We have a Chaiiwala, it's at the top of the big hill by my house which prevents me from being a regular, but I have the app and I'm willing to make trips. On the way back from Saltaire (pretty, near Bradford) we stopped at a fairly ordinary Roadchef services that's apparently at Sandbach.
It's always a disappointment to stop somewhere that doesn't have our favourite foods, or a farm shop. So - imagine my glee when I see this little shed tacked on the outside. So new that it's not on the google map, or the Chaiiwala app (no points!!) because it literally opened yesterday. It's the second one in the country, apparently there is one at Watford Gap?
Being short on time and just wanting something small we had a samosa each - which is actually a first for me. The wraps & bowls usually get all my attention. At £1.75 a samosa it feels expensive if you are up Cape Hill, but at the motorway thats a steal.
Very crispy, kept warm in the heater thing. No dip offered, but I'm very white so it wouldn't be expected that I'd know the wonders of the brown dip.
And it's fairly standard generous samosa inside. Couldn't see the whole spices like the ones I like from the highstreet, but I could taste all the right things. A few whole peas hiding at the bottom, good crust and big enough that you'd not want two unless it was a meal.
We had a car full of drinks and the father-in-law was paying so I didn't get us a round of karak chaii but maybe I should have just got a large one to share.
Overall - I'm not going to stop having the paratha wraps and the chaat bowls, but it's amazing to be able to get actual Indian streetfood at a dodgy services. The plan is to roll these out UK wide, so I'm overjoyed. Lots of similarly fanatical people to me were taking pictures to send to people who wouldn't believe that their choices are no longer Greggs or McD.
