Bangalore food street

[caption id="attachment_149" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Food Street, Bangalore"][/caption]

I visited the "food street" in my childhood when I stayed with my Aunt & Uncle in Basavangudi near Lal Bagh in Bangalore. They were foodies too, like almost all bangalorians and had taken me there in a one late night jaunt. The street was famous for opening shop at 11 PM & going on till the early hours of the AM. Some things have changed or my memory doesn't serve me right - now, you can find a good variety of things there, fresh, made to order & relatively very less expensive.

With my new found freedom, in the form of Vishwa's bike and google maps on the iphone, Charan & I decided to

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="298" caption="VB Bakery location"][/caption]

venture to this almost mythical place that I have been raving about. Charan learned from friends that the "food street" does exist in Bangalore and is in V V Puram. We searched on google & found out about VB Bakery and its fame for freshly baked goods. VB Bakery is right at one end of food street - folks in Basavangudi will point you there with a smile, knowing you are new & wishing the bliss of eating here. We parked our bike in front of VB Bakery. By the way, the google maps service was incredible & guided us well - despite many roundabouts being a bit confusing.

[caption id="attachment_148" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Simla Mirchi Bajji"][/caption]

We arrived at the place by about 6:45 PM. The place was just beginning to stir - there was a gentle crowd in front of the shops. We walked up & down the now very small stretch (my memory was of a mile of shops lining both sides of the road serving hot freshly cooked food). We decided we were going to start with the simla mirchi (green peppers) bajjis at the other end of the road. The entire pepper is battered & fried just right - the man cuts it in to quarters - garnishes it with onions, carrots & some lime - taste suggests bliss!!

[caption id="attachment_150" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Akki Roti"][/caption]

I then wanted to try an akki roti - the process of making the roti & frying it was far more fascinating than the end product itself. The chutneys were spicy enough to churn my stomach, but not stop the mouth from consuming them - the highlight of this dish were the two chutneys on the side.

We decided to try something north indian - the paratha stall was being manned by two kids, one of who was beginning to expertly make fulka chappathis. We weren't sure if we should trust kids with our gastronomical pleasures and decided to move on. We moved away from the standard chat stalls, gobi manchurian stall etc. We went to another man who was serving kachoris and got ourself one. Again, the chutneys & the mirchis (peppers) stuffed with spices were just fantastic.

[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="paper roast "][/caption]

I then decided it was time to succumb to some dosas - I didn't want a masala dosa & hence, ordered a paper roast. Again, watching the man pour the warmed ghee straight from the packet on to the dosa makes you wonder how fat you are going to get. Charan dissuaded me from adding extra butter. So, the paper roast was done to perfection - however, it turned out that wasn't my favorite after all. I hadn't thought about the consumption process & how unweildy the dosas were going to get. I'd suggest doing the traditional masala dosas in the streets of bangalore.

It's now time to taste the sweets - jilebi wala, here we come. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one who had rabdi as well - however, there was another store that sold rabdi - so, we did the jilebi & rabdi bit. We then, got a masala pepsi in a store at the other end which claimed it sold "Butter Gulkand". I must tell you, having had these "masala pepsi" drinks before, I am not a big fan of these!! however, this one was absolutely fantastic!! we quickly gulped that down!! got a parcel of the gulkand, which comes with a small fruit salad as well - the gulkand turned out to be very very very good, with real rose petals & what definitely tasted like honey!!

We walked back, picked up some "dum root halwa", which is unbelievably heavenly and some khara biscuits in conclusion of our extravaganza and biked back home really quickly. Total damage to packet was Rs. 205!! (approx USD 5). This is cheap, even by Bangalore standards - we will absolutely return to Food Street - despite how small it has become!!