In today's food tour episode, we are going to check out the street scenario in the city of Patiala. Situated in the Southeastern part of the state of Punjab, Patiala has strong cultural and historical roots. The city is famous for Patiala jutti, Patiala salwar and Patiala peg. Talking about the street food over here, we can say that the city is a foodie's paradise because it has so much to offer. To guide us in this gastronomic journey we were joined by the young food blogger Divyam (https://www.instagram.com/eating_giants/) who is hugely fond of his city's food culture.
Our journey started with a simple breakfast of paratha and chai from the Harbans Dhaba, a favourite among the locals, who come to relish some tasty and affordable food. We tried their aloo anda paratha and gobhi paratha with masala chai. It was decent and filling. The sweet milky tea, fondly called the Formula chai was quite invigorating. This place is open 24x7 and gets really crowded during night.
From there we went to Patiala shahi lassi shop. This place with its contemporary interiors and vibes is famous for its sweets and most importantly lassi. They offer an amazing rage of lassi that includes the classics ones and fusion ones. We tried three kinds of lassi and a few of their popular sweets. Their lassi were phenomenal, especially the mango one. Among the sweets we liked gajar pak and chocolate burfi the most.
Next place in the tour was Malhotra sweets corner. We're there to try their hot selling paneer ke pakoda. As proclaimed by Divyam, it truly outstanding. The crisp exterior and the soft and succulent interior of the paneer pakoda made them one of the best snacks out there.
He then took us to Sadhu ram halwai for their khasta kachoris. It was just a room full of people, one of whom was doling out kachoris and samosas with aloo ki sabzi and imli pudina chutney. We had ordered a kachori and it was delicious. The outer part was crisp and flaky while the inner urad dal based stuffing was distinctly flavourful. The potato curry and the chutney simply enhanced it's irresistible taste.
After that hearty savoury snack we reached Charan juice and confectionery to try their fruit cream drink. It was a thick, creamy and super refreshing stuff that elated you with a different flavour in every sip.
Next we went on to have the most delicious chana kulcha in the town from this makeshift stall called Oxford kulche wala. As we couldn't find them out there because they had wound up for the day, Divyam took us to their home because he didn't want us to miss these kulchas whose fame has reached even Canada.The family welcome us and happily served us their famous chana kulcha which was loaded with all yummy stuffs.
Divyam then took us to one of his favourite places in the city i.e the Sahni dhaba whose butter chicken has a huge fan base. We opted for butter chicken, rara chicken, tandoori and missi roti. This butter chicken was quite different from the sweet and creamy version that we Delhiites are used to. The taste was a mix of spicy chicken curry and smooth butter chicken. We personally loved the rara chicken which was an extra spicy dhaba style chicken curry that had mutton mince in it.
From there we headed to Ambala Chaat for having chats and golgappe. But after going through the neat and crisp menu we ordered satrangi golgappa wondering about it's rainbow effect. It was actually a serving of seven different flavoured golgappa. We loved the riot of flavours and textures that filled our mouth and our heart.
Finally we ended the journey with the characteristics Patiala peg from Peddlers. It is actually an particular amount of liquor that is measured by holding the index, middle and ring finger together pitted against the wall of the glass.
This tour was quite and amazing experience with all the great food, the warm interactions and the happy vibes.