Meandering foodies in Pondicherry

If there is heaven on earth it’s where you can taste butter, butter and more butter. And Pondicherry comes close to be that place, but strictly for a glutton. More than sightseeing we got caught up in tasting some good pizzas, pastas, coq au vin and beef bourginion. We researched a bit before this trip and were aware of the places we would visit and where we could get some good grub. This trip was very special to us; being our first road trip alone. WHO was all excited using his navigator app on Ipad. And he gave me his co-pilot seat to track the routes. With a couple of misses and wrong turns we reached Pondi in 4.5 hrs from Chennai and that too after attending a colleague’s wedding for which we had driven nonstop from Bangalore the previous night.

We were famished and directionless on our first evening in Pondicherry. After wandering around to
decipher the many Rue’s (roads in French) in Pondi, with promising restaurants at every corner, referred by other bloggers, we ended up dining at ‘Café d le Oriente’. I found their stuff over priced for the quantity they served. I wanted to taste a quiche, because I never had an authentic one, though have had experimented with quiches back home. The quiche served was a small slice and a rip off at Rs. 185 apiece. And the chicken soup had an overwhelming cilantro taste. I suggested Spaghetti Carbonara and was again appalled at the quantity served. I think the serving size had a foreigner stereotype to it. The spaghetti tasted quite different from what I had tasted in Italy. In short, nothing managed to surprise our palates. This was a restaurant not recommended on the websites we had google’d and so we decided to do penance by only following the recommended ones on our list going forward.

On the way back to our hotel, I had a sudden craving for dessert. We were discussing about our breakfast next day during our dinner at ‘Café d le Oriente’ and the spread at ‘Baker’s Street’, so when we found ourselves right in front of their doorstep I thought the universe was conspiring to let me taste a slice of heaven. I remember how mesmerized I was when I entered ‘Baker’s Street’. WHO says my face had a glow he had never seen before. I was excited seeing tarts, tiramisu, éclairs and petit fours. Since it was closing time I could see that most of the trays were empty. I had an éclair and it tasted divine. We again landed there the next day, after a walk at the beach, for a hearty breakfast. We amassed a bill for Rs 700, which is definitely costly, but then we tasted everything we fancied – a spinach quiche, a mushroom- hamomelet, plain omelet, orange juice, pineapple juice, bacon sandwich, butter croissant and we liked everything.

And it was like having a gastronomic orgasm. We choose this breakfast over the one at ‘Promenade’, who were offering a buffet for Rs 400 per person and we were pleased at what we saw there too. If you have a bottomless tummy I would suggest the ‘Promenade’ but if you are like us (poor eaters at buffets) ‘Baker’s Street’ might suit you. Now if you think Rs. 700 is still expensive you definitely need to taste the croissant and I bet my you salt that it is made with a lot of honesty. When we tasted a croissant at ‘Hot Breads’ the last day I realized the difference.

We visited ‘Baker’s Street’ again the next day to pack some breakfast for a trip to Pichavaram (second largest mangrove in the world). Pondicherry attracts people for three reasons- beach, booze and shopping. But mapping the city and familiarizing would not take more than a day or two. So if you have more than a weekend at hand, Pichavaram is one place you should not miss. I have lived all my life in cities with proximity to the sea and beach so these were definitely not my reason for a trip to Pondicherry. What excited me was the French food safari. So I would add a fourth reason why people should choose Pondicherry for a holiday, it’s to satiate one’s foodie soul.

Our travels from Pichavarm were filled with hope of savouring the local eateries ut we were disappointed at not finding any worthwhile joints to refill ourselves. And that’s how we ended up at ‘Madame Shante’s’ at 3pm. Now that indeed was an odd time to have lunch, but after a two hour boat ride at Pichavaram and a great bargain on some dry shrimps on our way back, ‘Madame Shante’s’ was the only place willing to offer us a decent meal at 3pm. We had a sausage salad, beef in red wine sauce and Pasta Arabiata for Rs 350. And I must add that this was one reasonable meal we had in Pondicherry. I was more than happy to have Pasta Arabiata well prepared, after a long time.

