Being the foodie that I am, I have covered almost all the well known restaurants in Bengaluru. While some places were nothing less than a wonderland, there are quite a few restaurants that did not quite prickle my taste buds. I usually write a review about some of my favorite eateries, believe me reviewing food is no easy task. I am someone who is very much fond of tasty food, whenever my mood turns off, the only thing my friends do is, they take me to a nice dinner.
Once the ‘dying out of hunger’ situation it was, that one of my friends Abhi and I decided to hit the best street in Bengaluru. The Food Street in VV Puram, known locally as Thindi beedi, a literal translation, the street stretches out long and narrow in front of me, filled with eateries on either side and with several food carts spilling over to the road. We were coming back home, stuck in a mighty traffic jam, suddenly our stomachs started grumbling aloud, it was then we decided enough was enough and drove to VV Puram, which is one of the oldest areas in Bangalore and also houses the famous ‘Food Street’.
At the entrance to the road stands the corn seller, stocking over ten varieties of corn, including the slightly puzzling lemon butter baby masala corn. At the other end of the street is VB Bakery, one of Bangalore’s oldest and best bakeries. It is the oldest landmark in that area for those old citizens of Bangalore. I was shocked to this little bakery where the items get sold out in a matter of an hour!
We chose to begin our journey to Food Street from the entrance. Our first stop was at the Idly stall. Served on a leaf with a splatter of coconut chutney and sambar, the idlis here just melt in your mouth. The guy who makes them pulls the tray straight from the steaming vessel, scoops out the fluffy idlis into a leaf and hands it over. Being South Indian, I know my idli well. I always used to criticize idlis. But trust me, the idlis at this place simply blew me away. However instead of ordering two plates of idlis, we just ordered one plate and shared it, so that we could savor all the items on Eat Street. The idlis vanished in less than a minute. Half my mind wanted to order another plate while the other half wanted to zip to the next stall and gobble down the Onion dosa. Half the fun at Food Street lies in standing by the stall and watching the men cook your food right in front of you.
Our onion dosa, dripping with ghee, smelling like heaven ended up on our single plate. Without even waiting to chew the dosa in the mouth, we dug into the next piece like hungry dogs. Every single person around that stall was eating as if he or she hadn’t seen food for months together. 🙂 But seriously the dosa was so good that we just couldn’t stop with one. We ordered one more dosa.
However, at the third stall selling holige (a sweet made with jaggery, known as Puran poli in Hindi) our resolve crumbles. The cook stands rooted to his spot, patting the dough filled with the jaggery, his fingers flying over the hot stove, now putting one more on it, now turning a semi-cooked one or taking one off it. He has a helper, a chhotu (small one) who serves it piping hot to the waiting customers, after adding a generous dollop of ghee on top. This was the maximum enjoyment we had in Food Street, it reminded me the festival occasion of my home.
Next stall we saw was Gobi Manchurian and fried rice counter, I have tried enough of Chinese food so decided to skip it. While we were passing by the street, we saw a shop covered by a huge crowd, I was curious about what the shop was that, then we saw ‘The hot jalebi and rabri counter’. We had to literally push and pull to make it to the counter and place our order. After ten minutes wait, finally I got the hot jalebi dipped with rabri, it was so delicious that I ordered a quarter kilo of jalebis to carry home.
Wanted something spicy and so “Boti masala” was the next target to balance the sugar and the spices in our stomachs. While we were feeling the effects of over-indulgence, we headed to ‘Congress stall’. Congress stall is essentially a mixture of healthy carrot scraps and a variety of lentils, crisp and crunchy like a salad. Congress makes a very good snacks, when you want your tummy to take some time to settle down and take a break. 🙂
After gobbling congress bowl, we made enough space in our tummies for a bowl of dessert. Our next stop was obviously Gulkhand store. The Gulkhand tasted marvelous topped with vanilla ice cream. By the time we reached the end of the street, we were in front of VB Bakery and the time was 10:15 PM. We did not have the courage to venture into the bakery to eat something. So we quickly ran in, packed some spiced biscuits, some chow-chow mixture and ran out in less than 15 minutes.
As I reached my home, I was trying my best to stop burping out aloud, but I couldn’t. I was heartily laughing at myself listening to it. :p. This is a MUST-VISIT place for all the foodies like me, you will come back with praising words. And caution for all the poor eater, I am sure even you cannot stop eating. 🙂
So, what are you waiting for? Get off your couch and rediscover the art of stuffing yourself silly. Food Street opens for business by 6.30 pm and is open till well after 11 pm.