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Chef Maneet Chauhan and her husband, Vivek Deora, have mused that their restaurants are like their children, each different but loved all the same.
They admit, though, that Chaatable, their fourth, holds a special place in their hearts. Here, they are treating Nashville to all kinds of chaat, the much-loved Indian street food of their youth.
They’ve taken the minimalist space that was Salt & Vine in Sylvan Heights and transformed it into visual feast—a riot of colors, textures, and patterns. Sequined parasols suspend from the ceiling. Rows of bangles shimmer in every color imaginable. Framed pictures, Bollywood posters, and magazine collages hand-plastered by Chauhan and family adorn the walls. Sights, sounds, scents: It’s a microcosm of what you’d experience, emerging onto the streets of Mumbai for the first time.
And, of course, there’s the tastes.
Dominating the room is the chaat bar, where the chef prepares bhel in a combination per your specs. Its foundation is puffed rice, to which are added two kinds of chutney, an assortment of vegetables and fruits, and a garnish of herbs and chickpea noodles. At each table is a slip of paper listing the “build-a-bhel” choices and a pencil. Check off your heart’s desire and then watch the chef assemble it at the bar.
Sharing this chaat with Nashville has excited Chauhan the most.
“Street vendors in India select the ingredients and toss it for you, but we wanted to give people the option of choosing their own favorite vegetables or fruit,” she says. “We serve it in boxes similar to the lunchboxes I used to take to school growing up. We shake it tableside, which adds a fun, interactive element.”
Savory, sweet, spicy, cooling, crunchy—all in one bite.
“It’s a party in your mouth,” Chauhan says with a laugh. Her favorite bhel combo? “Mine is very basic: boiled potatoes, mango, onions, tomatoes, and pomegranate.”
Beyond the bhel, there are numerous intriguing and delectable offerings, each with a punny name. Puff Puff Pass are small semolina puffs, their hollows filled with moong dal, potato, and sweet-sour yogurt. Pop the whole puff into your mouth—it explodes with flavor. Street Ballin’ is traditionally called vada pav, a potato fritter served on a toasty buttered roll—hot fried chili on the side punches up the heat.
Indulge in an array of chaat, or look to the menu section called “Flashy Mains.” Chauhan and Deora have included The O.G., an iconic butter chicken. The roasted half bird napped in makhani sauce, the “original” gravy. Curry On is another dish to savor and share. Luscious chunks of pork belly are simmered in a spicy hot-sour stew that has Portuguese origins. Ask, too, about the biryani of the day, its rice-casserole base a constant, but interspersed with ingredients that change at the chef’s whim.
Each dish, in its way, triggers a treasured memory for the couple. Chauhan and Deora, who met in college, can recall seeking out their favorite vendor together for vada pav. When Chauhan was younger, she and her sister were forbidden to eat chaat, because the water source was questionable.
“We would sneak away from our parents,” she recalls. “We’d always fight with the vendors asking them to give us extra ingredients for the same price!”
Now, at Chaatable, those memories have become their gifts for us to sample and savor.
4001 Charlotte Ave, 615-383-1303; chaatablenashville.com