{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "In Patna, a Rs 15 chana bhaji plate once meant a half hour queue, and the taste hasn't changed in 40 years",
  "summary": "For 40 years, Lallan Prasad's Gaya-Goh chana bhaji stall on Patna's Ashok Rajpath has been famous for a plate that costs just Rs 15, one customers once queued for half an hour with a token to get.",
  "content": "For 40 years, a chana bhaji stall on Ashok Rajpath in Patna has built such a following that customers once had to take a token and wait in line for half an hour just to get a single plate. Kumar Vivekanand, who lives in Lohanipur, has been coming here for the past 15 years and swears nothing between Saguna Mor and Patna City tastes quite like it. Naghma, who came to Patna a few years ago to get her mother treated, tried the chana bhaji here for the first time and became an instant fan after just one bite, returning ever since. It is a reminder that even a modest roadside stall can carve out a citywide reputation purely on taste and effort.\n\nA stall named after its owner's hometown\nThe stall belongs to Lallan Prasad, who hails from the Goh area of Aurangabad district, and he named his cart Gaya-Goh ka Swadisht Chana Bhaji, turning his home region's identity into his business's brand. The scale of its popularity in Patna is evident from the fact that hundreds of people like Vivekanand and Naghma turn up every single day just for a taste. At one point, Lallan Prasad ran five stalls across Patna simultaneously, employing around 10 staff. Several of those staff members eventually left to open their own stalls, but none could replicate his exact taste, and all of those shops eventually had to shut down. That alone suggests his success rests less on location and more on a recipe perfected over decades.\n\nFive vegetables, two chutneys and a secret spice mix\nThe real secret behind Lallan Prasad's chana bhaji lies in exactly how it is assembled. He starts by thoroughly mixing boiled chana with onion, carrot, beetroot, cucumber and cabbage, five vegetables in all, before adding potato, tomato, lemon and chili, which gives the dish its sharp, tangy kick. To sharpen the flavour further, he relies on two chutneys he makes himself. The first is prepared from jaggery, beetroot and almonds, giving it a mild sweetness, while the second is made from amla, lemon and green chili, adding sharp tang and heat. Both chutneys are blended together and folded into the chana bhaji before it is plated, then finished with a scattering of corn chips and sev namkeen for crunch. Despite all that effort and all those ingredients, a single plate costs just Rs 15, keeping it well within reach for ordinary customers.\n\nWhat adds a further layer of flavour is Lallan Prasad's own salt and spice blend. Instead of plain salt, he combines black salt, rock salt known as sendha namak, cumin, golki and white salt into a custom mix. On top of that, he blends cumin powder, coriander powder and five other spices into a masala recipe he keeps to himself. It is this exact combination, two chutneys plus a proprietary salt and spice blend, that sets his chana bhaji apart from every other stall in the city, and it is why customers keep coming back after all these years.\n\nHe quit a steady job to start this in 1990\nLallan Prasad completed his graduation in 1988-89 and landed a job soon after, but he never took to it. His father worked in the tourism department at the time, yet Lallan Prasad chose to walk away from steady employment and launched his chana bhaji stall on Ashok Rajpath in 1990. In the early days, he ran it himself with just three staff, selling plates he prepared with his own hands every day. Gradually, word about his chana bhaji spread across Patna and demand kept climbing.\n\nThat growing popularity led him to open stalls outside Rupak, Vaishali, Uma, Apsara and Mona cinema halls as well, giving him customers across different parts of the city. Each of those stalls employed around two staff members, and at its peak, a total of 10 people worked under Lallan Prasad. The journey from 1990 to 2026 now spans roughly 36 years. The city has changed enormously in those 36 years, roads have been rebuilt and new infrastructure has come up, but the taste of Lallan Prasad's chana bhaji has stayed exactly the same as it was in the beginning.\n\nA business that became a livelihood for the whole family\nWatching Lallan Prasad's small business flourish, his relatives and former staff also tried their luck in the same trade. His brother opened a stall near Gandhi Maidan, while his brother in law and his wife's sister's husband run chana bhaji stalls of their own elsewhere. Several former employees have opened their own stalls too. Even so, Lallan Prasad maintains that not one of them, whether family or former staff, has managed to match his taste. He does not credit any secret trick for that; he puts it down entirely to years of hard work. It is the earnings from this modest chana bhaji stall that supported his entire family and paid for all three of his daughters' weddings, underlining just how central this small roadside business has been to his life.