Last Thursday we visited the Taj Chaat House and convenience store in Plano. The Chaat house has become very popular across the United States for people of many different cultural backgrounds. The Chaat house was located at the back of the convenience store, styled in the “order and pick up at the counter” service method. It is a completely vegetarian restaurant and while it is not fast food, the wait time is minimal. I had ordered a rice dish and my classmate ordered the Pani Puri, a traditional snack of the Indian subcontinent. The dish is a small hollowed out fried bread crisp, roughly the size of a golf ball. Accompanied with the dish are a type of bean and potato. You are supposed to put the bean and potato inside the crisp, then dip the crisp in a cold broth. It is a rather adventurous dish but divine.

Outside of the Chaat house, inside the convenience store, lay an array products. Things from Indian spices, fruits, rice, cleaning supplies, and snacks. On top of that there was art being sold and even a beauty salon when you entered the building. This was a one stop shop for all things authentic. The smells were captivating, all the different spices left a delicious aroma in the air. The spices were sold in bulk and for a very affordable price. Most of the items in the store were very affordable. This can also be said for the Chaat house. Most items in the Chaat house were well under twenty dollars.

The Chaat house showed an interesting and beautiful cross-hatching of a very unique culture placed in the heart of Texas. While Texas is known to the “rag and tag ‘em west,” the Chaat house exemplifies the mingling of two distinct cultures. This can be seen through the different items within the grocery store. The store does have lots of authentic Indian products, but it also has many of the items you would see in an American grocery store.