A year ago my friends from insti and I had visited Pondicherry and the first meal I had tasted then was at ‘Satsang’. With all the good experiences of that meal, especially the beef bourginion, which I first saw in the movie Julie and Julia, WHO and I decided that we would have our dinner there. But the food did not match our expectations. WHO ordered beef bourginion and I kept wondering why it looked so different from the one I ordered a year ago, only to realize they served us Beef Burgundy instead of Beef Bourginion. I ordered a Coq au vin which turned out to be grilled chicken with French fries. What upset me the most was their slow service. There was no warmth and promptness to serve on the part of the waiters while compared to the other eateries we went to. We chose the rooftop and perhaps the staff at ‘Satsang’ was finding it difficult to manage two floors. I would recommend their Beef Bourginion and my suggestion is solely based on my memories of Beef Bourginion a year earlier. By then we had quite a few experiences to have a bench mark in our minds as to what was worth and what was not.

Another eatery that surprised me, my taste buds to be specific, was ‘Hotel Qualithe’ located at Rue De, Labourdannain. We missed them the day before, after our visit at Auroville, as we were later for lunch time. But the next day we were on time and found quite an impressive menu on their chalk board. And since we love pork we ordered Schezwan pork which was the spiciest I have ever had.

We also tried out a fish curry which was nice as well. I am usually skeptical of fish curries, prepared other than at home, or you could say I am an ethno centrist when it comes to fish. I want it prepared my style. But I broke this prejudice of mine at ‘Hotel Qualithe’ and though I was not completely happy we did manage to finish the fish curry served to us.

If you ever Google eateries in Pondicherry, wood fire pizzas are something that always come up. And having been to Italy I immediately switch off to the luscious imagery of prosciutto filled pizza coming out of the stone oven with a long peel (Peel is the shovel used to shove pizzas and bread loaves into the oven). We could not make it to most places that promised these pizzas in Pondi. So on our last night in Pondi, we went to ‘Pasta bar Veneto’. It is not as expensive as it sounds and plus it has the American booth style seating. A small bar with some bar stools makes it look even more chic.

We ordered a Neapolitan pizza and Pasta Bolognese for Rs 540. Even though the place is small we loved the ambience. If you are a diehard fan of Pastas and Pizzas this is one place you should visit. There is also a chocolate shop right across ‘Pasta bar Veneto’ which would amuse chocolate lovers, even more reason to go for your antipasti and Il Primo at ‘Pasta bar Veneto’ and then your Dolce from next door.


I hope the pics excite your taste buds and these suggestions can help those who wish to visit Pondicherry and learn the place through their palate.

We have a post on wine making due in 3 days so get back here for the most coveted recipe on wine making :)

A trip to Pichavaram

If you heading south of Chennai, on East Coast Road, and if you are not stopping at Mahaballipuram, then you are definitely bound for the land of ‘Brew’ and ‘Bread’ – Pondicherry or Puducherry, as its now called. A third reason could be the ‘Beach’ but I did not find it to be that alluring because it was more rock than sand. I am sure that there are hidden beaches in and around Pondicherry, which are pristine and un-crowded. But other than the three ‘B’s, what really caught our attention was the presence of a mangrove forest nearby and the second largest mangrove forest in the world at that. The place is called Pichavaram and is situated 60 km south of Pondicherry on the Bay of Bengal coast. For the uninitiated, a mangrove is a swamp like formation on the coastline consisting of plants and vegetations which are tolerant to saline water conditions. Mangroves shelter fish, birds, crustaceans and other marine life. Mangroves are also important because they form a buffer that defends coastlines from flooding, erosions and tsunamis. India has both the largest – Sundarbans and the second largest (Pichavaram) Mangrove forests in the world.

According to us the best time to visit, any place in and around Chennai, is between November and February. All other months are really hot and humid. And though Pichavaram is a so called forest, it’s on a beach and without much shade or cover from an unforgiving sun. The ideal time in the day to visit Pichavaram would be 9 am, when the place opens for tourists, and wrap it up before 12 noon. Make sure you carry caps, shades and water bottles. We started from Pondy around 7:15 am and reached Pichavaram by 9 am. Ideally one should start a little earlier, say 6:30 am, and then one can do a few stops on route. The drive is scenic in patches and traffic less early in the morning.

