Kurseong, a subdivision of Darjeeling which is another beautiful hill station that boasts of magnificent mountain views, beautiful rolling tea gardens, lush forests, pleasant weather round the year and friendly locals. It is named after a white orchid that grows in abundance. In today's episode we are out to explore some street food with our dynamic host Choephell who is a restaurateur, youth leader and entrepreneur from the city.
The first stop was Choephell's enchanting restaurant 33 Dream Cafe on Hill Cart Road. It's a youthful place with an interesting interior full of paintings, photos, colourful colleges, artefacts and inspiring quotes. Here we had a comforting chicken ramen bowl, one of the best chicken steamed momo and a brilliant ragi pancake. We thoroughly enjoyed the food while listening to Choephell’s magnificent life journey.
The second stop was Sahu Chop Shop in Haat bazaar. Located in a very narrow alley, this fritter is frequented by locals from all walks of life. The owner is a genial fellow and he serves different kinds of chop and fried litti too. We tried a fried litti and the newly introduced cheese pakoda. Both were quite good especially with the chutney. In no time the shop got crowded with people grabbing their favourite fritter.
The third stop was Kurseong Mishthan Bhandar which is mostly for Bengali sweets and snacks. There are so many options to choose from. We had some sandesh, gur rasgulla, gulab jamun and rasgulla. The jaggery rasgulla rasgulla reminded Anubhav of a sweet from Bihar that he loved as a child
The fourth stop was Sumit aalu momo. Here we tried an insane fusion dish called aalu chola momo. It had aalu dum, chole, momo, sev etc. The interplay of textures and flavours created a party inside the mouth.
The fifth stop was Fresh Bite Shah Nawaz Bakery which was decked up with various fresh breads and cookies. We tried the tandoori farata and some cookies. The former was a great pair for curries.
Finally we ended the tour at Rahul paan shop. Kalimpong is a small and quaint place with a delightful street food scene.