\n\nWhen a token decided your turn for a plate\nLallan Prasad says that until around two years ago, his stall ran on a token system. Whatever number a customer was handed determined when their plate of chana bhaji arrived. Back then, a plate cost just Rs 10, yet the stall still sold somewhere between 500 and 600 plates every single day. Crowds were thick enough that customers routinely waited half an hour in line for their turn, and the stall stayed busy through the day, a sign of just how much business a Rs 10 plate could pull in.\n\nThings changed when construction of the metro and a double decker flyover began nearby, which cut into footfall and hurt his business directly. During that construction period, Lallan Prasad had to shut the stall entirely for a while. He has since restarted it, and old customers are gradually finding their way back. The stall still brings in around Rs 5,000 in sales every day, though Lallan Prasad says rising inflation has eaten into his savings compared to earlier years. Positioned between pillar numbers 46 and 47 on Ashok Rajpath, the stall continues to hold its own distinct place on Patna's food map.\n\nWhat this means for you\nThis story carries no direct financial impact for most readers, but it is useful for anyone visiting Patna or curious about its street food scene.\n\n• Across India: The stall's story shows how a small street food cart can build a citywide reputation purely through a consistent recipe and years of hard work.\n• In Patna: Visitors can find the Gaya-Goh chana bhaji stall between pillar numbers 46 and 47 on Ashok Rajpath, with a full plate priced at just Rs 15.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. Where is the Gaya-Goh chana bhaji stall located?\nThe stall is on Ashok Rajpath in Patna, between pillar numbers 46 and 47.\n\n2. How much does a plate of chana bhaji cost?\nA plate currently costs Rs 15, though it was priced at Rs 10 back when the stall used a token system.\n\n3. Who runs the stall and how long has it been operating?\nLallan Prasad, who is from the Goh area of Aurangabad district, has run it since 1990, roughly 36 years now.\n\n4. What goes into the chana bhaji?\nBoiled chana is mixed with onion, carrot, beetroot, cucumber and cabbage, along with potato, tomato, lemon and chili, then topped with a jaggery-beetroot-almond chutney, an amla-lemon-green chili chutney and a special salt and spice mix.\n\n5. What was the token system at the stall?\nUntil about two years ago, customers were given a number and received their plate of chana bhaji in that order.\n\n6. What affected the stall's business over the years?\nConstruction of the metro and a double decker flyover nearby cut into footfall and forced the stall to shut for a while.\n\n7. What are the stall's current daily sales?\nIt used to sell 500 to 600 plates a day under the token system; it now takes in around Rs 5,000 in sales each day.\n\n8. What was Lallan Prasad doing before he started the stall?\nHe completed his graduation in 1988-89 and had landed a job, but since it did not suit him, he quit and started the stall in 1990.\n\nInspiration & Lessons\nLallan Prasad's journey shows how one deliberate decision, followed by decades of consistency, can turn a small stall into a citywide name.\n\n• Trust your gut: Even after landing a job, Lallan Prasad felt no pull toward it and chose to start his own chana bhaji stall in 1990 instead.\n• Build on your roots: He named the stall after his hometown of Goh, tying his personal identity directly to his business and its taste.\n• Guard what makes you different: He kept his chutney, salt and spice formula closely guarded for decades, which is why no former staff or relative could replicate it.\n• Grow gradually: Starting with just three staff, he expanded step by step to five stalls and a team of ten at his peak.\n• Let hard work provide: The stall's earnings alone supported his family and paid for all three of his daughters' weddings, proof that a small business can carry big responsibilities.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/food/patna-men-15-rupaye-ki-chana-bhaji-ke-lie-lagati-thi-adhe-ghnte-ki-laina-40-sala-se-barakarara-hai-yaha-svada-7618",
  "category": "Food",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-14",
  "tags": [
    "Chana Bhaji",
    "Patna",
    "Ashok Rajpath",
    "Lallan Prasad",
    "Street Food",
    "Gaya-Goh",
    "Bihar Food"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}