Now Open: Vaibhav Vishen’s Chaat Street Brings Its Popular Indian Street Food to Auckland
Words by Komal Nash · Updated on 27 Jun 2023 · Published on 06 Mar 2023
Wellington’s favourite Indian street food restaurant Chaat Street has opened a new outpost in Auckland.
The second site came about after countless customer requests for an Auckland location, co-owner and chef Vaibhav Vishen tells Broadsheet. “We were looking for a place that had a Wellington kind of vibe – that was intimate, youthful, and a space that had character.”
The spot they have found at the top end of Parnell Road fits that brief, he thinks. “Something in particular that we loved about the space was the large Norfolk pine right outside the hotel.”
The 65-seater restaurant used to house a café and is out the front of Parnell Pines Hotel. It has been updated with creative direction from Vishen’s wife Maanvi Chawla, who’s an architectural conservator and built heritage specialist for Wellington City Council.
Like the Wellington restaurant, Chaat Street Auckland has red and turquoise accents around the window and door frames. There are bright blue school chairs and a mix of smaller and communal tables both inside and out the front under that huge tree.
The expansion also brings Vishen one step closer to his overarching aspiration: changing New Zealanders’ perception of Indian food.
“Historically, people [in the Western world] perceive Indian food to be limited to curries and saucy foods,” he says, “when in fact what we currently perceive as Indian food was never Indian, it was reinvented for the Western palate.”
At Chaat Street, he says, the team wants to show people that Indian food can be “modern and youthful” while staying true to the cuisine.
Like its popular sibling in the capital, Chaat Street Auckland’s everchanging menu centres on Indian street food served tapas-style; “chaat” means “to lick” or “to taste”.
There are dishes from several different regions in India, such as variations of the Delhi staple chole bhature. This comprises leavened yoghurt bread made with overnight-fermented dough that’s deep-fried to puff up like a doughnut. Crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside, it’s accompanied by braised spiced chickpeas.
In wanting to create a tactile and interactive experience for his diners, Vishen has dubbed many of the dishes “CIY”, or “chaat it yourself”. Take the keema pav – akin to an Indian sloppy joe, says Vishen. Soft, buttery slider buns are served on the side of slow-braised lamb mince; you assemble it yourself, finishing off with fresh red onion and a squeeze of lemon.
The drinks list keeps it local with a selection of New Zealand wines and craft beers that have been chosen to complement the rich street food flavours. Chaat Street’s take on a classic Chilli Margarita peps up the usual tequila and lemon with Cointreau-soaked Kashmiri red chillies, and the cocktail list is set to expand after the initial opening period.
Anyone that’s dined at Chaat Street Wellington will know the nimbu pani is a crowd favourite. A popular drink sold on Indian street corners, it quenches the thirst with its lemonade-esque, sweet and salty flavour, finished with a touch of roasted cumin.
Chaat Street
320 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland
Hours
Tues to Thurs 5pm–9pm
Fri 12pm–9pm
Sat 12pm–10pm
Sun 12pm-8pm
