Monotony is a killer. Bored of scribbling about the so called society, it’s people, movies, ideologies, etc. I unintentionally ignored a very prominent angle of mine i.e. food. So here I come…from restaurants that would obviously offer the best of everything to getting the best of certain dishes in the most unexpected places, I share my foody experiences with you.
Let me warn you, I am no Vir Sanghvi or a trotter who’s been to some countryside eatery in Istanbul and would go gaga about some almost alien dish.
Let me go down the memory lane. As a kid, I trotted quite a lot with parents. I was too young when we visited Ooty and to have been able decipher the taste of food we ate there, but all I remember that I had this enticing chocolate flavoured tea. It almost felt like I was having bar of Dairy milk!
Come jawani and the travel bug bit me. I started venturing out on my own. With friends, for work, no work…
I have these preconceived notions about hills, notion because I still don’t know if it’s a fact. One of them…that hills have some of the best bakeries. I bumped into the most succulent apple pies in Mussoorie. One bite and it melts in your mouth. Quite unlike those apple pies they give you in CCDs. Ohh it doesn’t end here, the pasta alone was something that will take me to Mussoorie again. Penne cooked in a weird sauce neither red nor white (instead an orange sauce), but tasted divine. The chocolate chips were something I could die for. And as you relish the fruit cream, you have Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, Bob (both Marley and Dylan) and posters of Casablanca and the likes staring at you from the walls. The owner is this 50 year old globetrotting rocker chap who picked these from all over the world. Chic Chocolate is what the place is called. Keep walking on the mall road till you reach the ropeway. Take the way up. Cross Dominos and CCD as the road takes a left turn towards landour bazaar. Spot the place on your left. Oh ya…they have some heavenly homemade white chocolates too!
Great food is always a value add to any trip. And all the more, when you get to have the most delicious dishes in the most unlikely places.
If Hrishikesh was one level less beautiful, I would never have the urge to go there twice. It’s vegetarian!!! Isn’t that enough? And the well known local chain Chotiwala offers quite yucky food. Let’s face it…food IS a problem for budget travelers in Hrishikesh. Until you force yourself to get into one of those groovy German cafeterias only to bump into Firangs doing bumbhole! The fussy me pokes from inside at the most appropriate times. Questions like hygiene, what if they serve doggy meat and the ilkes come up when I can kill for food. I gathered courage and climbed up those stairs before laxmanjhula begins. In the next 30 minutes, I realized it was not any place, It was a place that was very close to heaven. With the best spinach soup and the rebellious Ganga on my right, it was nirvana. From the briken glass window, a monkeys tried to figure out what was there in my bowl and went off looking disappointed. The soup, I thought could give a run to soups served in Mainland China. The vegetable salad came to my table as an enlightenment that mayonnaise and dressings are useless. How just vinegar can do wonders to a salad. The cookies and pies I packed to binge on my journey back to Delhi were simply out of the world. When you the reach the non-temple end of laxmanjhula, face the jhula and look at your left. Climb up the staircase to reach the last little dingy cafeteria called German bakery. Heaven’s really close from here. Trust me!
Life really throws up some delightful surprises. How about a dash of orient in the rustic state of Rajasthan? I prepared myself for gatte ki subzi and roti for the next three days when I started. Day 1 and 2 were ordeals in the government lodge with mix veg (lauki and aloo mix). The last day I headed to this private lodge that had a red brick building. Out of a dozen resorts on the same road why did I choose that one. My weakness towards red brick building since DU makes me pick one whenever given a choice. And DU saved me again! We played it safe and ordered for noodles and chicken chilli. They took close to an hour to serve it on our table. The chef probably went to poultry to pick a chicken, marinated it, cooked before he could serve it right on our table. And trust me I’ve never had such wonderful chilli chicken. It might have been miles away from being authentiv but who cares! We spend almost 5 times the money for those Chinjabi preparations in Golden Dragon and Chungwa! Juicy, spicy to the right level and you could feel the freshness in every bite. There was this big Delhi family goring on dal makhni, navrattan korma and roti, I looked at them and kept saying, “they don’t know what they are missing” till I got scolded to shut up and just enjoy. As you turn take the right towards the park gate keep left. You will spot only one red brick building. Welcome to China!
I confess, I can go till any extent for food. This was till I turned a health freak one month back. (man I’m into serious gymming n all!) So I was as game heading to Chandni Chowk for a lunch as well as walk down to city walk for a lunch buffet at spice market.
Delhi never disappoints foodies. Let’s start with the never ending list of street food. Bengali market offers the best chaat in town. No debates on that. For the non finicky on taste and extremely hygienic ones Sona sweets in Nehru Place offers some of the best chaats in town. Reach the famous golchakkar climb up the stairs and take a left to spot a big hogging crowd. You really can’t trust Sona for rabri faluda. And we shouldn’t be blaming the south Indian proprietor for this. For the most authentic rabri faluda you have to travel some 20 kms. Head to Chandni Chowk Take a rickie, go straight till the fatehpuri chowk then take a right and keep going straight. On your right, you will see this really dedicated guy making lassis. Only if you haven’t eaten for the last 3 days, try a glass and move ahead to spot a queue on your left. No it’s not a ticket queue; it’s the queue to heaven. Yes! You need to really behave and stand quietly in the line to experience the world’s best rabri faluda. 45 bucks??? Isn’t that expensive for chandni chowk? No it’s too cheap a ticket to heaven! Since you’ve started your meal dessert, Let’s head towards Jama Masjid for food! Karim’s ! bus naam hi kaafi hai! Coming back to street food, the guy in ber sarai market gives the best momos in the south. Try them in those foggy winter evenings! Now that we are close to the airport, let’s fly to Kolkata for the next round of foochkas and rolls. Try out any foochkawalla across the city, each one guarantees better taste than the other one. Only one place in Delhi has the same foochkas…reach the malviya nagar main market, cross the kotak ATM, The more intellectual ones head towards coffee house, any of the two and order a chicken omelet! Eggs fried in lavish oil stuffed with succulent breast strips of chicken! And all this for less than 20 bucks! Welcome to Kolkata! My impatience to hog on those egg and chicken rolls took a toll on me when I paid some 200 bucks to buy a couple of ‘Kolkata chicken rolls’ on my flight to Kolkata. I wish I had waited for a couple of hours more! But anyways those cold, stale and tasteless ‘Kolkata chicken rolls’ could’t do any harm to my enthu. On reaching, I headed straight to the best roll guy in town on Lindsay street. If you knew the old weekender store (now changed to something else), or take the connecting lane that has scoops to reach Lindsay Street. The van is on your right. Order and take a seat. The total waiting time is 5 mins at max even in the rush hours. The rolls leave me speechless. The noodles are no less. Oh ya! And when you are in Kolkata delete the word calorie from your dictionary. That should help. For restaurants, I prefer 6 Ballygunge Place. Yes it’s the name and the address both! All I would say about the food here is these folks are giving the Oh! Calcutta monopoly a good run for their money. And their Lunch buffet has a welcome drink too!
Talking about metropolis, my life has been mostly spent in Kolkata and Delhi. So whatever I know will be of these two cities. Kindly bear!

This blog has already become too big. And I cant wait to upload it So will talk about the rest in my next blog/ Stay tuned!