“Puran Singh ka dhaba is one of the most searched restaurant on google”. Everybody want to know which is the authentic Puran Singh’s dhaba. Let us go back to those days when he was alive.
There are several stories about where did Puran Singh came from. Some say he was in Indian Army & after retirement he started this dhaba. Others say he came from Pakistan after partition & settled in Ambala to start this dhaba. Whatever maybe his past he did a lot of hard work in Ambala to create his name out of nothing. At least 8 to 10 restaurants are running in Ambala just due to his name. They are earning their livelihood as a dividend of this man’s name.
His specialty was Non-Vegetarian food like Mutton, Chicken, Keema, Kaleji, etc. Some say in those days Puran Singh’s dhaba used to require at least 200 Kgs of chicken daily. He used to personally cook these huge quantities of food by blending all the spices at his home & added those while cooking himself. Nobody knew what was his secret combination.
Let us hear story of Puran Singh from his wife Savitriji;
Sardarji used to live in Sayalkot and had a dhaba in Sainak Bazar, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After India-Pakistan partition in 1947 he came to India to settle in Ambala, Haryana. There he started his roadside eatery(Movable) in Sadar Bazaar near Banarasi doctor. After few days later he made a temporary shed near Ambala Cantt Railway station & there started his dhaba.
By this time his dhaba became quite popular & even celebrities started visiting his dhaba to taste Non Veg delicacies. Asha Bhosale along with her son visited here during that time.
After earning goodwill at that location his dhaba was again shifted to a new location. The reason being traffic congestion’s at Railway station road. All of the eateries were demolished including his by Municipal committee & they were allotted some space near bus stand opposite to railway station, Where he named it “Puran Singh ka Mashoor Vishal Dhaba”.
“A very famous story of that time was that the owners of nearby dhaba’s used to offer alcohol as bribe to Puran singh, so that he gets drunk & won’t be able to open his dhaba in the evening, so as to divert some customers to their restaurant”
Due to some personal reasons he sold out “Puran Singh ka Mashoor Vishal Dhaba” to Vijendar Nagar who was his meat supplier. Now after those issues were solved he once again started a new dhaba just a few steps away from the old one called as “Asli Puran Singh ka New Dhaba”. He used to run this new dhaba with the help of his family members.
While operating this new dhaba he died on 28th August, 2001 . Since then this dhaba is successfully operated by his wife Savitriji, son Vishal & nephew Subhashji. Some renowned celebrities which includes Daler Mahendi, Malkit Singh, Mika Singh, Mahendra Sandhu. Sunny and Bobby Deol with their mother Prakash Kaur have also visited here.
This dhaba is reviewed by many news channels. Some include Kunal Vijaykar(Times now), Bikramjeet Ray(CNN News channel), Day & Night News channel(Chandigarh). These people visited here to eat food as well as to learn cooking some recipes.
Lack of good ambience was overcome by Savitriji through renovating the dhaba in 2017 to its former glory, Which has started attracting major foodies in Ambala & all over. So it can be concluded that “Asli Puran Singh ka New Dhaba” is the Original Puran Singh’s Dhaba in Ambala.
Reference Video’s –
Secret Kitchen – Bikramjeet Ray
Day & Night News – Food Street – Ambala Special
Mutton at Puran Singh Dhaba, Ambala Cantt, India
