The long-awaited Chaska restaurant is finally open on campus. Chaska is a franchise restaurant that serves up street food from all over India. Being able to try out different street food was a fond experience for owner Naveen Seth as his family traveled across India to visit friends and family. Now, Chaska provides students the chance to indulge in the vast Indian cuisine right here on campus. Not to mention, “Chaska” means obsession, as Seth pointed out when talking about the origins of the restaurant. Myself, along with Ashita Saxena, a member of the Imprint social media team, had a chance to try out the most popular menu items Chaska serves – keep reading to hear what we think of them!
Butter Chicken Rice Bowl
Rating: 9/10
Price: $10.99 regular, $15.99 large
The butter chicken rice bowl was really tasty! The portion size was good for a meal, and it came with rice, onions, and cucumber as well. The chicken was soft to bite into, and the pieces were big. It was not too spicy for those with a low spice tolerance (though personally I would prefer some more spice).
Channa (Chickpea) Rice Bowl
Rating: 8/10
Price: $7.99 regular, $10.99 large
The channa rice bowl was another hit! Each bite of the bowl was terrific with a mix of flavors. The chickpeas really complimented the onions, cucumber and rice. However, our rating does get knocked down a bit because the ratio of rice to curry was not great, as there was more rice than curry in the bowl.
Naan
Rating: 7/10
Price: $2.99
The naan was a side item to complement the other dishes. The naan we got was thin and a bit hard to tear at points. Though it wasn’t all bad, as the naan was chewy and could hold the food that you wanted to eat with it quite well.
Cutting Chai (Hot)
Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $2.99 hot, $3.99 iced
The Cutting Chai is strong and bitter, so we definitely recommend adding sugar to it, especially if you like your tea sweet. Regardless, the cutting chai tastes reminiscent of the chai from back home and their spice additions were tasty.
Bhalla Papdi Chaat
Rating: 10/10
Price $10.99
The chaat is a must-buy. The creamy sauces with the chutney, lentil dumplings and papdi were all perfect. The price and portion size is quite reasonable. I can see why it’s one of the most popular dishes from Chaska. There was a lot of care and quality that went into making this dish.
Paneer Naanza
Rating: 8.5/10
Price: $10.99
The paneer naanza is a bit spicy with the addition of green chilis; it’s the kind of spicy that doesn’t seem so bad at first, but it builds up. Either way, the Paneer Naanza was a mix of cheese, manchurian and garlic sauce, onions, green pepper, green chilis, paneer, cilantro, and ginger. It’s a wonderful combination that pairs really well together to make for a delicious meal.
Kesar Falooda
Rating: 9.5/10
Price: $7.99
Upon first sip, the kesar falooda tastes like ice cream! It is sweet and yummy. The rice noodles within the dessert added some needed contrast to the creamy treat. The only downside to this is that it’s quite pricey for the size you get.
