“I remember there was a time many, many years ago when I was a little boy and my family and I would go to Nirula’s shop in Connaught Place. I don’t remember how old I was exactly when we started, but I remember I was just tall enough to see over the ice cream counter if I stood on my toes and I would watch, completely enchanted, the gentleman through each step of making the Hot Chocolate Fudge. Half the joy was in watching it come together before we dug into it with those really long spoons!” reminisces Arjan Marwaha.
Just typing the word Hot Chocolate Fudge and Nirulas in the same sentence brings a smile to my face as I think back to my own childhood where on ‘special occasions’ we’d stop off at the nearby Nirula’s after school in a small Vasant Kunj Market, cramped into the small establishment as we dug into Big Boy Mutton burgers, footlongs, and on really, really special days, their legendary Hot Chocolate Fudge (HCF) sundae. I remember one of my school seniors telling me about a time when they had a special scheme, if you scored more than 80% in your examinations, you would get a free sundae!
Nirula’s HCF is a memory all Delhi kids grew up with, and the unlucky non-Delhi kids were definitely told about in excitement whenever ice cream or sundaes were brought up in conversation. “...Virtually every city in India has its favourite parlours, which are landmarks in their own right. In Delhi, my favourite is Nirula’s in Connaught Place. I suspect it is favoured by many people of my 50-plus age group, because it existed in our childhood and college days, long before Domino’s, Pizza Huts and Baskin Robbins came into our lives,” writes Harish Bhat.
Anyone who lived and grew up in Delhi between the 70s and 90s can vividly describe the HCF to you. A sinful tall glass (which as kids we thought resembled a beer glass and for some reason would giggle about that) with layers of vanilla ice cream, hot, chewy, delicious fudge and crunchy nuts. An amalgamation of hot and cold that was truly therapeutic for the soul in every way, it was all about negotiation. A battle of the spoons for my sister and I, bartering ice cream parts for more fudge, taking turns and sneaking in larger bites as we’d pass the tall glass between us two. Trying to coax the man behind the counter for just a bit more nuts, just one more pump of fudge – “thoda aur sauce bhaiya, isme toh kuch hai hi nahin!”
Among the last of its kind, Nirula’s established itself as India’s oldest fast food restaurant chain, with the first one opening in Connaught Place in 1997. A lot has changed over time – the original CP store had to relocate, Nirula’s branched out to other locales in the country and there was even a very brief point in time I remember that they replaced the fudge with chocolate sauce, breaking many hearts (it thankfully made a comeback). Through it all, the HCF has remained the same, albeit having drastically shot up in price. They started packing their iconic fudge and selling it in jars. I bought one and carried it with me back to Mumbai, tried to recreate the HCF in my kitchen, even chopping up some almonds to add to the top but the taste, however delicious, just wasn’t the same.
Many dedicated ice cream parlours and restaurants have opened across the country, but to date, no one has managed to trump Nirula’s HCF. “Chocolate always gives me acne, it’s probably the sugar so I tend to avoid it. But God help me if I pass by a Nirula’s! My husband and I used to meet there a lot when we first met because It was close to my parent’s house and I’m pretty sure they made the driver stand outside and watch us the entire time. We still make it a point to have a Hot Chocolate Fudge from Nirula’s whenever we’re in the city. It was worth it having a pimple on my wedding day too,” laughs Nikita Jogeshwari.
More than a dessert, this is childhood in a jar, smothered in chocolate. After school specials, first dates and heartbreaks, or just some family time – Nirula’s has seen it all. While its prices may have gone up, and the flavours slightly altered (according to some), it remains a stalwart staple if Delhi ever had a food-culture-history museum.
Feature image courtesy of Arjun Purkayastha via Instagram.