ਕਣਕ Kanak

Amritsari kulcha · Steeles Ave E, Brampton

Taste what you were told about

Crushed by hand at the tandoor, buttered while it is too hot to hold.

Clay tandoor, 400°C
Anardana masala, ground here
Dough made today, used today
Chole on every plate
Hand-churned white butter
Kitchen open to the street

Down into it

Amritsar to Brampton

A city that eats early

Amritsar takes its kulcha before nine, standing up, off a paper plate on somebody's bonnet. The recipe was learned in a lane off Katra Jaimal Singh from a man who never wrote any of it down and would not have known how to.

In 2009 it came to Steeles Avenue East, four thousand kilometres and one winter later. The address changed twice. The dough has not changed once.

Every lane in that city claims the best kulcha.

Half the number plates outside are from other cities.

A tandoori restaurant front at night, lit sign in the window reading open seven days
A long dining table laid with place settings and plates

The morning work

Three minutes on the clay

Ghee folded between the layers, the dough patted thick rather than rolled thin. That thickness is why it comes off flaky instead of flat.

  1. A stack of freshly made flatbreads on a wooden board
    01

    Dough at five

    Maida, curd, salt, a spoon of ghee. Mixed at five, rested till the shutter goes up. Whatever is left at close is binned.

  2. Whole spices and ground masala arranged in small piles
    02

    The filling

    Potato crushed rather than mashed, green chilli, coriander, our own anardana masala. It goes in cold, so it steams instead of leaking.

  3. Skewers of chicken and vegetables cooking over open flame
    03

    Clay and hands

    Slapped on with a cloth pad, watched, lifted out with a hook, then broken open in the hands and buttered.

Two sides, one bread

Blistered on the side that met the clay.

Soft on the side that did not.

Turn it over

Not only the bread

What the regulars order second

Nobody arrives for the butter chicken. Plenty of people come back for it.

A plate of paneer with naan bread, vegetables and sauce
Paneer TikkaPressed that morning. Ajwain, hung curd, straight onto the skewer.
A bowl of chicken curry beside a bowl of rice
Butter ChickenThigh, cooked in the tandoor first. That is the whole trick.
Grilled meat and vegetables laid out on a table
Seekh KebabHand-pressed onto the skewer, never piped.
A cup of tea on a gold-coloured saucer beside food
Gur Wali ChaaBoiled with jaggery. It will ruin other chai for you.
A table filled with many different Indian dishes
The full tableSix of you, one of everything, ninety minutes. This is the correct way to do it.

What gets said

412 reviews and counting

We have not asked anyone for a single one of them.

★★★★★

Drove in from Mississauga on a tip. Waited forty minutes on a Sunday. Would do it again next week.

Harjit S. · Google
★★★★★

The kulcha arrives too hot to hold, which is the correct temperature. Chole is the real test and they pass it.

Navjot K. · Google
★★★★★

I have strong opinions about butter chicken and I am pleased to report I have nothing to complain about.

Ritu M. · Yelp
★★★★★

Took my parents. Dad said it tasted like Lawrence Road. He does not say things like that.

Simran B. · Google
★★★★☆

Ordered pickup for 6:40. It was on the counter at 6:40. Still warm by the time I got to Springdale.

Amanpreet G. · Google
★★★★★

Been coming since they opened. The parking is still terrible. I am still coming.

Deep S. · Google

Where and when

Steeles Avenue East

Hours

Every day
10:00am — 12:00am

Or until the dough runs out.

Address

400 Steeles Ave E, Unit 3
Brampton, ON L6W 3R2

Parking at the back.

Pickup

Order ahead and it will be on the counter, wrapped, at the time you choose.

A man reading a menu at a restaurant table