1090 - Khau Galli in Lucknow
1090 - Khau Galli in Lucknow

1090 Khau Galli in Lucknow – Is it any good?

Just like there are trends on Instagram that spread like forest fires, there are trends when it comes to food too. From Fire Pan to Babhubali Thalis, restaurants across the country come up with unique concepts that are often picked up with the rest of the country. One such popular trend that started in the last few years is of Khau Galli. I presume it started in Mumbai and slowly spread to other cities. Khau Galli means food streeta street where you find food, food and more food.

Today most of the cities have their own version of the Khau Galli, and in this post, I’ll talk about 1090 Khau Galli in Lucknow. They don’t call it Khau Galli, but the concept is exactly that of a Khau Galli. So let me show you what you can expect at 1090 Lucknow’s Khau Galli.

1090 Women’s Helpline turns Khau Galli

1090 or ‘Das Nabbe(Ten Ninety) as it is called locally, is essentially a women’s helpline number of the Uttar Pradesh government. They have a huge signboard at the roundabout which is called (no prizes for guessing) 1090 chauraha. Being in close proximity to Dr Ambedkar Parvivartan Sthal, the place is massive. Built with red sandstone brought from Jaipur, this area looks beautiful in the evening. There’s also an I ❤️ Lucknow installation right near the roundabout which has become a photography spot.

One of the streets from the roundabout leads to the Khau Galli. It usually starts in the evening from 5 PM and goes on up to midnight. We went around 7 PM and there were no street lights as we left the roundabout to enter the street. After a minutes drive, we see a parking spot and barricades that prevent vehicles from entering the food street. And there it is, that’s 1090, Khau Galli in Lucknow. One lane of the double lane road is dedicated to 1090 Food street.

1090 Food Street in Lucknow
1090 Food Street in Lucknow

What to expect at 1090 Khau Galli in Lucknow

You are greeted to the 1090 food street with some vendors selling artefacts, balloons and even ice cream. You enter the street and the aroma of delicious street food just gets hold of you. Right from the word go, you have food carts lined up all along the food street dishing out some lip-smacking dishes. I also liked the way things are organized. The left side of the lane is all the eatables, while the right is mostly for beverages.

1090 - Khau Galli in Lucknow
1090 – Khau Galli in Lucknow

You can expect dishes like Momos, Soya Chaps, Pastas, Sandwiches, Dosa, Pav Bhaji, Maggi around you. On the beverages front, you’ll find soda carts, mojitos, shikanjis, ice creams, kulfis, ice golas to name a few. So all in all, you’ll find something to eat and drink that you’ll love.

However, there are two concerns that I have.

  1. The place is a pressure cooker or a steam sauna (if I can say that). Keeping the hot and humid weather in Lucknow currently – July/August (I don’t remember when it was like this last time) – you’ll sweat profusely. Plus during the late evenings and night, there are a lot of flying insects that you need to be wary of too.
  2. Coming to the variety of food, every second stall is selling Soya Chaap, Momos and Pasts. So in terms of variety there’s nothing unique that you’ll find here. I was expecting some unique combos like Ice Cream Sandwich that I had at Manek Chowk long time back or the Street food at Sindhi Colony, Hyderabad.

What to eat at 1090 Food Street

Now that I was at Khau Galli with my local buddies, I let them decide where to eat and what to eat. I had absolutely no say in deciding the place. So here’s all that we ate at 1090 Lucknow’s Khau Galli. A list of items that you can eat at 1090 Lucknow’s Khau Galli

Tandoori Momos & Paneer Tikka

We started by trying the local favourite Momos at The Fat Dumpling food cart. One of the crowded carts in 1090 food street. They sell a variety of momos – steamed, fried, tandoori – and also Paneer Tikka apart from a variety of pasta and noodles. The Tandoori Momo was cooked to perfection and had a perfectly crunchy yet chewy crust. The filling wasn’t great but as an overall package, it was good. Paneer Tikka looked great but I felt the marinate could have been tastier. The order did take some time due to the crowd and we paid Rs 280 for a full plate of Tandoori Momos and Paneer Tikka.

Soya Chaap

The next time we had was the Soya Chaap at the stall next to this one. Delhi Waale Soya Chaap Zone is another food cart that is flocked by many people. He has a variety of Soya Chaaps on offer – Malai, Masala, Roll, Paratha etc. So the menu is expansive and you can get what you like. I had the Malai Soya Chaat that was creamy and laced with onions. It was flavoursome and Soya too was cooked well. However, this was nowhere close to Veerji’s Soya Chaap in Delhi that one of my close friends served me with. That’s a high benchmark to break. Paid Rs 100 for this, and it was worth it.

Tandoori Momos, Paneer Tikka & Soya Chaap
Tandoori Momos, Paneer Tikka & Soya Chaap

Pav Bhaji

Next, we moved to the Bombay Pav Bhaji stall for trying out some Pav Bhaji. The stall served Dosa and Pav Bhaji but I have had enough Dosas already so wanted something different. We ordered Masala Pav Bhaji.The pav was laced with butter and onions with red chilly (guess that’s their definition of Masala) and so was the bhaji. While it was good on taste, it could definitely be much better. Sharma Chaat in Hyderabad serves a better Pav Bhaji than this. But at Rs 70, I won’t complain. It was good.

Pasta

The next time we had at another stall was Pasta. The person served all White, Red and Pink Sauce penne pasta. We opted for the pink variant. When it was served, it was looked almost red. It was creamy and served super hot. There weren’t many veggies in it though. Priced at about Rs 100, this was good but could be passed.

Shikanji Mojito, Pav Bhaji, Pasta
Shikanji Mojito, Pav Bhaji, Pasta

Refreshing Soda

There’s a soda truck where you can have some flavourful sodas at Rs 10. But right near the entrance, there’s a cart selling Mojitos & Milk Shakes. The Shikanji cart is run by two young guys and they are pretty good at it. Most of the drinks are priced from Rs 30 to Rs 100 depending on what you order. I tried the Shikanji Mojito and Regular Mojito. He was attentive to my need for less sugar. The masala he added elevated the taste. It was so refreshing after roaming on the street for few hours that I ordered a couple of them. Both of these were priced at Rs 40 each.

Final Verdict: You got to visit 1090 once at least

If you are from Lucknow reading this, I’m sure you’d say that I missed this or didn’t eat that. I completely get that. In fact, I’m asking you for recommendations. Drop in your recommendations for 1090 Khau Galli in Lucknow in the comments below, Tweet to me at @Atulmaharaj or DM on Instagram. I’ll surely give them a try the next time I visit 1090.

Overall, the place is for all the foodies. The variety could be definitely better and space too. It’s extremely congested and during summers it’s a steam sauna as I already mentioned. Nonetheless, the food that you find here is good in taste and worth the money and time. So the next time you are in Lucknow, do visit 1090 and try out some lip-smacking dishes!

About Atulmaharaj

A seasoned blogger and a content marketer for close to a decade now. I write about Food, Technology, Lifestyle, Travel, and Finance related posts. Blogging brings me joy and the best part is I get to read and e-meet so many amazing bloggers! PS: I'm also the founder for Socialmaharaj.com :) Favorite Quote: "Traveling is like reading a book, one who hasn't traveled, hasn't turned a page.

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2 comments

  1. This is a honest review.. I haven’t visited Delhi khau falling forget about Lucknow. But yes hopefully one day I will.

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