Sowcarpet - foodies and shoppers paradise
Yesterday we had a very unique outing. A group of 50 friends and family members from my BNI chapter.went on a food walk in the Sowcarpet area. This was organised by a group of Marwari members of our club.
The idea: eat only the best food item at selected shops and restaurants of that area. They made the itinerary and treated us to the best of the local foods in one fun-filled evening. We met near the Pookadai (Flower Bazaar) Police Station.... a crowded part of Chennai that we normally would avoid.like the plague. But since this was a food adventure organised by our friends, we took the risk of entering this notorious area.
These are the early birds waiting for their worms... ooops ..... food.
By 5:30 around 20 of us trooped into the first restaurant - Agarwal Bhavan. The bengali sweets there were mouth watering - rosogollos and another dish with yellow small mouth watering balls of delicousness. This was a great start to the evening... we crowded the small restaurant and whooshed in and whooshed out within 10 minutes so we could explore the rest of the itinerary.
Next stop was the sandwich wala. By this time another batch of 20 people joined us.
This shop was hardly 30 sq ft and we had to pick it up and eat in the crowded street. But my God! What a burst of flavours. Again two of the best items were sampled there. A sandwich with bread, chutneys, cucumber, sev and a host of other ingredients that literally gave a feast of flavours in every bite. Then there was the murukku sandwich - innovative and super tasty. The flavours and spices brought out our tear glands to work overtime and we were sniffling and rubbing our eyes with joy while downing this culinary creation.
Next item on the agenda was pav bhaji...As you can see we were already well feasted but was raring to go for more...
The pav bhaji was attacked with full gusto and yours truly must have had 2 plates of it.... it was easily one of the best PBs I've ever had in my life - equal to what I have had in Mumbai. All of us hogged with gusto and with a never-say-die-attitude. By this time the rest of our gang had also turned up and there were 50 of us trooping in and out of eating joints. People were gawking at us by now because they would never have seen such a group of hearty eaters enjoying in full view of everyone and shamelessly eating from each others' plates.
Next item on the agenda - Vada Pav. This is one of my favourite street food and my stomach gladly created more space for this treat. And guess how many of this I had?
Three Vada Pavs. When Radhika (my wife) heard that she couldn't believe that I could tuck in so much in one evening. We were on a roll and was willing to go for more. This was an evening to be remembered and I was not going to give up now. So off we went to the next stop on the agenda
Ok so the next stop was pani puri and jantar mantar.... By now as you can imagine my stomach had started creaking and crying at the abuse. After a day of fasting and years of sensible eating I was having a rash and risky drive down food lane. But the combined energy of this group set aside the doubting Thomases and made me dive in for more.
So pani puri and jantar mantar were attacked and I came up gasping for air and water. But the evening was not over... Lassi was the next thing on the agenda.... and i gladly took a few gulps to wash down the guilt of having punished my stomach after a long period of austerity.
The above picture is of the vada pav shop. As you can see from the above photos, our group is made up of a motley crowd of young and old, north and south, brown, black and white, diabetic and nondiabetic, kids, parents, grandparents, gals and guys Every single person enjoyed the evening and dug in with gusto into all the offerings. never-say-die was the motto of the day.
So after the lassi shouldn't we call it a day and retire into the night... No, we didn't.
Paan!!! We were in Sowcarpet. How can we miss out the paan?
But before hitting the paan, our friends had organised one more surprise for us. Hot thattu idlis with some amazing chutney and sauces as well as oothappam..... My God! Is it really possible to tuck all this in without throwing up. We discovered that yes, it is possible. We were tired, but we did manage to taste that too and store away our memories for future repeat and recall. And finally we trooped to the paan shop.
Almost all of us including the youngest who just turned four, attacked the paan - sweet, khara, .... and some thing else I forget the name. What a fantastic tour this was. We were gently rubbing our tummies with the memories of all the tastes and flavours we had just consumed. Evening was late. It was time to return home.
But a few brave souls ordered Sugar Cane juice and a few other gullible souls followed suit and drank from their glass.... What a night it turned out to be.....
With happy stomachs and grinning faces we returned back home.
Thanks to the band of friends who made this possible....
This is an adventure any of you can repeat! Go forth and enjoy!!!
Comments
Post a Comment