‘I want to give Dilliwalas a taste of authentic Bombay street food’: Nishit Dalal aka Bombay Boy in Delhi

Engineer-turned-cloud-kitchen chef Nishit Dalal.

A satellite engineer by profession, and a foodie and chef at heart. If there is an apt way to describe Mumbai boy Nishit Dalal, this would be it.

The 37-year-old, who moved bag and baggage to Delhi in 2019 for work, followed his passion for food by starting a cloud kitchen at home this year.

The home-chef goes by the moniker Bombay Boy in Delhi and serves authentic flavours straight from the streets of his hometown.

Dalal is hosting a food pop-up at Bombay Club at The Dhan Mill in Chhattarpur, Delhi, till September 29. Among the dishes on offer are Black Pav Bhaji (flavoured with coconut), Sev Puri, Dabeli and Tawa Pulao.

Excerpts from a conversation with him:

Have you always loved cooking?

You could say that! Food has always been a passion. When I was a kid, my dad would take me to the bhurji-pavwala in Santa Cruz late at night and I would sit on the bonnet of the car and enjoy the food. Ever since I can recall, I have not shied away from trying out something new. Growing up, Sundays were the one day in the week that I would take over the kitchen in the evenings and prepare meals for my family, with Mexican being my personal favourite. At the university in London where I went to study, I would cook for my friends and they used to tell me to quit engineering and take up cooking as a profession.

How did you decide to start a cloud kitchen in Delhi?

The original plan was to start something in the food space in Goa. I have been thinking of it for the past few years. Sometime early this year, I was talking to a friend and she suggested I try and give it a shot in Delhi itself. I started dwelling on the idea and realised that while the capital has great Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani, there is a dearth of authentic Bombay street food. I was missing those dishes from back home, so I came up with 4-5 dishes initially such as Misal Pav, Pav Bhaji and Falooda, and have now expanded the menu to around 10-15 dishes. The menu is divided into four sections, with chaats such as Sev Puri, Pani Puri; small plates such as Bombay Frankie Rolls, Vada Pav, Dabeli; main course including Pav Bhaji, Tawa Pulao, Kheema Pav, Soya Kheema, Misal Pav and Falooda for dessert. I want to give Dilliwalas a taste of authentic Bombay street food.

How do you prepare the masalas and spices? Do you source anything from Mumbai?

There are a few masalas I make in-house, such as the masalas for the Pav Bhaji and Misal Pav. The basic masalas are bought off the shelf in Delhi. I do source some ingredients from Mumbai to get the authentic flavours such as the masala for the Frankie rolls. I know a person who makes awesome chutneys for chaats in Mumbai and I get those from him as well.

I’m pretty excited about the coming few months when Delhi starts getting into festive mode with Diwali parties and Christmas parties. It’s one of the seasons where everyone looks forward to good food.