 

 

 

The ECR is good to drive, other than the road within the Cuddalore town limits. It’s a horrible patch and if you are driving your own car you definitely need to give it a good pampering after the trip is over.

Food is a challenge as there are no good restaurants on the way. We packed our breakfast from Pondy and had it on-route and had planned to come back to Pondy for lunch. But if one is able to pack a light lunch as well then you could spend more time in Pichavaram. There is a restaurant of the tourism dept at Pichavaram but we did not visit it and hence cannot give a review per se.

 

The ticket booking office is a non-discreet building, with the ticket counter like any old single screen movie theatre. There is ample parking space if one is travelling by car or taxi. To venture into the sea one has two options – row boat or motor boat. The row boat is a better option as compared to the motor boat as a row boat can easily negotiate the insides of the mangrove forest and there is no danger of the blades getting tangled in the undergrowth. We were two people on a single row boat but our oarsman, Mr Sarvanan, told that the row boat can take up to 10 people and more the people it’s better for him to balance the boat and navigate. The row boats can be hired on an hourly basis with the minimum charge being approx Rs. 200 for two hours. Then there are four and six hourly charges.

Sarvanan, our oarsman, started rowing the boat and showed us the route we would be taking in the next two hours and it seemed like we were in for a boat ride in a lake. We didn’t drive this long, early in the morning, for just a boat ride. Bhujji started conversing with Sarvanan in his native tongue and told him that we wanted to go deep into the forest and see the place where a scene for the movie – Dasavatharam was shot. Sarvanan got all excited and started talking about places deep within the forest where there is very little sunlight, places where the branches tangle around you like snakes, place where there is a beach within all this and more. He said he could cover all this within the two hours that we had, at a price of Rs. 400 more. And this is what people usually do, buy a normal ticket and then negotiate with the oarsman for a better ride.

After the deal was set, Sarvanan changed course and started rowing with a purpose. Within no time we were in a new world, it was surreal and exciting at the same time. We had so far been to places where the plantations or woodlands were really tall, like trees, or were shrubs, like in gardens.  Or like a sugar cane plantation were the plants would be just a foot or two above you and have really dense growth on the ground level, where little light would penetrate. This was something like the later.

 

 

 

 

But what made it much more bizarre was that we were rowing through it and there was three to four feet of water beneath us. The water was murky and had no visibility. Had the water been clear it would have added to the surrealism. For now we just had to concentrate on the world above the waters. Bhujji was right in mentioning that it looked just out a scene from the movie - Anaconda.

 

Often at places we had to bend our heads, when we were passing through the undergrowth, to save ourselves from getting hit by a root, or was it a stem? We followed a small stream for some time, with vegetation all around and over us, and then it would open up into a small clearing of sorts, where the water was deeper, and the foliage was a little spread across.

 

 

 

Then Sarvanan would choose another maze and row us inside of it. Baffled we asked him if he knew the route and he told us that there are over hundreds of such labyrinths in the whole stretch of the mangrove and it took him more than two months to memorize all of them.

 

 

 

 

Often in between we saw other boats and fishermen going about their daily chores.

 

We were hoping to see a lot of birds, as it was early in the day and it was also the migratory season in south India, but got a little disappointed at that front. We only captured a lone Kingfisher.
 

 

 

 

Sarvanan mentioned that there are options to catch mud crabs and go fishing within the mangroves. I am sure there might be arrangements made, similar to the ones seen in National Geographic, to catch and cook, for if we are ready to spend the right moolah. Again if negotiated properly, one can carry a little brew and proper lunch and have a hearty meal on the boat with family and friends, within the mangroves. But I don’t want to give ideas here to the Indian tourist lot, who are unruly in general and disorderly at best.  But for those who appreciate nature and the wonders around, plan this trip well and experience something which is not your usual boating in the lake or a visit to the beach, for sure.

 

So for next time, we are thinking to get Bhai along for little fishing, which he completely loves to do, and crab fishing as well. Maybe an extended trip into the still unknown and definitely the beach within the mangroves. Then there is Mahabalipuram too, which was looked over in this trip, to be visited.

