Kulchas that make you say ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye’

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 12

Punjabis are known for their love of food, especially the chatpata street food of the desi variety. Punjabi food is wholesome and full of rustic flavour. And there is one place in Bathinda that epitomises the gastronomic delight, a hallmark of true blue Punjabis.

Lovely Bakery located at Ganesh Nagar in the city is quite famous its stuffed kulchas and grilled sandwiches.

The eatery has been set up by Lucky. He first started out by opening a Chinese food joint. It did not continue for long and three years back he started his bakery the USP of which remains stuffed kulcha and grilled sandwich.

Kulcha here is stuffed with spicy, tangy grated paneer and pyaz (cottage cheese and onion) and the kulcha served here is very soft. So when you take a bite, you get the tangy taste of the stuffing filled in it.

There are two varieties of kulchas— butter kulcha which costs Rs 35 per plate and butter paneer kulcha which costs Rs 45 per plate.

Lucky, owner of Lovely Bakery, said he uses fat-free butter in all the kulchas and its main feature is the stuffing which make it different from others. He uses vegetables, cheese and sauce for the stuffing.

Regardless of the season, he sells around 500 plates of kulchas everyday on an average and even gets orders from nearby districts.

Lucky said his bakery makes kulchas on its own. The flour dough is rolled into a flat, round shape and baked in an earthen clay oven until it turns golden brown. When being baked, it is stuffed with filling and rubbed with butter.

“We never compromise with the quality of ingredients used while preparing the items. We want customers to keep coming back. That is what keeps our reputation alive,” he added.

Apart from stuffed kulchas, even his grilled sandwiches are worth a try here. Whenever you go to his bakery you will witness a large number of food lovers waiting there in a queue for the order.

Shikhar Gupta, a food lover, said kulchas served here are lip smacking. They are very soft and smeared with yellow butter. The fillings are good and less maida is used to make the kulcha.

Ritika Garg, a food lover, said the delicious stuffed kulcha served has a yummy tangy flavour of cumin seeds and coriander leaves in its stuffing along with other vegetables and is cooked to perfection.