First 5 letters of cholesterol = love!

Apart from cricket Delhiite Virat Kohlirsquos strongest contribution towards an Indian public passion is to the chole bhature industryI realise this driving to one lsquoCivil Line Wale Chole Bhaturersquo CLWCB outlet in Gurugram that Viratrsquos spoken about in an interview Only to figure that there are already three tiny tin shops CLWCB with the same fontcolour signage at that spot in HaryanaWhich is different from eateries with the same name Irsquove noticed lately that stand right next to each othermdashtwo Mughal Darbars in Srinagar Chotiwalas in Rishikesh Ramashrayas in Matunga MumbaihellipBecause presumably siblings split up the business Neither had the balls to go their separate waysaddresses attempting to cash in on the locational history stillmdashleaving customers perennially confused over which is the real oneCivil Line Wale Chole Bhature that Virat patronises in GurugramOn my way I call up the Gurugram CLWCB since Google map suggests the eatery shuts by 930 pm and wersquore already late on the weekend night Irsquom told by the fellow on the phone that the proper CLWCB which is his and that Virat loves gets done for the day at 530 pm The one Irsquom headed to is fake anywayThe supposedly fake CLWCB owner pulls us aside to whisper that his is the Virat one The shop thatrsquos shut belongs to a ldquoMohammedanrdquo As if the chole bhature must also bear a religion in new IndiaJaspal Singh Khalsa owner of the chole bhature shop Delhi Se in Chembur Mumbai experienced another level of Viratrsquos influence on his lifeindustry on October 5 2022 Over a fortnight before that hersquod been getting calls for two plates of chole bhature priced Rs 240 each to deliver to Juhu The travel would cost him moreAfter a bank transfer Jaspal delivered on the assigned timedate The package was for Virat Soon after the meal his wife actor Anushka Sharma heaped praises on this OG Delhi chole bhature on InstagramJaspal tells me ldquoWithin halfan hour of the post there was a maddening crowd outside my shop The nonstop queues persisted for three months between 830 am and 1030 pm I had no clue whorsquos eating what paying where whenhellip We were just busy making chole bhaturerdquoHaving experienced no footfall at Delhi Se once Jaspal opened it in August 2021 he was ready to close it down by September 2022Until standup comedian Abhishek Upmanyu another Delhiite guessing of Bihari origin accidently discovered Jaspalrsquos chole bhature and talked it up on Instagram Which is where Anushka picked up the recco for husband ViratLike Virushka is chole bhature a Punjabi dish Decidedly Though if the chole is Amritsari that means itrsquos the more homemade variety with thinner lightbrown gravy commonly served with a wholly ballooned up bhaturebread at restaurants that donrsquot specialise in chole bhatureThe more purist OG Delhi chole bhature as I see it is the golden deepfried pillowy bhaturebread ideally with light paneer stuffingsA fat potato is often placed in the thick black lsquopindirsquo chole with origins in presentday Pakistan Itrsquos served with onions chilli and gajar achaar Crispy Amritsari kulche go well with this pindi chole tooUnlike the Delhi kulcha thatrsquos fluffy and baolikeWhich explains why of all the antigym joints in all the towns of the world the superfit Virushka had to virtually walk into Delhi Se in Chembur Mumbai Thousands followedWhile social media influencers playing up anything for openly paid partnerships is an advertising scammdashfollowers donrsquot equal fansmdashmost can smell something authenticSuch as Viratrsquos love for chole bhature although he probably knows as much about food as chef Sanjeev Kapoor can tell square cuts in cricketBeyond all else there is some sorta sorcery for a secret sauce in a Delhi chole bhature that no two places ever serve exactly the same stuffUnlike the masala dosa from a regular Udipi restaurant that seems to emanate from a common citywide kitchenchef And therefore everyone in Delhi has their favourite chole bhature joint often depending on where theyrsquore from of courseIt was Chacharsquos cbhats chole bhature along with hot sams samosas gjams gulab jamuns at KNags Kamla Nagar for me while living on the collegecampus close byMany swear by the upscale restaurant Kwalityrsquos chole bhature in Connaught Place CP As per legend Kwalityrsquos introduced chole bhature to Delhi in 1947 Irsquom unsureBhogalrsquos chole bhature in CP draws the cityrsquos longest lines and claims to have been around for 85 years I rushed to Nagpalrsquos chole bhaturemdashsoon as it opened on a roadside in Khar MumbaiSensing the attraction Nagpalrsquos has come up nextdoor to Delhi Se in Chembur too As it has among the multiple CLWCB outlets in Gurugram after Virat spoke about it The original Nagpalrsquos in Delhirsquos Lajpat Nagar has strictly announced that it has no branches elsewhereTheyrsquore all fake As was the CLWCB that I ate at in Gurugram Crap Which makes me wanna head over to Ramrsquos chole bhature in Delhirsquos Rajouri Gardens Thatrsquos the one Viratrsquos been raving about for longerIrsquom certain several Rams have sprung up there since and a Nagpalrsquos in between too The next time Virat recommends a chole bhature place I intend to invest Just so it can turn into a legit chainMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper