Manek Chowk, Ahmedabad- A Paradise for food lovers.

Manek Chowk - Ahmedabad - An Unique food Experience.

It was the usual day and i was in ahmedabad for some work. I like exploring the places during my after 6 official time whenever  i  travel to different parts of the country. Though i have visited ahmedabad several time and visited many places here, but this was not explored yet. I  was fortunate to visit this place as one of my friends whose brother's house is here and he is quite familiar with the place and have spoken to me many times to visit Manek Chowk for the food Expidition.

Indeed it is one of the best food serving and most happening place on everynight in ahmedabad. The place is situated in old ahmedabad. It is basically a marked which has vegitable vendores in the morning, In noon it becomes bullion market and in night it becomes the food market.

So i was staying in a hotel at nehru bridge. I was accompanying by two more friends. Our friend picked us up from the hotel and it took 15 min to reach the Manek Chowk.

It was approx 10.30 pm when we entered in the market and it was full of flashy lights and so many food  stalls. The food is little different here and you will find the never had and heared snacks ever.

The first strange and interesting snack was Choclolate Sandwich. It was made of Bread slices and filled with the chocolate inbetween.It had 2 slices. On one slice chocolate was there and the another one with butter. That was super awesome snacks. I had never thought of this kind of super crazy idea of making a chocolate sandwich.

Second Snack which we tried was grilled sandwich which was being made freshly. The green chilli sauce with the veg sandwich is a great combinaiton. There are many stalls which are common in the food market like you will get many stalls with the same kind of food.

There you will find some stalls which has so many jewellery and you will find the gujrati and rajasthani ornaments feel. We bought some of the things from there for family. The ornaments are on quiet lesser price and the quality and the look of them are ready good. If someone in your family likes that kind of rajasthani or gurjari jewellery then you should not miss buying those. I am sure they will like that.

You are in Gujrat and not trying mouth freshners, which is the speciality of gurjat and most of time you will get a chance to try the freshners in any restaurent or at any eatery. We found a stall there of Mouth freshners. that stall had approx  50+ variety of the mouth freshners. It was amazing to see so much variety of the freshners. I tied 3-4 varieties and bought some for the home. A must to buy from this stall.

To digest the stuff you can try the special butter milk(Chaas) their on several stalls.you can try plain butter milk and masala butter milk.The plain butter milk just has salt and in masala you will find the coriander, green chilli, Salt, Cumin Powder, Red chilli. You will feel the coriander and cumin taste in Masala Chaas. Its refreshing. In gujrat butter milk is famous. After every meal people likes to have Chaas or Masala Chaas. It says that its very good for digestion and to to keep coolyour stomach after a spicy meal. So try it for sure if you are visiting Manek chowk.

Now  it was time to have some desserts. And there you will find many stalls of Kulfi (Indian Icecream ) which is available in many flavours. We had Kulfi at the stalls and it was simply awesome. Everyone should try it.

There were a group of approx 10-12 people who basicaly lives near by and this is routine for them to have the kulfi after the dinner. We spoke to them and they told us that this place is very much famous for foreigners also. 

               
So it was a fantastics, yummy, something new and never forgetten visit to Manek Chowk.

folks, Mark my words and try this market whenever you are visiting Ahmedabad. you will simply love it and will enjoy the awesomest unique snacks in this market. Especially Chocolate Sandwich.

Stay tuned and keep watching the new post with the new food news.

Happy Travelling & Happy Eating.

Food Safari in Sarafa Bazar- Indore

Food Safari in Sarafa Bazar- Indore

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. -George Bernard Shaw

Well said by George Bernard Shaw.

Street food in india is the most economical and delicious idea to calm down your stomach. and when it comes to tasty street food, you can not miss  the Indore's Best street food market Sarafa Bazaar".

Sarafa Bazaar is Situated in the rajwada location which is the heart of indore City. this Market Known as Sarafa Bazaar coz it has Jewellery shops in day time and in the night time it becomes the street food market.

You can reach to sarafa bazaar from any location in indore. You can get Auto rickshaw from any location and just ask autowala to take you to sarafa Bazar.

I took my Auto from RNT Square and autowala took Rs 70 to drop me there.

So now lets start the journey of the Famous Delicious Street Food of Indore.

Its a very small area where you will find so many amazing, Delicious food stalls and shops. I found some of the snacks which i have'nt tried in my life. Actualy there is one snack which you will find in indore only. I will mention about that in this article ahead

So, after reaching Sarafa Bazaar we entered in the bazaar and found the very first shop named samosa corner, where you can get hot & spicy indian snack Samosa. Its traditional triangular shaped india snacks stuffed , Masala Potatos, dryfruits and served with the green and red Sauce.

After going ahead in the same street where you found the samosa shop you will find many vendors who are serving the Indoria chaat and deserts.

All the stalls giving a feel that we go there and try every deserts and snacks on the stalls. Every stall was so much illuminated with colorful lights and decorated which also attract foodies for atleast visit that stall once.

You can try all the stall there. But the main attraction of the market are 3-4 shops and stalls. The first and the most exciting is Joshi Dahi bade House. The way joshi ji serve the dahi vada to all the customers. He has a very unique style of throwing the dahivada plate in the air and then catch the plate very nicely and the dahi or vada doesn't even spill form the plate. Also he has a very unique style of putting the chilli, salt, black pepper etc in the dahivada. (Check the video for the same). And Ofcourse the dahi vada taste is awesome and you would definately enjoy it.

