Ricesome eats Gujarat!
- Ricesome
- Apr 5, 2024
- 4 min read
It's not that every day you get the opportunity to explore a new place and what it has to offer in terms of its deliciousness. If you are an asocial person like me, you do your best to avoid opportunities like that. But this time, I went against my instincts...thankfully. I was in the state of Gujarat recently and I was in 3 cities primarily: Ahmedabad, Ekta Nagar, and Vadodara.
Gujarat is one of the places I had no idea how it would taste....their food I mean. I don't think I have ever eaten or been there before this. I initially had more plans to visit more places but due to some time and schedule constraints, these are some of the places I have visited.
My first meal outside Gujarat was in Ahmedabad near this little factory called the "Amul Dairy Plant" where they manufacture, process and store milk, milk powder and butter. Beside the plant's entrance is a small cafe-ish-restaurant called "Amul Foodland". The USP of this place is that they use Amul products in their menu items and apart from that it is reasonably priced. I ordered a "Margherita Pizza", which here means "No toppings", and it was like any other cafe-style pizza I had eaten before with a pre-made base that is topped with sauce and cheese. It was a bit better than your average pizzas but that's it.
(Fun Fact: We found bottles of ketchup with bubbles in it in this restaurant...yikes)
Later that night, I was in an area called "Manek Chowk" which was near the famous Lal Darwaja in Ahmedabad. I had to walk 2 km to get to this place. But before I went to the busy area, I decided to take a left and go to this famous panipuri place near the Chowk, which was unfortunately closed by the time I reached there and the owner refused to serve me even one plate. In all fairness, I think he was out of ingredients though.
I started with a "Basket Chaat" which was like a normal Papdi Chaat shaped like little tarts and filled with different chaat components. It was good chaat but it wasn't something different than a regular old gimmick. Next in line was "Potato Fafda" or that's what the guy claimed it was. It was "Tube Frymes" which were served with potatoes in a spicy chilli sauce and the way you eat it is you use the tube as a way of portioning out the potatoes and savouring them together. I was confused about eating it until I saw a couple of kids eating it nearby.
Later, I tried the infamous Fafda & Jalebi and it changed my mind about what I thought sweet and savoury combinations would taste like. It was freshly made right in front of us and was served with this green chilli chutney and papaya pickle. I chased the food down with some Jamun shots which hit my head with an ice block, but it was worth it in the hot weather. I wasn't a fan of the texture of the drink, but maybe that's just the child in me speaking.
This trip for me was all about trying authentic Gujarathi food, so I ate something which was called "Gotala Dosa". Don't blame me, blame my South Indian genetics. The dosa was fine, it was crispy and drenched in butter. But the gravy they served it with was a bomb waiting to explode with each second. It was cheesy, spicy and rich. Believe me when I say, you cannot eat more than 2 of these. By this point, it was 10:30 p.m. and I looked around this place was packed, so I decided to move on.
2 sunrises later, I was in Ekta Nagar and I visited the Statue of Unity, which is the largest statue in the world by the way. Proud Indian moment. Near to the statue's area, there is this nursery that specialises in tribal Gujarathi thalis. This place is run by people from tribal communities. So, the government took lands from these communities to build the statue and in return, they provided them with opportunities and resources for skill development and sustenance.
Their thali consisted of a Hibiscus tea at the beginning which changed colour as soon as you squeezed some lemon juice into it. The entire plate was filled with curries, dal, and a sabzi made of corn. the entire thali plate was a delicate balance of sweet with savoury elements and the only spice I felt was from the side condiments given to us on the table like achaar, mint chutney, etc. Overall the thali was the only dish throughout the entire trip which reminded me of proper home-cooked meals and rightfully so. It was also pretty affordable considering it is 350/- per head with unlimited servings.
On the last day in Vadodara, I tried Bhel at Tamtamwala which is a mixture of different savoury and sweet snacks, fried items and fruits. The people who travelled with me felt that it was overrated but I had no point of reference for it. Objectively it tasted good, but depending on who you are and where you come from, you might agree or disagree. It had grapes in the mix which I thought was interesting and they also sell it per gram and I bought some for my family.
Overall, this trip to Gujarat ended pretty quickly than I expected. The motivation for me to visit any place is to try their cuisine or see what their food scene is like. This was my first personal experience of that. Although I need to get better at eating, after trying all these different things over 3 days put my stomach under a lot of duress, so I need to recoup and...
See you next week!
Good. Fine.. good article