  
Until then, there is Bhujji getting ready with a post on all the gastronomic outing we had in Pondy. Not sure if I can wish you Bon Apetite!

                       
P.S: Our Oarsman, Mr Sarvanan’s, number is 09626616204. Keep your Tamils skills handy for a meaningful dialogue.

Taste of Jammu

I had a fabulous week at Jammu and Kashmir 3 weeks back. Though I have been trying to write about it, I was caught up with work and these pics got buried under my pile of unfinished posts. So before I lost track of my memories of Jammu amidst research, I thought I should put this up after all I struggled a lot with my weak batteries and tired camera trying to capture J&K in 7 days. Since I was on a conference at the University of Jammu, I spent 4 out of my 7 days in J&K at Jammu.

Jammu also known as the city of temples is a hot spot for pilgrims touring Vaishno Devi and Amarnath caves. I would call it a sleeper town, a very hot and arid one mostly located with dhams and a couple of small markets.But having lived in metro cities in the past 6 years, Jammu and it's silence was a warm welcome.I should admit at the outset I thought Jammu and Kashmir were twin cities and I was unaware of their cultural and geographical diversity. I landed Jammu Airport dreaming Kashmiri Wazwan and cold weather though I was well informed by then that Jammu was quite distinct from Kashmir. But then every city has it's charm and I did my best to unveil it through my gastronomical interest. Luckily I had a friend who was a Kashmiri pandit and from his mom I learnt some Kashmiri recipes. She was superexcited at our visit and prepared a banquet with all the popular Kashmiri dishes which I actually did not get to sample when I reached Kashmir. So thanks to Vikas and family I got first hand experience of Kahwa, Pink tea and many more delicacies right in Jammu which made my trip even special.

If there's something that excites me when it comes to shopping it's the sight of fresh vegetables. I think I inherited this interest from my mom. She ends up shopping more than we need for the week because she can't resist fresh veggies.I grew up in the Middle East- a desert basically. But the biggest joys of my childhood days was always connected to our weekly trips to the Fish market. I loved the sight of veggies and fruits even then. On my return back to India, I was disappointed at the sight of markets I visited. Vegetables always looked tired and asphyxiated. So I got used to the notion of munching on inferior quality veggies when the fresh ones were exported to far away lands like the one where I grew up for instance. So to the surprise of Vikas my friend I was in love with the vegetable market in Jammu and the vegetables looked so fresh, I thought I could eat them raw there.These pictures were captured in the dark and my batteries were really weak so maybe they can't give you a view of what I would want you all to see. But I found some fascninating veggies I hadn't seen elsewhere. The pic above ( starting from left) shows Gilki, Saag, Nadru and Shalgam. Gilki belongs to the Tinda, Lauki family. The saag has a pungent flavour something similar to leaves of Radish. Nadru is lotus stem and a delicacy the people of Jammu and Kashmir hold very dear. Shalgam or turnips are used in pickles, salads and curries.We visited this market for my friend who wanted to buy apples. We were told the apples come from Kashmir and is cheaper there but we were still happy to buy apples for Rs 40 per kg and pears for Rs 20 per kg. My friend had 8 kgs packed for her whole family while I managed to learn the local vegetables.

The prime attraction in Jammu city is Baagh- Bahu and Bahu fort with a garden and an aquarium which people boast is the largest aquarium in India. Both the garden and fort is named after the Raja Bahulochan who built this fort 3000 years ago. The fort is a religious place and has a temple dedicated to goddess Kali.It is here that Vikas introduced us to a popular snack popularly known as 'Kachaloo'. Kachaloo is a tuber similar to yam and mixed with a couple of spices it is a very spicy snack that could make you cry or worry your tummy. I just loved the ceramic bowl the hawker had in which he mixed his condiments.The aquarium was small and did not have the variety of fishes they promised us at the ticket counter and the gardens had very few flowers that wooed us but Kachaloo was worth the trip to the garden.

