The Wild Rose

My mouth was still on fire from the previous night’s dinner (that I swear came straight from the devil himself), so when Britt said that we were going out to eat for lunch you can understand my hesitancy. Our driver dropped us off in a sea of traffic on the opposite side of where we needed to be, leaving us to dash our way across the street (stressful, to say the least). Inside, the alleyways of the market were less chaotic, but only slightly. Instead of cars, rick-shaws, motorcycles and bicycles, is was crowds of people and stray dogs that caused congestion.

“This is my favorite place to eat in Delhi,” Britt said as we approached a small stairway. “Welcome to Khan Cha Cha!”

Knowing that I would have no idea how to decipher the menu, Britt went ahead and ordered for the both of us. “What are we having?” I asked. “Lamb and chicken.” “What kind?” “You’ll see.” “Is it going to be spicy.” No answer was needed. Is the Pope catholic? Are we in India? Then yes, it’s going to be spicy.

By the time our order was up we had found a table to squeeze in to (it’s a very small and crowded space). The chicken came with a separate plate of dipping sauce and sliced onions, while the lamb was wrapped in a, for lack of a better word, tortilla kebab. I had my Thums Up (Indian version of Coke) ready to go as I took my first bite.

To my amazement, I was actually able to taste the variety of flavors on the chicken, mixed with the sauce and onions for about a solid 30 seconds before the burn took over my mouth. And even then, it wasn’t nearly as painful as last night’s dinner (which I’m pretty sure was soaked overnight in straight-up jalepeno juice, then served with jalepeno seeds from an entire bushel of the peppers).

Not being a huge fan of lamb, I only sampled the kebab, and it too was surprisingly good. With each bite I was enjoying the dish more and more, and by the end of it I was convinced that Khan Cha Cha  would be a place that we frequent over the next couple of months!