Himachal Pradesh offers stunning views, pretty much from the instant you cross the border at Parwanoo and start your twisty way up into the Shivaliks. Every twist and turn brings new vistas and the temptation to stop and stare, but man does not live by scenery alone. Food, as in much of India, was pretty... Continue Reading →
I cycled a hundred kilometres for Mumbai's most famous vada pao. Thats a bit of an exaggeration, I admit. Not the cycling, the fame of the vada pao. I discovered two crucial things on reaching Panvel - one, the McDonalds is not actually in Panvel (its nearly 4km before Panvel) and two, that watermelons are... Continue Reading →
Though Turkish coffee is famous, we actually spent a lot of time in Turkey having chai. They call it cay which looks a bit like the numbers you find painted on trucks in India, but its chai, black, very strong and very sweet, served always in these colourful plates and glass tumblers. The Turks have... Continue Reading →
Ok I was in Turkey months ago. I've just been too lazy till just now about posting on its food. Turkish food has plenty in common with Indian food. The reason isn't hard to find; a succession of Turks have ruled various parts of India stretching back over a thousand years. We had Turkish painters... Continue Reading →
There's something magical about charcoal. Light it up slow, put pretty much any foodstuff on it and you'll soon have a line of people trying to persuade you to take their money. There's the ubiquitous corn cob (American or desi), roasted on the coals and then lathered with butter and nimbu. Then there's peanuts, seekh... Continue Reading →
Lucknow's famous kabab's are not easy to get in Mumbai. I've already talked about some restaurants in Lucknow in Mumbai, Lucknow and Smoke and Lucknow Again but a new entrant has now made the list. Of all places, a roadside eatery outside my office catering mainly to Mindspace's call-centre hordes has started selling Kakori kababs... Continue Reading →
In the days when I used to frequent trains, one of the (parentally unapproved) food items available at Asansol station was the Litti. Laloo has spread Litti Chokha across the railway network, on trains as well as stalls in railway stations across the country. Litti is essentially a ball of dough baked in the dying... Continue Reading →
Walking to the Madh Island ferry one evening, I came upon this brightly lit sweetshop selling red, round pakoras that did not look like anything I'd seen before. The ever-friendly shopkeeper told me they were cabbage pakoras (not the usual cauliflower), and shelling out five rupees made me proud owner of five of those balls.... Continue Reading →
Ask anyone who's lived in Kolkata in his or her youth, and the one food they hanker for is the Kolkata Roll. Mustard fish, rossogolla. puchka, jhalmuri, all have undoubted appeal, but the most universal of the lot is the kati roll. Everyone except a dietician loves it. I don't visit Kolkata that much anymore,... Continue Reading →
The Well Fed Bong 