Chaat Room

by Elisa Ludwig

I’d been looking for a good chaat place for some time when a very nice New Jersey resident clued me in to Rajbhog. This Cherry Hill outpost of a Flushing-based chain offers a dazzling array of spicy, salty vegetarian Indian snacks, ready within minutes. Best of all, you can finance a meal for four with your penny jar, and probably have something left for lunch.

According to the company literature, Rajbhog began as a small sweets shop in Jackson Heights, Queens, and has since grown into a manufacturing business that supplies a national roster of Indian grocery stores as well as a mini-empire of Rajbhog outlets. The Cherry Hill store is a perfect example of the new globalized suburban mall, its storefront book-ended between an Indian clothing store and a Pho cafe.

As might be expected, it’s a bare-bones place, its walls, counters and coolers crammed with foodstuffs, with tables squeezed in for on-site eating. It seems, though, that its takeout business is Rajbhog’s raison d’etre.

On a first visit, the options are overwhelming. The display of pakoras, samosas and all other combinations of potatoes, chickpeas, lentils and ghee imaginable lies beneath a full counter of vegetable and gravy concoctions. There are several kinds of dosa, southern-style pancakes. I sampled one that was the size of my arm, filled with spicy garlic chutney and crisp around the edges.

Rajbhog offers several different versions of chaat, a sort of convenient combination of all the major food groups served up in a little cardboard French fry tray. The paapdi chaat came recommended, and its description -- "a special blend of chips, sprouts, spices and chutney" -- does not begin to describe the taste and texture sensation of crunchy wafers, cool yogurt and just-blanched okra heightened by cumin, coriander, chili powder and a shot of tamarind sauce.

Since Rajbhog is known for its sweets -- it advertises itself as the number-one provider of Indian sweets in the U.S., offering 75 varieties -- we had to try some. Most involve some form of milk, rosewater or sugar syrup, though there are also ice creams like cashew-raisin and saffron-pistachio for sampling. We went straight for the gulab jamun. The fried dough balls in honey were perfectly moist, a far cry from the oversaturated globs you find in most buffets.

I left feeling defeated (we barely made a dent in the menu, missing the dozens of snack mixes, the Bombay specials, halwas and foil-embedded cakes), sniffly (chili pepper bite) and sluggish (all that dough). I can’t wait to go back.

Rajbhog

1900 Greentree Rd., Springdale Plaza, Cherry Hill, N.J., 856-751-0257

Hours: 11 a.m.- 9 p.m.

Appetizers, $.50-$1.50; Chaats, $3.50; Entrees, $3.50-$5.99

Wheelchair accessible. MasterCard, Visa accepted. No smoking.

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