indian food in india

going next wk for a month with a very open agenda. two questions for those that have previously been. i've been warned repeatedly not to eat on the street, something i'd most naturally do and wouldn't want to miss out on. is it just over cautious americans afraid of a bad exprerience or am i truely pressing my luck? can't see searching out a good hotel when a billion people are on the streets doing what i'll be coveting.

also, any suggestions? i'll most likely be in delhi, varnassi, mumbai and goa.

Don't have a lot of time to answer this question (and its a fairly large one)

delhi - I've eaten mainly with family but a couple places I'd mention are karim's in the old city (very famous and justly so), and anupama's for sweets in greater kailash

here's an old thread from chowhound with some more info http://www.chowhound.com/boards/intl2/m ... /9319.html

bombay - I'd look up busybee's archive on the web - http://www.busybeeforever.com/eating.asp

elsewhere on LTH I've posted links to a number of very good articles from the magazine outlook traveler which I've found to be very very good (for example the chennai article had both of the places that came up in conversation here on food in chennai, and have spoken to folks from bombay about the bombay article who think it gets it right

The outlook traveler pieces are spot on about great local places. Zim has posted links to many

zim wrote:also I really like the food pieces from various regions from outlook traveller You kind of have to poke around in the archives to get to a lot of them or for direct links for some of them take a look here

zim also wrote:They've done a few more of those reports that weren't included in the link above, here are a few of them

Moveable Feast - The Konkan Comeback

AMRITSAR: A Culinary Journey

Amritsari Street Food - Fat of the Land

I haven't been to the cities on your list in nearly ten years and so can't give you specific recs. As far as staying away from local food, I may not be the best advisor – I grew up with the bugs and microbes endemic to that part of the world and therefore may have certain built in immunities. That said, I would say that the problem may be less in the food than in the water. The microbes etc. that may cause adverse effects are likely to be in the water to a much larger extent. Avoid unboiled water, and be wary of 'mineral water' if the seal is broken (and depending who is pushing it, if the seal is unbroken). I think you may have a greater chance of an adverse effect from a green salad at a hotel than the hot off the tandoor chicken at a roadside stall.
It would be a pity to visit Mumbai (Bombay) and not try the chaats and pao-bhaji (at Chowpatty or elsewhere), or Delhi and not seek out a place with good kababs and tandoor items, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Hope you have a good trip!

zim wrote:Don't have a lot of time to answer this question (and its a fairly large one)


bombay - I'd look up busybee's archive on the web - http://www.busybeeforever.com/eating.asp

I second this, a priceless resource. I picked out bunches of restaurants
from this site before my last trip, and lugged the printouts everywhere
I went in Bombay

It depends what kind of food you want of course, and where youre
located. But some things you really should do IMHO. Like Goa
Portuguesa. The Noor Mohammadi "Nalli Nehari and Kheema"
breakfast (a real dive, but the best nehari Ive ever eaten - cooked
for 12 hours, ready at 6am every day, and finished by 9am so
you have to get there early. Wonderful stuff. Do carryout if you
have to, its not neccesarily the best place to eat-in, but the nalli
nehari is terrific).

You also have to do Persian Durbar's "Tandoori Masala Raan" - you
can eat in or do carryout, or else they deliver too, most places.
This was one of my favourite meals, I would get them to deliver
it every so often - fantastic meal. Enough food for 4 people, if
you have rotis and rice (else you can order them too). You can
get them to slice up the meat into (largeish) pieces, would make
it easier to eat than the whole leg (as the raan is sometimes cooked).
This shoudl be a must-do - PErsian Durbar is not in the most
convenient location for tourists, but they do deliver. And I believe
they have a branch now in Bandra as well, so may have a much
bigger range in terms of delivery.

Really should do seafood, cooked in Goanese or Mangalorean
style (Goa Portuguesa is one spot, the most expensive and most
upscale, for Goanese). For Mangalorean, Keralan etc, there are
several near town - all more reasonable. Ankur, Mahesh Lunch
Home, or even Konkan (in the President Hotel IIRC).

(All the above places have reviews, addresses, phone-numbers,
menu-items, and even prices listed in the Busybee reviews, the
lnk to which was provided by Zim above).

Of the non-busybee places.. if youre in town, Colaba Causeway
(where most tourists do their shopping), there is a branch of
Delhi Durbar right there. Good solid place, very good Mughlai
style food, used to be my favourite growing up and would
be convenient and a terrific option. (The best Delhi Durbar is
in Grant Road, but few tourists venture there - Colaba Causeway
is the obvious place for someone in the vicinity).

IF youre in the Colaba Causeway vicinity - other options exist
too. Copper Chimeny has a branch nearby, v ery good for kababs
etc too. As also Ming Palace (the 2nd or 3rd best Chinese restaurant
in Bombay - the best may be China Garden, and the second best
Mainland CHina... though Mainland China is very very far away.
China Garden is at the Crossroads mall. THis is Indian-Chinese,
which is a slightly different animal - but is very very good in its
own way).

For the best Kulfi in the world - IMHO malai kulfi, but you can try
different flavours - Parsi Dairy Kulfi, on Princess Street (just
off Marine Drive, Bombay's biggest landmark street). Any cabbie
will be able to take you to "Parsi Dairy" if you ask.

