Jalebi Street Review: The Best Indian Street Food in San Francisco

There’s a specific kind of happiness that arrives at your table at Jalebi Street looking like a golden, puffed-up balloon of fried bread the size of your head.

It’s called bhature. I’ll get to it.

Jalebi Street is a vegetarian Indian street food restaurant at 1466 Haight Street in San Francisco, and it serves the best chaat I’ve found anywhere in the city. My husband Kyle and I found it through the SF Standard’s Instagram when it opened, went once, and immediately entered the dangerous phase of restaurant love where you have to consciously stop yourself from going every week so you can justify “trying other places” for the blog.

We’re still working our way through the menu, dish by dish, on a quest for our official order. Here’s the current state of the research.

What to Order at Jalebi Street

Normally this is where I’d tell you which menu items to skip. I can’t. Everything on the menu is great. I say that as someone who reviews restaurants and would genuinely enjoy telling you something is overrated.

From our latest receipts-verified dinner (yes, I keep the receipts; occupational hazard of running a business):

• Chole Bhature — the headliner. Spiced chickpea curry with that glorious balloon of deep-fried bread. We order two because sharing one causes marital strife.
• Dal Kachori — crispy, flaky pastry shells over spiced lentils. The textural opposite of the bhature, and the thing I’d hand a chaat skeptic first.
• Jalebi Rabri — the namesake dessert: hot, syrup-soaked jalebi spirals with chilled sweetened cream. Order it even if you think you’re full. Especially if you think you’re full.

Dinner for two ran us about $76 with tip. For food this good in this city, that’s a steal.

Is Jalebi Street Gluten-Free Friendly?

Here’s my confession: I avoid gluten. I’ve written a whole essay about putting my autoimmune condition into remission, and my usual rule is that bread has to earn its place in my life.

The bhature earns it. Deep-fried bread is great and worth it here, even if you’re gluten-free like me. It’s worth the cheat — I said what I said.

(If your gluten situation is celiac-serious rather than inflammation-cautious like mine, this is a fried-bread temple and you should plan accordingly. The chickpea-and-lentil side of the menu is your friend.)

The Verdict on Jalebi Street

Vegetarian by default, generous by design, and priced like the Haight instead of like a tasting menu. Jalebi Street is exactly the kind of place I started reviewing restaurants to tell you about: actually good, not just expensive.

• Where: 1466 Haight St, San Francisco (Google Maps)
• Website: jalebi-street.square.site
• Best for: Vegetarians, chaat lovers, and anyone whose love language is fried bread
• Damage: ~$35–40/person for a feast

Jalebi Street made my list of the best restaurants in San Francisco — see what else is on it, plus my picks for the best fast casual in SF and the best matcha in the city.

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