Though Jammu does not produce almonds and walnuts and they come from Kashmir, this was the first time my friend and I got to see nuts and pulses heaped like a mountain. Almonds, Walnuts and Razma ( not Rajma) is a treat for pilgrims who visit the city who might not make it to Srinagar thereafter.Though the nuts are overpriced than Srinagar it's way cheaper than any other part of the country. According to the experts a good quality almond when crushed between fingers produces oil. A decent quality of Walnut costs Rs 160 per kg with shells. Walnuts and Almonds are used very generously in the Dongri and Kashmiri cuisines. Kahwa uses almonds and Walnut paste is added in chutneys.



The Razma grown in this region is smaller than the Rajma we usually get in the market. And way it is cooked is different too, from the Punjabi or any other North Indian versions of Rajma.

A very popular snack in Jammu is kulcha. This is nothing but a bun stuffed with tomatoes, onions, chillies and cheese or any other stuffing. Kalari kulcha is the most popular kulcha which is bun stuffed with cheese. I love the pot the hawkers carry with the stuffing which is placed slanting on top of  another plate with the other veggies for the kulcha.

The conference we attended did not offer us non vegetarian food and since we stayed at a dham we had no access to non vegetarian food there either. I had lured my friend with pictures of Kashmiri Wazwan on the flight and since she was not joining me on my trip to Srinagar we decided to taste Mutton rogan josh from a restaurant. Now since Vikas my friend was a Kashmiri pandit settled in Jammu, he took us to a famous restaurant in Jammu that was run by Kashmiris. Though Vikas did not pass the rogan josh in flying colours and I realised his displeasure when I tasted his mother's rogan josh later, my friend and I had a wonderful time with Rogan josh after days of razmah chawal. On my trip to Kashmir later I realised the rogan josh served to me was similar to this curry that I had at the restaurant in Jammu. Which makes me wonder if there are different versions of Rogan josh in Kashmir. This one I tasted in restaurant was similar to the curries I had in the middle eastern restaurants in my childhood. Rogan josh has two meanings- Hot oil or Passioante red . I guess it gets this name from the red fiery Kashmiri chillies and the way of cooking it with a passionate heat.

Vikas's mom had a spread for us which she began cooking a day ahead.We were so stuffed with nuts and tea that when we sat for dinner we found it hard to finish one round of dishes served to us. My hubby said we would regret this later when we would wish we had atleast one of these gravies to savour.  The picture below shows Mutton pulao, Mutton Yakhni ( curd based gravy), Kheemia ( minced meat with spices), Dum aloo and Mutton rogan josh.

I have developed a fondness for yakhni and did try it in Bangalore once. I will update the recipe soon. Nadru or lotus stem was cooked in yakhni style too the pic of which you can see below. Nadru is also fried as chips for snacks.

I loved the way aunty made Kahwa. There are two versions of Kahwa and I will share both the recipes. Mughal tea is used for making Kahwa with tea leaves. A handful of almonds, cardamom and a piece of cinnamon is crushed. 2 tsp of tea leaves is boiled with 3 cups of water. When the tea has boiled sufficiently to the desired strength, the crushed condiments are added. Sugar can be added or avoided according to one's preference and the sieved tea is served as Kahwa. I found this version quite strong with flavour of cinnamon so I prefer the non tea- leaf version of Kahwa.



This version boils water with just one cardamom and three strands of saffron. And the result is a yellow coloured liquid which again can be taken with or without sugar. The pink tea however is a salty tea. The pink colour comes out when milk is mixed with the red coloured tea. But it was too salty for me and I had tough time associating salt to tea which prevented me from gulping copiously. I would go for the saffron version of Kahwa especially on cold wintery morning.



And it would be sinful to omit Vikas' favourite lacha kulfi. It was indeed the best kulfi I ever had minus the laccha which is just boiled vermicelli. Lali shah kulfi wala has the best kulfi in Jammu and if you ever happen to be there  don't miss it.



