In today's episode, we have embarked on a drooling street food tour across the upmarket locality of Bistupur in Jamshedpur. It is a pleasing and somewhat clean neighborhood with dedicated market areas. To guide us on this exploration we have with our young and dynamic host Chiraj who is a PR professional and great foodie well aware of the food scenario of his home city. It was a long day full of visiting numerous eateries hence we have divided the full experience into two parts. Today is the first one featuring seven stops.
We started with the old yet popular South Indian restaurant the Madrasi Hotel whose delicious and affordable menu with a spacious sitting area makes it a favorite with the South Indian food-loving locals. Here we tried the masala dosa whose crepe was crisp and the filling was mushy. This was followed by chilli powder idli and filter coffee. Both the dosa and podi mixed idli were accompanied by sambar, coconut chutney, and podi.
From there we went to the Fakira Chanachur shop which is a haven for different kinds of traditional snacks that are enjoyed in many forms. After learning about shop's success story from the third-generation owner we tried some mixed chanachur that was spiced up with a spice mix, onions, and lemon juice.
While heading to our next destination located at the Fruit Market, we made a pit stop at a random fruit cart on beholding the sight of glistening orange balls of cape gooseberry fruit. They were juicy, sweet, and absolutely delightful.
From there we reached Bhatia Milkshake, a colorful shop specializing in chilled beverages. We had intended to try a pineapple drink but since custard apple was in season, we opted for custard apple milkshake. It was creamy, luscious, and refreshing.
This was followed by a brilliant saffron tea from Baba chai. Run by a dynamic young fellow, this neat and tidy cart was worth a visit as the tea served in a clay cup was divine.
Next was the turn of masala cold drink from Regal Masala Cold Drink. We decided to try it because Chirag convinced us that it was quite different from the usual masala cold drink because of the secret in-house spice mix. This claim proved to be true because the masala cold drink was zesty and refreshing.
The following stop was The Boulevard Hotel's in-house restaurant Chopsticks. It is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in the city whose food is much extolled. We tried their best-selling dish, the chilli chicken. It was indeed a well-made chili chicken.
The final stop of this tour was Brubeck bakery where we were joined by Varun, the owner of Regal Cafe. It is a cozy cafe with a trendy and raw vibe. On his recommendation, we tried mushroom puff, chicken patty, lemon tart, pineapple upside-down cake, and blueberry cheesecake. All of them were so phenomenal that this place had a piece of our hearts.
The second part of this tour will be up on Wednesday.