Our top hotels and restaurants have been giving their own delish twist to street food and now it’s the turn of the icy chuski. Shrabasti Mallik finds out how chefs and bartenders are infusing the gola with both alcohol and other sober flavours
If you grew up in the 90s, you must have been familiar with the advertisement where a bunch of kids flock a chushkiwala’s cart telling him of the flavour of their choice while a little boy stood at a corner watching. And when everyone was done, he enthusiastically says “kala khatta.” Chuski or gola, whatever you may call it has always been a respite in summers and we relish it with utmost satisfaction every time.
The delicacy is synonymous as a roadside fare but do not be surprised if you happen to find a watermelon chuski or a pinacolada, rum, malibu and pineapple chuski in the appetisers menu (instead of the hot sizzlers) of some of Delhi’s top restaurants.
After picking up street foods like bhel puri and pao bhaji, hotels and restaurants are now experimenting with this icy wonder. From experimenting with flavours and colours to playing with different liquor, chefs and bartenders are letting their creativity flow through the ice.
We come to know from Rajesh Khanna, F&B head, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa that many years ago chuski was part of the beverages menu. “Back in the day, chuskis were served as frappes and frozen cocktails. But later the liquor used to make the cocktails became expensive. And since such pricey alcohol was rarely available in the market, chuski became a luxury and moved away form the menu. It gradually found favour in the streets where it was made with non-alcoholic flavours,” he shared.
It was when he was charting out summer flavours that he decided to fuse some local flavours with gin and vodka that he chanced upon the idea of incorporating the concept with chuski. He suggests that many combinations and cocktails can be created keeping in mind the shaved ice. He added, “We at Chutney, Bar+Tandoor have created new cocktail as sharabi gola in our menu. It is made by mixing gin, sweet vermouth (fortified wine) and orange juice and we have added a quirky element by serving it in glasses with straws,” added the chef.
While Metropolitan is still working on its other chuski options, The lounge at Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon is all ready to beat the heat with a wide range of chuski options — alcoholic and non alcoholic. And a few of them are quite interesting, too. Their alcohol-based chuskis range from Baileys ki chuski (vodka, baileys and kahlua) to Kala khatta (rum, kala khatta, rock salt and lemon) while their non alcoholic menu boasts of the very uncommon Irish coffee (coffee and brown sugar) and Mint (fresh mint, lemon and sugar). While the Irish coffee chuski is a new concept developed by the chef, the Mint might taste like your everyday virgin mojito.
Kempinsky Ambience Hotel, on the other hand, has come up with a limited range of refreshing chuski flavours like strawberry, rose, kala khatta and watermelon. Chef Rohit Tokhi told us that he came up with the idea of incorporating the chuski because Dilli 32, the hotel’s restaurant, boasts of Indian cuisine. “There is nothing more Indian than the gola,” said chef Tokhi adding that he chose to keep a fruity flavour for a reason. “Chuski or a gola offers a wide scope for experimenting with a lot of flavours and colours. But we have kept it simple because in this heat, people like to stick to their comfort flavours,” he explained.
This is the first time that hoteliers and restaurateurs are banking on the concept and they have had a huge response. Chef Khanna pointed out that the elderly and parents show more interest in these icy delights than kids. “Kids love chuskis and that is a given. But it is encouraging and interesting when grownups pour over chuski glasses and relish them. Sometimes they even customise their orders like adding more lemon juice or more masala,” he shared.
We spoke to Simran Sabherwal, mother of three kids and she told us that the reason she allows her kids to slurp on the chuskis available in the hotels is because they are hygienic and safe. “In summers, the maximum contamination is in the water and when kids have golas made from that water, they run the chance of falling sick. Hotels maintain a standard of hygiene and that is a satisfaction,” she said.
Not just top hotels but there are a few restaurants in the city who are offering mouthwatering chuskis, too. For example in Raasta, Hauz Khas Village, you will not only get a chuski of your chosen flavour but you can see it being made in the ice churning machine. Joy Singh, co-partner, Raasta believes that presentation is the name of the game this time. He calls them, “a fond memory in a new avatar.” Singh has named the new range ChuskiTails and offers seven flavours, kala khatta being one of the obvious. But even that comes with a twist. “It comes with a dash of vodka and black currant crush. The Caribbean chuski is selling the best. It is prepared with dill and rosemary leaves and has concoction of white rum and grenadine syrup,” he shared.
The hand and brains behind these hygienic slushies are the chefs but Singh pointed out that the bartenders are to be equally credited for the creations. “More than the chefs, it is the bartenders who make this happen. It’s like antithetical cocktail just served in a different way,” he concluded.