Vik's Chaat House

Carrie & David, my wonderful Berkeley hosts, took me here for lunch. It was the best meal I had while out on the West Coast. Vik’s Chaat House offers a wide range of made-to-order Indian snack foods. It’s located inside of a West Berkeley warehouse. One side of the warehouse is an Indian grocery, the other is Vik’s.

The whole setup has a soup nazi-esque feel to it. You go up to the register, place your order (in my case, samosas with a spicy pea curry sauce, vegetable patties with a tomato and onion salsa and a mint raita and a mango kulfi) and then stand around waiting for the head name caller to call out your name on a booming PA system. When they call your name, you go up to collect your tasty Indian tidbits (one cup per person, $.10 for extras) and then go and sit down at one of the cafeteria-style tables scattered across the concrete floor.

When I sat down with my samosas and vegetable patties, I was ravenous. The samosas were perfect, golden and crispy, with a spicy potato filling that made my eyes water after the first few bites. I couldn’t quite figure out what was in the vegetable patties, but they were equally tasty. The mango kulfi, an unchurned mango ice cream, was a perfect finish. The food was delicious and honest. The folks at Vik’s were making food that they would eat themselves. And food that they probably couldn’t find in Berkeley before they opened their shop. The topper? The whole lunch, for three people, was around $20.

More catch up to come…