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| The charm of Amritsar's dhabas... |
As we continued our heritage walk, we saw several street vendors
selling moong dal laddoos – savoury
dumplings served with a mix of spiced carrot and radish slices. We had to try
them out, of course. They were deliciously warm and spicy.
There were other vendors selling a huge variety of sweets and savouries, but I don’t think our stomachs would have withstood the
onslaught!
For dinner, we decided to pack stuff. We, the meat-eaters, picked
up some mutton (goat’s meat, in India) curry from Bhajan da Dhaba, which is
tucked away in the bye-lanes of Amritsar; I’m not sure I’d find my way to it
again! Best ask a local...
Our vegetarian friends picked up black daal, rice and paranthas from the third dhaba on the ‘circuit’ – Brother da Dhaba (right next to Bharawan da Dhaba) Both dhabas were apparently owned by the same family and then split - see fellow foodie Caramel Wings' comment below. Again, it looks like a restaurant; food is decent enough. But my dhaba vote goes to Kesar da Dhaba (see earlier post)! Incidentally, most dhabas, including these three, serve only vegetarian food.
Our vegetarian friends picked up black daal, rice and paranthas from the third dhaba on the ‘circuit’ – Brother da Dhaba (right next to Bharawan da Dhaba) Both dhabas were apparently owned by the same family and then split - see fellow foodie Caramel Wings' comment below. Again, it looks like a restaurant; food is decent enough. But my dhaba vote goes to Kesar da Dhaba (see earlier post)! Incidentally, most dhabas, including these three, serve only vegetarian food.
I almost forgot about this little detour – we had gol gappas (pani puri) at one of the street vendors near the Golden Temple.
Very under-whelming; the pani puri in
Mumbai is far better and of course nothing beats the puchkas of Kolkata!
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| There I am, stuffing my face with gol gappas! |
That evening, we headed to the Indo-Pak border at Attari (Wagah
Border) to witness the 'lowering of the flags' ceremony. On the way back, we stopped at a
restaurant Sarhad, which specialises in Indian and Pakistani cuisine. So we
tried some Lahori items such as chapli
kebabs (succulent and flavourful), Nihari
Gosht (thick gravy with some well-cooked mutton pieces) and Lahori naan (similar to the Indian one, but
it’s topped with black sesame seeds). And some lassi, of course, but that was just about OK.
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| Sarhad |
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| Chapli Kabab |
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| Lahori Naan |
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| Nihari Gosht |
And thereafter, we headed to the Temple to partake of the langar (community kitchen)! This is a
fantastic practice – the temple provides a free meal to anyone (irrespective of
religion or any other differentiator) who wishes to eat some simple, but
delicious fare. The kitchen is open 24X7 and feeds more than 75,000 people
EVERYDAY! But more on that later... (Update - read my feature on the langar at the Golden Temple, published in National Geographic Traveller, June 2014 issue)
I had no appetite whatsoever, but the husband and our friends all ate at the langar, and raved about the food – kind of made me wish that I had skipped the kulfi falooda. Well, another reason to go back to Amritsar! When are you planning your trip?
I had no appetite whatsoever, but the husband and our friends all ate at the langar, and raved about the food – kind of made me wish that I had skipped the kulfi falooda. Well, another reason to go back to Amritsar! When are you planning your trip?