Tangy, crunchy and spicy, the street snacks known as chaat are loved in India by everyone from labourers to lawyers. At Carlton North restaurant Enter Via Laundry’s new bar, opening April 12, they’re the backbone of the menu.

Owner Helly Raichura is flipping her fine-dining script, serving the chaat that she and her friends miss from home.

That includes chakna – deep-fried peanuts and lotus seeds with onion and coriander – which you’d find “at a drinking place on the side of [a] highway where the truck drivers would sit and eat,” she says.

“And it’s bloody delicious!” she adds.

The new 10-seat bar at the front of Enter Via Laundry is worlds away from a truck stop, but Raichura won’t be adding any cheffy tricks to the food. Instead, she’s bringing together everyday Indian food culture with the elevated approach she takes at her 18-seat tasting menu restaurant at the back.

Spanner crab is the most luxurious item on the menu of seven snacks. It’s cured, then heaped on top of house-made crackers with chilli, lemon myrtle, and tamarind chutney. There’s also bataka na bhajiya, fried slices of potato coated in spiced gram (chickpea) flour, and a chicken mince kofta that’s similar to a Scotch egg.

“They’re kind of exact versions of these dishes, I’m not changing too many things about them,” says Raichura.

Enter Via Laundry opened in its current location in 2022, with two dining rooms and a rear entrance, after four years of pop-ups.

The bar occupies one of the former dining rooms and faces Nicholson Street. This means, for the first time, guests will use the building’s front door. There’s also a sign on the street, open curtains and the ability to walk in without a booking.

Previously, dinner was a commitment of time, money and planning. Raichura hopes that people might visit the bar for their first taste of her food, or expats will drop by when they’re missing certain dishes.

The cocktail list (written by Tom McHugh, ex-Mulberry Group bartender) draws heavily on Indian and Australian ingredients.

A mango lassi-inspired drink features mango gin, lemon myrtle and mango puree in striking layers, while a black cardamom Old Fashioned uses the spice to infuse sugar syrup, and comes to the table amid wafts of with smoked paperbark.

The updated dining room now has bar stools, low tables and splashes of red, as well as photos and objects from the restaurant’s early days – including the table that guests used to sit around when Raichura ran supper clubs from her home in 2018 – which chart her journey from running a hobby to a business.

Enter Via Laundry’s bar opens Friday, April 12.

Open Wed-Sat 6pm-11pm

507 Nicholson Street, Carlton North, entervialaundry.com.au