The Foodie’s escapades............

Apart from exploring different parts of Delhi for food, I make it a point to explore the by lanes of all my destinations for the best of food. This post is dedicated to two of the best places to have food across the world.

Lahore
If I have to single out a street / place that I would want to have food at if I knew that it would be the last day of my life it would be the food street in Lahore. Situated in Gawalmandi, Lahore this street is the centre of traditional food. Open to traffic in the day time the street starts to metamorphose as the darkness begins to fall. Out come the tables, and the street-side pots and pans, and on go the flames. The good thing about this street is no matter where you are sitting ,you can order food from any of the 20 odd shops that line the street .Coming to the food - The mutton chop,seekh kebab, chicken tikka and Sardar di Macchi are a must have for starters. In the main course you should not miss the, nihari siri pai and biryani .The lassi (buttermilk) goes well with the food and is served in a huge (and I mean huge) glass and should not be missed at any cost. To end the meal there are deserts like gulab jamuns, gajjar halwas, cold milk with pistachio, kulfi faluda and ice creams to chose from. Whatever you order you will be left craving for more even if your stomach has already raised the white flag. And to top it all off there is the famous Lahore pan. The downside to this place however is the fact that there is not much that caters to the vegetarians. For most locals vegetarianism is something that is inconceivable…Pakistani's are devout carnivores. A gentleman I met on my trip had been on a diet in which he ate only red meat for 40 days to reduce weight J

Amritsar/Ambarsar
If there is one place in the world where vegetarians should flock to for the best North Indian food it is Amritsar. The dhabas here are out of the world. I haven’t had a better dal makhani ,shahi panner , sarson da saag , rajma chawal or a bhindi masala elsewhere. My strong recommendations are Bhrawan dhaba situated in the town hall and Kesar da dhaba at Chowk Passian.
But the buck does not stop here; Amritsar serves the best Kulcha chola in the world. You would never have had anything better in breakfast. They are fantabulous .One of the best places to have this delicious snack is at the Chungi Maqbool Road. You would think that Amritsar has a lot to offer , but wait I have not yet talked about the Jalebis and the Lassis.Just by mentioning them my mouth starts watering. The jalebis at Khubi Halwaai Katra Ahluwalia near Golden Temple are the best I have ever had( some people would say that the Jalebis at chandni chowk near Sheeshganj Gurudwara in Delhi are better but frankly nothing beats the Jalebis at Amritsar ). I can say the same for the Lassi at Gian Halwaai opp. Regent Cinema, Hall Gate. The size of the lassi glass in both Lahore and Amritsar can be daunting for a foreigner (Punjabis like me though are used to drinking a litre of lassi with their meal J)
If you are a non-vegetarian and thinking that Amritsar does not offer much to you, you are mistaken. No trip to Amritsar can be complete without a visit to Makhan's Fish at Lawrence Road. It serves the world famous Amritsari fish at its best. I went to this shop on each day of my stay in this city. Occasionally I used to be disappointed because the stock of fish would finish before I reached (and I used to reach the shop pretty early). If you like mutton chops then Amritsar is the place for you to be. A small shop near Adarsh Cinema serves Mutton chops and tikkas with hot kulchas.The only issue though is that the place is a bit shady and goes even more shadier in the night( with the sight of huge sardars drinking neat alcohol from their bottles while devouring the mutton chops).

Lahore and Amritsar are two places that one can visit just because of the quality of food served there. But the fact is that both places boast of great cultural heritage , monuments and religious temples that add to the charm of the places. The golden temple at Amritsar is one my favourite places in the world. The calmness and the serenity of the place takes one to another plane altogether. Lahore on the other hand boasts of forts/mosques that have amazing architecture and history attached to them.

All in all both Lahore and Amritsar are places that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime