Ahmedabad is the first heritage city of India. This city has preserved and welcomed its ancestral belongings so well that it feels amazing to be around them. While the city is developed, it holds on to its past and respects it a lot! This is what we love about Ahmedabad.
Ahmedabad is the first heritage city of India. This city has preserved and welcomed its ancestral belongings so well that it feels amazing to be around them. While the city is developed, it holds on to its past and respects it a lot! This is what we love about Ahmedabad.
The old Ahmedabad has a soul of its own. It is about the feeling of comfort and silences in gali kucchas (bylanes), the dilapidated looking houses habituating them. It is everything authentic, raw and beautiful. Some people breathe to live in these places and stay in touch with old food habits and traditions.
Hold our hands and we will take you for a peaceful old Ahmedabad food tour:
Fafda Jalebi at Chandravilas- Fafda is a popular Gujarati snack made up of gram flour, turmeric and carom seeds. A dough is made out of all these ingredients and then it is rolled flat to cut long pieces of it. It is deep fried and served with big green chillies, papaya shreds and kadhi’s chutney.
These are very crisp and yum to munch on!
Here you should also try Jalebis. They are a wow sight! Made from wheat and chickpea flour, these are crisp, coiled and dipped in sugar syrup to give them the amazing taste they have! It is a must try for everyone with or without the sweet tooth.
Additionally, you could also try their puffed puris and ‘aaloo ki sabji’. This sabji doesn’t have the skin of potatoes peeled off, which adds to the nutritive value!
Fun Fact- This shop is very old, and was established in 1905. Famous people like Amitabh Bacchan, Kishore Kumar, Gandhiji, Sardar Vallabhi Patel have made this place star studded.
*This is the place where ‘The Gujarati Thali’ was born. So if someone asks you, you know! Remember Chandravilas.
Price- INR 50
Mohan Thal at Kandoi Bhogilal- Mohan Thal is like a gelatinous ‘mithai’ which is made up of chickpea flour, refined butter and almonds. The quantity of everything (even the not disclosed ingredients) is so apt that it tastes almost unreal! It genuinely will deliver a good taste and smell in your mouth.
It’s just so right and perfect. It’s chewy, rich, soft, nutty and flavourful!
You can also try a platter of ‘mithais’. There’s lots but the most preferable ones would be sandwich mithai, chocolate mithai, pistachio barfi and saffron cashew roll. Even ‘delectable’ is an underestimated word for these.
These all are excellent tasting and not over sweet. A tour can be incomplete but not so incomplete that a person forgets going over to Kandoi Bhogilal! It is unforgivable.
*This shop has been winning ‘The Best Mithai Shop’ award since 2008. It is now a heritage site.
Price- INR 400 for 500 grams.
Mix Chavna at Juna Share Bazar Chavan wala- You can buy a lot of ‘namkeen’ snacks from here. ‘Namkeen’ means ‘salty’. Because it is Gujarat, of course there will be dry snacks on the sweeter site as well like Mixed Namkeen.
They have a wide variety for you to choose from!
Price- INR 200-500 per kg.
Mix Khaman at Das Khaman House- Khaman is a steamed cake made from soaked and crushed chana dal. It is then cut into small pieces and served with chillies and chutneys. It is relatively a healthier Gujarati snack.
Here, you will get unique and delicious varieties of Khaman. Mix Khaman is one of them. It is tossed in red chillies and gives that kick to the taste buds. There’s also amazing ‘Dahi Khaman’, Green Fry Khaman (having mint and coriander) and sandwich khaman which is lined with coriander chutney between the two slices of Khaman.
These khamans are definitely a must try, especially the mixed and the dahi one!
Price- INR 200- 300 per kg.
Panki at Swati Snacks- Panki is rice batter cooked between banana leaves. This batter is extremely thin like a very light handkerchief and you will have to peel its skin off from the leaves to eat it.
Since, the combination of chutneys and chillies in Gujarat is quite a staple, here also they serve Panki with the same. It is something new and you should not go without trying it.
It is a popular breakfast dish among the locals.
Price- INR 175 per plate.
Thepla and Tea at Khetla Aapa- It is a very famous place and is found in every corner of Gujarat.
Theplas are Gujarati soft flatbreads made up of besan, fenugreek (methi) leaves and turmeric. They are served with garlic chutney. Then comes their special tea which they cook in an hour and synonymously in the coming another hour, it vanishes! Ladies and gentlemen, the popularity!.
They use full fat milk and keep cooking and stirring it till it becomes thick. Even the colour changes from white to orangish-brown. The combo of thepla and tea here is very tranquil!
Gujarati Thali at Vishala- Let's start with “This Thali is super huge” (read HUGE ). Heed our advice. Go on an empty stomach and with another person.
There are at least more than ten side dishes , then of course some sweets and lots in the main course. You’ll have more than thirty five things on this plate. Yes, you heard it right, thirty five! There are chillies, tomatoes, beetroots, ginger, peanuts, khakra, thepla, bajre ka rotla, khaman, lobia, corn freitas, buttermilk, white butter, jalebi etc. We really cannot list everything here! (You should watch the video.)
Everything is rich and good. Even if it looks overwhelming, it is not! The quantity of each of the servings is also not too much.
Gujaratis don’t eat sweets after the meal, they eat it along the meal!
You’ll love the people serving you because they are all dressed in a typical Ahemdabadi attire. Also, there’s no plate. You will have to sit on a mat and eat from a banana leaf. It is a very interesting experience.
Travelling to Gujarat? Make sure to check out the Surat and the Vadodara series if you haven’t already!