Looks can be deceptive they do taste way better than the pics and I loved them. My friend however had lot of salt on hers which she did not tell us till the end making us wonder why she  was tempting us poking around with her kulfi when Vikas and I were done and could easily go for another round. The kulfi wala was so sweet, he gave us a discount on the bill for this mishap and we had a wonderful time after a tightly packed day at shopping :)



The gastronmic journey of Jammu ends here and that means Kashmir is round the corner. Hope you loved this post as much as I did writing and researching on it. People tease me saying  J&K is famous for their scenic beauty and cuisine comes later well but I disagree perhaps it depends on the eyes of the beholder :)

A journey to Assisi

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

Sometimes reminiscing old journeys tend to be bittersweet, the sweetness haunts and the bitterness lingers. You may not remember the details that you would if you wrote them then, yet they seem so sweet. Such was my trip to Assisi. It happened to be my first ever road trip and remains close to my heart. I joined an old friend of mine 'John' a sweet boy who constantly reminded me of my Indianness through his endearments of me as 'akka' ( big sis) . 3 years ago when I really did meet John, never did I know that, he would be the sole 'soul' for me out in Italy to console, and tolerate my frights and flights in an alien city.

So when we thought of catching up in between my Erasmus project in Padova ( or when I persuaded him to travel with me in my explorations of new cities) he suggested a trip to Assissi. Though this small trip was planned unexpectedly when John's friend Illai ( my first Chinese friend ever) offered to drive us to Assisi ( as he was from Perugia and Assisi is in  the province of Perugia), I was thrilled. We soon had Marina- Illai's friend join us too our journey sort of rolled. We planned to touch Florence where I obviously fell in love with 'David' ( already written earlier) .

I often wonder if I should have had the luxury to explore every city but the fun of rushing from one city to the other skimming through visual landscape is an adventure of different sort.
When one enters Assissi what strikes you first is the serenity in the atmosphere. Ours was no pilgrim trip but maybe my associations with St Francis of Assissi made me feel calm and serene. The saint of poor, animals and nature had captivated my mind as a child. Of all the places in the world I dreamt of visiting, Assissi never made any place in the list, yet I was touched by what this beautiful city had to offer and to some reason it stays etched in my mind as one of my favourite destination.



Perhaps what amused me was how ancient and traditional this city looked. Unlike Florence, Milan or Venice with modern buildings and crowded cities, Assissi was quite traditional with stony huts, old , narrow roads and houses that had a low ceiling. The weather too was sunny and the houses were beautifully adorned with flowers.


The visitors who came here came for a quiet retreat, many were pilgrims and the others wanted time out from the madding crowd. We were a mixed group two of us god believers and the rest agnostics.So for us the trip was a mix of pilgrimage and retreat. We did not spend much time in the church as some of us would have loved to, but the journey was beautiful. Though I don't remember much of it except for what my snaps tell me, I do remember going to the church and feeling peaceful reading the lawn mowed into the three alphabets "PAX" which meant peace.


The church has a thorny bush in a glass jar for display, it is believed that St Francis embraced those thorns when he felt tempted by carnal desires.We also visited the Convent of St Claire's and I remembered the story my mother told me of how Francis and Claire were to be betrothed and St Francis decided to become a servant of the lord and Claire decided she too would give her life to services. Italy and Europe has always fascinated me with struggling actors who dress up for a living and perform on the street. I was fascinated by this actor who bore such a strong resemblance to 'Jesus', We met him on our way back from St Claire's


After all god does reside inside every man :) I don't know if I did contemplate on these thoughts behind my camera, but I love these shots of all those I clicked in Italy. I also fell in love with spinach in Assissi while tasting one of the wraps they prepared at a cafe.John being a vegetarian always tried something new in veg. It is here that I learnt from Illai that lunches and dinners can be fixed by choosing basic ingredients from a supermarket. And this is where I had by first bagel with cheese for 1.5 euro.



And for reasons many as these, I loved my first road trip to Assisi and I look up to many more back here in India though the roads may not be great but the journey could be long enough to enrich me. And I pray they do teach me a lot in the long run. I am not a travel writer, and I think Indians don't travel much, maybe we are lazy and find excuses or wait for the best opportunity to travel to that one dream destination. But I think we should travel more often, meet new people, taste new flavours and learn new cultures.And for those who visit Italy please visit Assisi it's worth it.