India - New Delhi, Agra, perhaps Jaipur

In Dec, we'll be flying to India for a friend's wedding. Our first few days will be to recover from the travels and the wedding, so that'll probably take care of our meals - but after that we'll be on our own.

Any suggestions for places, or styles of food we should look for and try? I've already been told to look for Indian Chinese food which is different, apparently, than Chinese food elsewhere in the world.

It is a bit tricky - we love food, so are looking forward to India - but we also know that we have to be very careful with what we eat and watch out (avoiding salads for example and fruits or vegetables that might have been washed but not cooked (unless like an orange they are sealed - been told the oranges in India are amazing and in season.

So any suggestions? (non-food suggestions contact me privately - especially suggestions for a third place besides Delhi and Agra to visit, perhaps someplace with a good, relaxing resort to spend Christmas at)

thanks!

Shannon

(non-food suggestions contact me privately - especially suggestions for a third place besides Delhi and Agra to visit, perhaps someplace with a good, relaxing resort to spend Christmas at)

I hope it is answered here. Since so many threads wander from food anyway, at least we learn something about India. I'd like to go someday and hope to gleen some information here.

BTW - I prepared a post on the only Indian style Chinese restaurant in Chicago I am aware of.

Regards,

Shannon: I was in India 20 years ago, so keep that in mind. Also, I don't know how much time you have. Here are a few non-food suggestions. First, it you go to Agra, take the side trip to Fatapur Sikri. (The spelling is wrong, but close.) About an hour, as I recall, away from Agra is an ancient city that was abandoned and is perfectly preserved. More interesting, to me, than the Taj Mahal, which has little on the inside. Second, if you have time to go west to Rajastan, go all the way to Jaisalmer, the walled city which is at the end of the road, at the edge of the desert. I'll never forget an overnight trip to a desert village I arranged there. Lastly, if not too far south, look up the caves of Ellora and Ajanta. Not heavily visited by westerners when I was there, these caves are artistic marvels. In Ajanta, they caves are carved out of a mountainside with magnificant paintings inside. Ellora has fantastic carvings. Another stop that may be within range are the temples of Khajuraho. These small temples in the middle of nowhere have elaborate (and frequently erotic) carvings on the oustide. It's a day trip, but I don't know how far from Delhi. Hope this helps. My memories of five weeks in India are undimned by the passage of years.

i second Jonahs reccomendations, especially jaisalmer which was far and away my favorite city. there's a somewhat touristy restuarant called "trio" where you can dine on the rooftop terrace. great views.

Terrance and Jonah,

Thanks for the suggestions - one note, however, we don't really want to spend most of our vacation traveling. So our plan is to find one place where we can spend the days around Christmas without trying to "get" anywhere - just enjoying ourselves and destressting from daily life. We've been considering Jaipur - but am open to other nearby locations which offer easy transportation from Agra (or perhaps from Delhi but our plan is to go wherever via Agra) and which offer easy transportation back to Delhi at the end of our trip - our primary goal is relaxation. A resort is certianly an option, a great hotel is another - but the key is someplace which has enough sights and stuff of interest that we don't have to spend all our time in transit.

Yes, I'm sure the caves and other sites are amazing - but this trip at least relaxation (and some shopping) as well as our friend's wedding is the primary goals. (along with we hope some good eating)

thanks!

Shannon

Hi Shannon,

I've spent quite a bit of time in Delhi and Rajasthan over the years, and I've been to Agra a few times. I don't know if you've travelled in India before, so I'll offer my eating guidlines. Forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know.

One rule of thumb that I try to adhere to in India is stick to the busy restaurants, and order what everybody else is ordering. To expand on that rule: don't order any European food, even in the nicer hotels. The food purveyors simply don't turn over enough of this stuff and sickness potential is great. I've had bad food poisoning in India 5 times, 4 of those from non-Indian meals. Once from fish sticks at the Gymkhana Club in Delhi, twice at a Mexican restaurant in Madras called Senor Pepes (seriously), once from a western style omlette at the Taj Hotel in Madras, and once from a yogurt-based snack at a street vendor in Hyderabad. So of maybe 100 western-style meals I've had in India I got nailed 4% of the time. Of the 1,000+ Indian style meals, I've had a failure rate of about 0.1%.

In Delhi, I'd say the can't miss restaurant is a fancy one called Bukhara in the Moria Sheraton Hotel. Sublime tandoori food, perhaps the best in the world. This is the place visiting dignitaries will go if they have one night in Delhi. As luck would have it, another favorite of mine is in the basement of the Moria - Dumpokht. Dumpokht serves Lucknow food, more traditional Indian village, non-vegetarian cooking.

For less expensive dining, ask a cabbie for the closest Moti Mahal (not related to the very mediocre Chicago spot). Ask your waiter for what's good. For a real street experience at a place I've had luck taking Americans to without problems, try Colonel Kabab in Defense Colony (a Delhi neighborhood). Great kababs, and you eat in the parking lot.

Agra, outside of the Taj neighborhood, is alot like Youngstown Ohio - blighted old industrial city. Stick to the hotels.

No help on Jaipur, I've been but can't recall my dining experiences.

