunDos is India’s top food blog. They have more than 65,000 followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook who admire their emblematic take on food. I am honored, humbled, and called even higher as they take time from their super busy schedule to answer questions about Indian food.

Sundeep and Bedabrata, thanks for joining me today. Please tell my audience a little about you? 

We are a traveler duo discovering life through travel, food, art, craft, and culture. One of us is a graphic designer and the other an IP lawyer and this is our Dr. Jekyll – Mr. Hyde’s story. When we are not running with design or legal briefs, we travel in and around Delhi and India and the world and share our fun experience on our platform DelhiFunDos. Over time, we have become one of India’s top food, travel and lifestyle website, Instagram, and other social media channels covering luxury to offbeat experiences. 

Talk to me about what is DelhiFunDos? 

In a single sentence, DelhiFunDos is a guide to a fun way of life. 

We took fun very seriously. Since we wanted to talk about fun things to do in life, we named our platform Delhi-Fun-Dos. Eventually, the name became our guiding principle. Therefore, we blog about only those activities that are fun. If an activity does not seem fun to us, we refrain.

Walk me through how did the idea come about? 

There is so much that happens in Delhi NCR in terms of food, culture, theatre, music, art, handicrafts, history, travel. The list is endless. We would soak ourselves in many of these activities in whatever breaks we could manage from our professional lives. Soon, we started getting requests for referrals from family, friends, and colleagues. It was time to spread the good word. To this end, we started a website recording our experiences and also listing events for the benefit of our followers. Gradually we expanded to other social media platforms where we circulate our experience as well as disseminate information about fun activities that any professional or, in fact, anyone may pursue.

Talk to me as to who is the audience of DelhiFunDos?

Our platforms cater to anybody who is looking to enjoy life no matter where in life they are positioned. Analytics show that our viewership starts from pre-teens to people in their 70s. Happy to say, we have reached out to followers from small towns to top cities of the USA and Europe. Many of our followers have said we inspire them. Yes, that’s the most humbling testimonial we have got.

What is your goal and what do you want to achieve with the DelhiFunDos?

In all humility, we are very satisfied in terms of our work in the mindboggling world of social media. It has been our sincere endeavor to take our followers along with us during our fun journey as bloggers and we believe we have succeeded. We look forward to more and more “Fun-Dos” in the future as well.

In the West, Indian food is synonymous with Butter Chicken. What is Indian Food? 

This is a deep question. Blogging has taken us places but every time we see a very different India where language, food, art, and culture change every few kilometers.  Hence it is difficult to have one size fit all definition of Indian food.  Vegetarian to non-vegetarian; proteins to fibers to carbs; bland to mouth-burning spicy – the sheer variety of Indian food is mind-boggling.  To hazard a generalization, we can say Indian food is all about the balance of color, flavor, taste, and texture.  Copious use of spices, fresh produce, and cereals in Indian food lead to a riot on the taste buds.

Let’s talk about Delhi. The food scene, the restaurants and why should we visit it?

It is said that Delhi is the food capital of India. New bars, restaurants, or cafes keep opening every other day.  In fact, many food hubs have been established in Delhi National Capital Region (“NCR”) over time. One would find agglomeration of pubs and clubs in Hauz Khas; designer restaurants in Connaught Place; fancy Indian or Indianised food restaurants in Rajouri Garden; international restaurant chains in Cyber Hub and Golf Course Road in Gurgaon. In addition to age-old Chinese restaurants, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Lebanese, Burmese, and other cuisines have already established a successful presence in Delhi NCR. It is, therefore, a still young food scene, evolving every day yet eclectic so as to hold everyone’s interest. From street food to fine dining there are options galore to suit the diner’s budget and mood. 

Among all the eating options, we would recommend Karims for Mughlai food, Shyam Sweets for vegetarian delicacies and sweets such as Nagori Halwa, and Moti Mahal that claims to be the inventor of Butter Chicken. These establishments are steeped in Delhi’s food history and we have not found a parallel elsewhere.

Talk to me about restaurants in Delhi away from the tourist haunts?

Delhi has many hidden dining secrets and we have a standalone blog about that. Off the cuff, we would recommend the canteens at the State Houses, especially Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra, and Banga Bhawan. The food here is reflective of the staple in each state. Also, Dilli Haat is popular as a crafts market. But the state-wise food stalls here give an alfresco dining experience where you can try delicacies from each state. You can taste multiple items and enjoy the sheer regional variety of Indian food. 

What do Delhiites have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? 

