Delhi’s Auto-Rickshaw Drivers Know Where to Get the Best Street Food

In the dust of a Delhi morning, lines of auto-rickshaws can be found parked up at the city's many street food stalls. Their drivers rent out the three-wheeled vehicles from anywhere between 250 to 400 Rupees per day, transporting tourists and locals for hours, often for minimal profit.

In a job like this, cheap food that can be eaten in a hurry becomes a necessity.

"Everyone lives for the taste," says driver Govind Yadhav, standing in his favourite roadside eatery Rajinder Dhaba. "Everyone lives for their stomachs, whether they are rich or poor."

Street food joints like Rajinger's function as a source of vital daily sustenance for many of Delhi's auto-rickshaw drivers. Given that there are over 200,000 of them in the city, combined with the fact that their trade is based in and around the streets, the drivers also provide valuable custom for the vendors themselves.

At the front of Rajinder's, drivers eat on top of parked scooters and a boisterous group stands at one of the long tables, tearing into grilled mutton chops and galouti kebabs. It's a similar scene at the other stalls nearby, where drivers devour chhole: chickpeas fried in a masala of ginger, turmeric, cumin, and red chili and served with a white bread known as kulcha. Each dish costs 20 Rupees (20p) and could easily keep you full for the rest of the day.

I ask one diner why he comes to this particular stall to eat.

"Why not?" he replies. "Why would I go to one of the more expensive food stalls and get less food?"

Not every driver is a fan of street food, though. Safdar Uddhin tells me that he never eats the stuff.

"They [street food traders] all risk spreading disease. It will go into your stomach and create havoc," he says. "All these guys [other drivers] are obsessed with chai, bread pakoras, and paan. They have serious problems."

Despite Uddhin's protests, I accept Yahdav's invitation for lunch at The Pantry, where hundreds of auto-rickshaw drivers eat everyday. Driving along KG Marg, one of the main roads in central Delhi, we find around 30 auto-rickshaws tucked away on the side of the road.

Behind them, a cluster of people queue in front of a man sitting on the ground, dishing out food from three colourful buckets. He loads each plate with mountains of rice, deep-fried potato pakora, and daal.

Aditya the cook tells me that it takes six hours and six different kinds of lentil to make the daal.

"It keeps these 500 guys coming daily and has not failed me for 14 years," he says proudly.

At 40 Rupees for a refillable plate of daal and rice, who could stay away?