Sweets in general... depends what kind you like. My favourite
Kaju Katri (my favourite sweet in general probably) is at Opera
House, place called Tewari Brothers. You also have to visit
the "Natural Ice Cream" parlours dotted across the city - they
use fresh fruit, only whats in season (you may just catch the
start of mango-ice-cream season, which makes me very jealous).
If you do visit Noor Mohammadi for breakfast... very close by
is "Usman Suleiman Mithaiwala", a wonderful famous old sweet-maker
whose family has been around for decades. SOme things are
awesome there - the "malai khaja" is terrific, but must not be
refrigerated and must be consumed in about 24 hours at most
(it has fresh cream). An uncle has been pining for this for a couple
of decades now - but cant get it, because it cant be transported
to Chicago (as it would spoil before it got here). Lots of places
make fresh jalebis - thats a must-have in India (not a single jalebi
anywhere in Chicago holds a candle to almsot any jalebi in
Idia). Also, Ras Malai is a must-have - another sweet that is
fantastic when made well, but doesnt have a single good version
in CHIcago. You can get these at several places, all good - Brijwasi
is a Bengal-style chain that has several outposts, all quite good.If
youre in Colaba (for shopping, and/or the restaurants mentioned
above)... go a bit further down the causeway, and ask to be
directed to "Kailash Parbhat", a wonderful snack and sweet shop.
They make fresh jalebis, and most other sweets - and also have
very good savouries, if youre in the mood for snacks.

Most of htese places, you may be able to finnd addresses on
the internet ... or else, if youre in the vicinity, just ask someone.
These are all quite famous spots, and most will know where
to direct you.

If you know what part of Bombay youre going to be in, let me know -
might make it easier to rec a couple of places Its a wonderful
food city IMHO - doesnt have the variety of some of the American
cities of course, due to lack of immigration, but a lot of what it
does is the best in the world IMHO. Enjoy yourself

(Oh, and as for street food.. I dont do it very much myself, even
though I consider my immunity-level to be fairly strong. I never
drink the water anywhere outside,. always go with like Pepsi
or Coke instead. As long as the food is hot, however, I think
its ok to eat - thus restauirants are fine. But some of the
"pani puris" etc have water in them, and I sort of try and
stay way. You can have "bhel puri" at some restaurants,
and its very good - but I try and stay away fro having it on
the streets nowadays, myself. (You'll get a good version at
Kailash Parbhat mentioned above, for example. But there are
literally hundreds of restaurants serving excellent versions -
most small restaurants do an excellent job of it).

c8w

A friend of mine has been travelling to India a few times a year now for decently long stays to train computer technicians. I've been talking food a lot with him.

Until this last trip, he'd been repeatedly sick and eaten food that he thought wasn't any better than the Indian out here (and we're talking Oregon), except the naan, which he thought was much better.

Since he's the "client" all the companies wanted to take him to the nicest restaurants, mostly in **** and ***** hotels. Only on this last trip did he start going to the more typical places that the techs enjoyed. And guess what. He didn't get sick at these more humble places and the food was way better. He actually got to eat some regional Southern Indian, rather than the Westernized northern Indian at the hotels.

As for street food, I've never eaten it in India, but in every other country I've been to, I still believe that it's the safest bet if you take obvious precautions. It's the only food you can actually see the preparation methods and see how long it might have been sitting. And generally it's touched by fewer hands. There are some great resources I've read on traveller's diarrhea and the issue is often not so much the water, but contamination from unclean hands. There was one doctor who specialized in the subject who was pretty blunt about it, blaming much of it on bathroom etiquette in India. Well, if it has to go from one cook's station to another, then to a waiter, maybe two, you're increasing your odds of someone contaminating the food. Fewer fingers, fewer bugs.

thanks everyone. just got back. managed to hit a few of the spots suggested and went to the source as well. didn't do goa in mumbai as i went to goa instead. ate tiger prawns on the beach (twice) washed down w/decent port. the pomfret and bekti were fantastic as well. pomfret reminded me of pompano and the bekti was somewhat like halibut or scrod. same w/rajastani food. just went to jaipur (handi was the name of the best place i ate there). ate on the street quite a bit and only regretted it twice. once in darjeeling and once in delhi. stayed away from water and ice, but think a few banana lassi's got me in delhi. not certain though.

jazzfood wrote:the pomfret and bekti were fantastic as well. pomfret reminded me of pompano and the bekti was somewhat like halibut or scrod.

Pompano is pomfret (or at least a subvariety - silver or black pomfret). see here
It's one of my favourite fishes. Few bones, excellent spiced and grilled. Easily available - pretty good quality too - in the Argyle markets.

Bhetki is a tasty fish, very popular in Bengali cuisine - fried or in curries. Huh? What do I know - googling suggests it is Lates calcarifer which is (or related to) Barramundi. see this link. Barrmundi came up recently in this thread

Glad you had a good trip - did you go to Darjeeling via Calcutta/Kolkata? Had I known you were going thataways I would have had specific recs...

i lived in s fla for quite awhile so i'm very familiar w/pompano and addison mizner.

the bhekti they said was fried, but actually appeared to be dusted w/chickpea flour, sauteed in ghee and maybe finished in a tandoor and was garnished w/curry leaves and red capsicum.

it will take me quite some time to digest this trip, both literally and figuratively. nothing i've ever experienced in my past travels prepared me for india. no picture, book or film can approach the 1st hand experience.

oh yeah, i went to darjeeling via varanasi where i was for holi, on an overnite train. just missed the toy train so we cabbed it the rest of the way. both were definate high points of the trip.