Delhiites are happy eaters. Traditionally, the meals are a balance of fiber, carbohydrate, and protein. Ghee or clarified butter is the preferred cooking medium.

A time-honored Delhi breakfast has to be the paratha. This is ghee or white oil-coated flatbread that can be made plain or with a stuffing of chopped or mashed vegetables like potato, cauliflower, radish, and so on. It is had with curd or pickle. 

The usual Delhi lunch would comprise a platitude of items. These would include bread such as roti, dal or lentil soup, vegetable dishes, curd, and salad. Some people would also consume rice.

Dinner would be similar to lunch. Vegetarians may have a paneer or cottage cheese dish while non-vegetarians may have chicken as a side. Barfi or gulab jamun is common as dessert. Kheer or rice pudding is a delicacy served on special occasions.

How is Delhi food different from the rest of the subcontinent and other influences? 

Does this question behoove an explanation as to what is Delhi food?  Delhi has been under the rule of many dynasties. It was the capital of the Mughal dynasty during later years and in 1911 it became the British capital of India. Along with the administration, each of these rulers brought their own culture and cuisine to Delhi. Further, given the political significance, people from all over the country came and settled in Delhi.  Post-independence, Delhi became a major Punjabi settlement. All the communities brought their unique food habits as well. Some such food practices got dissolved in the cultural melting pot of Delhi. What has emerged is a syncretic food story that is about bright colors and strong flavors. Be it the snack Gol Gappe or the breakfast dish Chole Bhature; the heat from fresh green chillis and chili powder, tart from tamarind, and the sharp flavor of powdered cumin clear the sinuses while the palette craves for more. To us, this is typically Delhi food – rich, colorful, flavourful and wholesome. 

Let’s talk about Roti. I always tell people roti means bread…but then there is chapati, fulka, naan, romali roti, poori please explain? 

You are correct to the extent that roti is flatbread. In its commonest form, roti is made with wheat flour and baked on a tawa or griddle. Roti can also be made of flour from other grains such as corn, chickpea, millet or a combination thereof. Chapati and fulka are other versions of roti. A fulka is roasted on a direct flame to the point that it gets inflated and it is ideally had fresh from the oven. 

A romali roti is a very thin variety of flatbread that is baked on a concave surface. The final look and texture are like a piece of textile and hence it gets the name romali, romal being a handkerchief.

Naan is another variety of bread that is traditionally baked inside a clay oven. It is made of white flour, extremely soft and smooth in texture and may be flavored with coriander leaves and carom seeds.

Poori is a version of bread that is deep-fried to the point that it is well cooked yet does not become crispy.

Water, beer, wine, and lassi with Indian food…do you recommend any other drink?

We would recommend Nimbu Paani or fresh lime; kokum juice; and buttermilk since this helps to swallow the food while aiding digestion. Indian milk tea or chai is also popular with parathas or after any meal.

I am impressed that you have more than 60k followers on IG. You are doing something right. What is different and unique about your approach as food bloggers? 

As DelhiFunDos, we wear many hats and our platforms are an extension of our lives. We have started some days by brunching at a 5-star hotel and ended the same day by watching rooftop theatre by a nondescript group behind Connaught Place – free entry, followed by bread-omelet from a kiosk in the adjacent lane. In fact, we have a blog-post about him. In other words, we cover the whole gamut from luxury to modest projects where the owners have no fund for promotion. If an activity is fun, DelhiFunDos is a game and that’s our USP. That keeps the fun times rolling and probably followers return to our channel.

I have some rapid-fire questions for you.

Fav dish – Chhole Bhature 

Fav book – Sidhhartha by Herman Hesse

Fav drink – Milk tea or Chai

Fav movie – Chashme Buddoor (the original film in 1981).

Fav actor – Rishi Kapoor

This is your last day on earth. What would be your last meal consist of? 

A rather scary question but we don’t have to think twice. It has to be home food and precisely, our favorite – Rajma Chawal. Rajma is kidney beans and its curry is had in combination with Chawal (rice).

You are chosen to go to Mars and only take 5 snacks what would it be? 

We would carry comfort food that would remind us of home. Homemade dry snacks are almost always part of our snack bag when we travel. Our favorite snacks would be – nimki, namak pare, matthi, mithi matthi and more mithi matthi! 

Nimki, namak pare and matthi are savories and mithi matthi is sugar dipped version of these snacks. All these items have a very long shelf life. The homemade version of these snacks is crispy, tasty, yet wholesome and never makes us fall sick. 

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