Samosa Chaat in Northwood Hills

A samosa chaat is not a samosa with sauce on it. The samosa is smashed so the pastry breaks up and soaks, then everything is layered over the top: chickpeas, yoghurt, tamarind and our signature chutney, finished with mint, sev, coriander and chaat spices.

The result is a bowl you eat with a spoon rather than a plate you eat with your hands. Hot, cold, sweet, sour and crunchy all arrive in the same mouthful, which is the whole point of chaat and the reason it does not really compare to anything on a standard British café menu.

Cheese is 50p extra. Plenty of people add it. It is not traditional and it does not need defending, it just works.

At £6.95 it sits between a snack and a meal. One person can eat it as lunch. Two people picking at it alongside a Samosa ×2 at £3.95 and a Vadapav at £4.95 makes a decent shared table.

It is halal, and no alcohol is served anywhere in the shop.

Pani Puri, also sold as Gol Gappe, is £5.95 for six. Crisp puris come with homemade mint pani and sweet tamarind chutney, filled with potato, chickpeas and chaat spices. It is marked V for vegetarians.

This is the one that needs a bit of technique and no dignity. You crack the top of the puri, fill it, dunk it and put the whole thing in your mouth at once. If you bite it in half it collapses and you lose the pani down your wrist. Everyone learns this at puri number one.

The pani is made here, which matters, because the mint and the sourness are the whole flavour. It is sharp rather than sweet.

Six is the right amount for one person as a starter, or for two people to share while they wait for something griddled to order.

Order it with something cold rather than something hot. A Nimbu Pani at £3.00 in Lemon & Lime works, or a Mango Lassi at £3.00 if you want the sweetness to balance it out.

Vadapav is £4.95. A fried potato patty in a soft bun with mint and peanut chutney. It is the Mumbai street sandwich and it is marked V. Small, filling and cheap, and easy to eat with one hand if you are heading for a train.

The Bombay Grilled Sandwich is £5.45. A cheesy veggie-stuffed grilled sandwich with mint and garlic chutney, also marked V. It is the gentlest thing on the street food board, and the one to order for someone who is not sure about chaat spices yet.

Samosa ×2 is £3.95 and you choose meat or veg. Spring Rolls ×3 is £3.95 and you choose veg or chicken. Both are the obvious additions to a table that has already ordered a chaat.

Across the whole board, the meat is halal and the vegetarian items are marked V rather than left for you to guess. If you are avoiding a particular allergen, say so at the counter and the team will go through the dishes with you.

Everything here is served from 9:00 until late, so this is a genuine evening snack menu rather than a lunchtime-only one.

If the table wants something to share that is loaded rather than layered, there are two options and both are £6.95.

Cheesy Nachos are tortilla chips smothered in melted cheese, fresh salsa and jalapeños. Marked V.

Loaded Chips are golden chips topped with chicken, keema or paneer, cheese, jalapeños and house sauces. You pick the topping when you order.

On both, adding chicken, keema or a mix is £1.00.

These are the late-evening orders. The shop is open until 23:00 Monday to Thursday and Sunday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and loaded chips at half eleven is a well-established thing here.

Smaller sides if you want less: Chips £2.50, Masala Chips £2.95, Mozzarella Sticks £3.95, Chicken Bites £3.50, Sauces 50p.

For a bigger group, the Family Platter is £49.95 and covers four samosas, four seekh kebabs, two biryanis, two loaded chips, any two fresh parathas and four mocktails. That is a table of four or five sorted in one order, which is easier than everyone ordering separately on a busy night.

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.

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

We open at 9:00 seven days a week, serving until 23:00 Monday to Thursday and Sunday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Chaat is the one part of this menu that genuinely does not travel. The crunch is the dish, and sev and puris do not survive a delivery bag well. It is on Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats if you want it anyway, but eat this one in the room if you can.

The room helps. Velvet booths, big tables, and ludo and snakes and ladders printed into the marble tables, which is why groups tend to order a second round of street food rather than leaving.