Fresh Parathas in Northwood Hills

A paratha is layered dough, rolled out and cooked on a griddle. The layers are the point. Done properly it pulls apart in sheets rather than tearing like a pancake, and the outside is crisp in patches while the inside stays soft.

Ours are rolled and griddled to order. That is written on the menu board and it is the reason there is a wait at busy times. Nothing sits under a lamp. If you order a Keema paratha at £6.95 at eight on a Saturday evening, it starts as dough after you order it.

Every paratha comes with yoghurt and pickle as standard, and neither is an extra. The yoghurt cools the spice, the pickle sharpens it. Use both.

The board calls the parathas top sellers, and that is borne out by what leaves the kitchen. If you have never eaten here and want to know what the shop is actually good at, the answer is chai, donuts and this.

All five are halal. Three of the five are marked V for vegetarians.

The Plain paratha is £4.95. Layered dough, rolled and griddled to order, nothing inside it. It is the one to order if you want to taste what the kitchen does with dough, and it is the best value plate in the shop. With yoghurt and pickle it is a full snack rather than a side.

Cheese is £5.95, stuffed with melted cheese. It is the simplest of the stuffed ones and the safest order for a child.

Aloo is £5.95, stuffed with spiced mashed potato. This is the classic, and the one people mean when they search for aloo paratha near Northwood Hills. The potato is spiced rather than plain, so it does not need anything else, though the pickle helps.

All three are marked V on the menu.

If you want a paratha as a meal rather than a plate on its own, Plain Paratha + 2 Eggs is £7.95, scrambled or fried, and the Desi Breakfast at £8.95 comes with one fresh paratha alongside chana, halwa, salad and pickle. Breakfast is served all day, so either works at any hour we are open.

The Keema paratha is £6.95, stuffed with spiced minced meat. It is the heaviest of the five and the one that does not need a side. The meat is halal, as is everything else in this kitchen. No alcohol is served anywhere in the shop.

Chicken & Cheese is also £6.95, stuffed with spiced chicken and melted cheese. It is the more forgiving of the two if you are not sure how much spice you want, because the cheese softens it.

Both are substantial. If you are ordering for two people and one paratha each feels like too much, order one Keema and one Aloo at £5.95 and split them, with a Samosa ×2 at £3.95 in the middle.

With a stuffed paratha, the drink that works is a regular Karak Chai at £3.50, or the Masala Chai at the same price if you want something aromatic rather than strong. Sugar-free karak is available if you ask when ordering.

Parathas travel reasonably on Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, but they are meaningfully better eaten in the room, straight off the griddle.

If you want the paratha rolled around a filling rather than stuffed and folded, there is a separate wrap section. Every wrap is £4.95 and you can have it in a paratha or a tortilla.

The five are Seekh, Masala Omelette, Paneer, Sausage & Egg and Chicken Tikka. Masala Omelette and Paneer are marked V.

These are the quicker order. If you have a train to catch across the road at Northwood Hills station, a wrap is the thing to ask for. A Seekh wrap at £4.95 with a small Karak Chai at £3.25 comes to £8.20 and takes less time than a stuffed paratha.

Sausage & Egg is the halal answer to a breakfast wrap, and like everything else it is available all day rather than only in the morning.

If you want to add something without adding much, Chips are £2.50 and Masala Chips are £2.95. Chicken Bites are £3.50. Loaded Chips at £6.95 come topped with chicken, keema or paneer, cheese, jalapeños and house sauces, which turns a wrap into a proper meal for two.

Cha Cha Chai Northwood Hills is at 56 Joel Street, Northwood Hills, Northwood HA6 1PA. We are directly opposite Northwood Hills station on the Metropolitan line, about thirty seconds from the platform exit, so you can be sitting with a paratha very shortly after getting off a train.

The H11 and 282 buses stop on Joel Street outside the door. There is free and pay-and-display parking on Joel Street and the surrounding side roads.

We open at 9:00 every day. Monday to Thursday and Sunday we serve until 23:00, and on Friday and Saturday until midnight.

The quietest time for a paratha is mid-morning on a weekday, when it will reach you fastest. Evenings and weekends are busier, and because everything is griddled to order, a busy room means a longer wait. It is worth it, but it is fair to know before you sit down.

The room is set up for staying: velvet booths, big tables, and ludo and snakes and ladders printed into the marble.