doesn’t navigate a place via street signs or landmarks. Instead, she hunts down the corners that play host to her favourite foods. For Aylawadi, a , errands in her home town of New Delhi are always punctuated by stops for – vegetable fritters, deep-fried in , that are doled out on pavements across villages and cities in India. It’s the inspiration for , a bolthole eatery dishing out this centuries-old Indian snack, along with freshly brewed cups of , from .
“The visual map of Delhi that I have in my head is based on where I can find the best street food – it’s about saying there’s a street stall over there and another over there and how long it takes to walk between them,” says Aylawadi, who has lived in Australia for eight years. “In Delhi, there are so many flyovers and overpasses these days but it’s so funny to watch people go underneath them, where the street food is. There are so many different fritteries – there’s the guy who is frying stuff by himself or 20-person operations where people wait in a long queue. That’s why I wanted to call it Flyover Fritterie – to remind myself what it’s like to live in a busy city where life revolves around food.”
Chai served with soy milk: the spiced drink is a perfect fit for the menu of Indian snacks. Source: Flyover Fritterie
Flyover Fritterie's pao burger with tamarind chutney and cashew mint chutney. Source: Flyover Fritterie
In India, pakoras (crunchy, fiery fritters that are often made using onion or seasonal vegetables) are the stuff of ritual – enjoyed in transit, for dinner or with a cup of chai come tea time. Aylawadi isn’t caught up in a false sense of authenticity. Instead she’s more interested in keeping it simple and channelling the spirit and inventiveness with which modern-day Indians actually cook.
That’s why I wanted to call it Flyover Fritterie – to remind myself what it’s like to live in a busy city where life revolves around food.
At Flyover Fritterie, the pakoras on offer change weekly and are inspired by hero ingredients. One week, you can enjoy . The next, a version of the snack made from lemon and bird’s eye chilli – an homage to the bunches of lemon and chilli that adorn shops in India, considered a good-luck charm by some Hindus. There’s also quinoa khichri with house pickles, a stuffed with fritters and tamarind chutney, and a street-style salad, made from puffed rice, avocado and roasted chickpeas. It’s a playful twist on another much-loved Indian street snack .
“[Flyover Fritterie] takes a more creative approach but it’s only creative to people over here – this is how people in India are eating now,” she says. “In Australia, the perception of Indian food just hasn’t changed – people in India are just as interested in quinoa and kale as they are here. And people think that we eat naan and curry, which just isn’t true.”
For Aylawadi, chai is the pakora’s natural counterpoint. It’s unsurprising, then, that India’s most democratic drink features in her mission to make the food she grew up with more approachable – and fun.
“I want to make it entry level for people, so they feel comfortable coming up to ask, 'hey can I have some pakoras?'” she says with a laugh. “I want my son to grow up and be really proud of Indian food just the way I am. That’s not going to happen if his friends don’t think it is accessible. Every time I see a student in a school uniform ordering chai, I feel so excited for his future.”
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