On possible relaxing spots for the holidays - Udaipur, not doubt about it. The most friendly, out of the way, beautiful spot in Rajasthan. On a lake, lots of cheap hotels or nice ones, just perfect fro what you're looking for. See the James Bond flick Octopussy, it was filmed there.

Let me know if I can help some more, and give my the neighborhood in Delhi you'll be staying in if you can.

Regards,

Alex

Shannon,

This reminds me, I just heard on the radio that the Taj Mahal is now open again for nighttime viewing. For security reasons, this has not been the case for the past twenty-some years. Although reopened, nighttime viewing is, I believe, only open to 400 viewers per night. [I am not sure if tickets can be secured in advance, or if it is first come, first served...]

My first viewing of the Taj was at night. Except for the humongous hornet's nest that I was able to discern hanging from the eaves during a daytime visit, I much preferred viewing it in the moonlight. It is truly majestic.

Oh, I'd recommend the trip to nearby Fatehpur Sikri, as well.

Regards,
Erik M.

Shannon,

When you have time, I think we would appreciate an update on your trip to India. What you did, where you went and most importantly: how was the food!

Recently, my wife and I took a day trip from Delhi to Agra. One day is plenty to see all the major sights and even spend a couple hours walking around town. I was surprised to see the tourist part of town more or less confined to a short hotel row. 100 yards away from the major sights and you're in a completely local neighborhood filled with stray cows, incessant honking, and of course street food. After taking in the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, we decided to take a break from sight seeing and wander the neighborhood around the Agra Fort train station. Be warned, this area is extremely difficult to navigate, particularly since it is teeming with people and shops.



I think the area we ended up in is called the Subhash Bazar. The most popular street snacks appeared to be samosas and chole bhatura, so we tried both. It was easy to find a stand pulling samosas straight out of the fryer, and boy did that samosa deliver. The exterior was light and crunchy while the stuffing was a spicy and dense potato mash. By this point we were getting fed up with the combination of potatoes and bread so common in India, but the street samosa was a noteworthy exception. We held out for a chole bhatura vendor that was doing brisk business and found one deep inside the market. The bread was coming out of the fryer as fast as he could roll it out and people were lined up 3 deep waiting to get a plate, so we figured that was a winner. And it was. The bread was light with a nice chew and the chickpea gravy was seriously spicy with lots of raw onions on top. The vendor seemed quite surprised by westerners patronizing his stand and kept asking us if we were enjoying the food. It's surprising that a location like the Subhash Market draws so few tourists since it is only a 10 minute walk from the Agra Fort and it is an extremely authentic view of the chaos and mayhem that characterized our trip to India. Certainly it's dirty and unwelcoming, but it was completely safe and the food more than made up for the aggravation.



We had hoped to walk all the way to the Baby Taj (Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb), but we eventually gave up trying to navigate the chaotic, windy roads of old Agra, so we hopped a rikshaw. I had read about a famous parantha shop not far from the Baby Taj, so with a map in hand we resolved to find it without getting hopelessly lost. It's about a 10-15 minute walk from the Baby Taj across the river but the views of cows bathing and the people doing their laundry in the polluted river water made for some interesting viewing. Before crossing the river all the way, there is a staircase down to the street (rather than taking the road that curves to the right) and you want to go straight on that road (for some reason google doesn't have the name of the street). A short distance down that street, past Strand Road, is a shop specializing in fried paranthas.



The shop owner is extremely welcoming and speaks excellent English. He recommend the mixed veggie parantha, so we ordered that. First they bring you out a plate and fill two cups with sambar and a mild creamy curry. Then they bring out some punchy lime pickles and sweet tamarind sauce. Once the plate is assembled, the fried parantha comes out, piping hot. The exterior was crispy while the veggies inside were tender but still had some texture. The plate of condiments made each bite interesting, and about half way through the meal the owner brought out some yogurt which was probably my favorite when combined with the spicy and flavorful parantha.

Ram Babu Parantha Bhandar
Across the river from the Baby Taj



After a long day of touring sights, we were in the mood for a lighter dinner. I had read about a famous snack and sweets shop called GMB, located in the main hotel district, so we headed out there to check it out. The chaat section of the restaurant is actually outdoors, behind a long metal counter with pictures of the various snacks on the wall. We ordered quite an assortment and everything was good, though there were a couple stand outs.



The sev puri were the best I've ever hand. Somehow they got the combination of spicy masala and tamarind exactly right. Each bite exploded with flavor and the textural contrast with the crispy puri, the crunchy sev, and the juicy tamarind chutney was spot on. I've had good renditions in the past, but this one was firing on all cylinders.



The other stand out was the bhel puri. This version skillfully balanced covering the rice puffs with sticky tamarind sauce without losing the satisfying crunch. This was good enough that we didn't feel compelled to risk it with one of the street vendors later on. Good thing because I was seriously craving bhel puri. Overall GMB delivered some excellent chaats and scratched the snack craving I'd been having on the trip to that point. This is also in a calm part of town with lots of hotels, so it's a good spot for the less adventurous as well, even though this particular restaurant appeared to be catering almost exclusively to locals when we were there.

GMB Sweets
Fatehabad Road
Down the street from the Hotel Howard Park

Looks awesome, India is so intimidating...thanks for helping me travel vicariously.