After going ahead you will find one more interesting snack called "Garaadu" which is quite famous in this market. its a type of a veggie and  you will find it in fried form in Sarafa with little sprinkled masala(Spices) and Lemon juice on it. It taste really well and the spices and lemon made its taste awesome.

Going ahead, you should not miss the aaloo tikki from the stall of Agarwal tikki wala. Delicious, hot, Spicy and the sweet souce is amazing. i am sure you are excited to try all these after reading this.

There are so many other stalls of deserts who serves Moong Daal halwa, Ras Malai, Rasbhari, Maalpua, Gaajar Halwa etc.  In the end of the market you will get one more cart whose name is sawariya seth khichdi which is basically sabut dana khicdhi and its quite famous here.

 

This Bazaar has so much variety of food and beverages to explore. Don't miss visiting sarafa while in indore. You will definately enjoy the taste of Sarafa Bazar.        

Some of the glipmps of the Sarafa Bazaar. 

Check the video on you tube for more updates and tasty food joints.

          

Trek to Asherifad Fort

Trek To Asherigad Fort (Palghar Region) 

You might have visited many Forts in Maharashtra or other parts of india but this fort (Asherigad fort, Palghar) has a unique history. This fort was made by Raja Bhoj in 13th century and then ruled by Raja bimb captured it from kolis in the 14th Century starting.Purtguese took contol of the fort in 1556 and then made it a head of 38 villages around. 

This fort situated in Palghar region in maharshtra. i went to this place with one one of the trek group. there were 45+ trekkers in the group accompany by 3 trek  experts.

I took a train from borivali in which some of my friends were also there. It was rainy season and on that day raining heavily so its very important to protect your mobile phones, cameras etc. In train we bought a plastic zipper for phone and that was quite helpful to protect our phone. i was carrying a bag in which there was a towel, some dry clothes, my dslr camera, water bottle, rain coat etc.

whenever you go for a trek in rainy season the above things are essential to carry. I was not aware of the heavy rains so i was carrying my dslr camera also which is not recommandable. we got offf at palghar station and we had breakfast in a near by small joint and then took  jeep to reach asherigad base.

It's on Mumbai ahmedabad Highway. Jeep Driver took 100 rs. Per person and dropped us on the starting road to Asherigad fort on national Highway-8. From there we walked about 1 km to reach the Base village where we found 10-15 huts where village people stays. 

we had a contact there whose name is Laxman(Drop me a message if you need his contact no) who is a villager and guide for us. Guiding on the trek is the only earning source  for maximum villages. We kept our valuables like camera, wallet, etc including our dry clothes and bags at Laxman's house where his wife and kids took care of our stuff. Intially i was worried for my camera but our organizer told us that it will be safe. Village people are so reliable and honest.

So now the first step was to to listen the organizer about this fort and Do & Don'ts during the trek. It was raining heavily so organizers asked us to stay together in a 3-4 people group as if there is any problem to anyone then 3-4 people can help each other. 

We started our trek. We were going through the bushes and flat ground and after a 10 min walk we saw one hurdle on our way an it was super fast flowing water which was coming from the water fall. 

As it was raining heavily so this temporary water flow becomes a flowing river for some time. The water flow was there with full velocity and it was almost one n half feet deep so we all had to make a chain and one by one had to cross the way. 

It was wonderful experience crossing that water body. After crossing that we had to go ahead and reach at one point where we had to take 2-3 minustes rest. On the way we heared bird chippering sounds and that was so soothing. 

The way to asherigad is little rough and you will find the mud and uneven stony path. there were some points where you will find stoned steps which might have made during the 13th cetury to reach the fort. It is also said that there you can find many species of  raptiles. So be careful while you walking as it may happen that they can come up under your foot and can harm them. some part of the trek is steep so after an interval you will find little bit of lat surface where you can take some rest and then resume your trek.

After covering the 70% Of trek there you will find a place where your have to climb a man made iron ladder which is the only way to go ahead for asherigad fort. That ladder will take you to a point where form the asherigad fort is just 15-20 min away.  At that point after climbing the ladder you would find a rock sculpture and water tank body over there. 

After taking some photographs there we resumes our trek and it was the last halt for us. From the point where we stopped there is a very narrow steps to go ahead and in rainy season it is slippery also so careful when you climb those steps and would recommand that you stay hand in hand with each other if you are in group. 

After crossing that you will find a saffron flag over there. We kept moving ahead for the final point and after a span of time we got there. There is a Hanuman temple also on the top. We relaxed there, had luch. took photographs and enjoyed the scenic beauty from the top. 

You can clearely see the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway from the top.After spending approx 1 hours we returned back wit hthe same route. As mentioned it was raining heavily so took little time to reach at a certain point as it was slippery and the rocks we also loose as it was 1st or second rains of the monsoon season. 

Returning our way to village we found a wonderful water fall body over there and we all jumped in the water and enjoyed and relaxed for approx 45 minutes. Including trek, Speding time in water fall was the best experience of Asherigad Trek. In the rainy season you will find many water falls on the way in maharashtra. 

After returning to Base village we changed clothes at our Guide Laxman's Place. He offered us tea which was much needed at that time. Spent 30 minutes at his place and relaxed then left for our respective locations.

 Over all it was not a tough trek but at one point it was tough for me to climb as there was no support and the steps were slippery. Coz of first rain and that too a very heavy rains, the stones and rock were loose so at some point we had to take care while going down as we might get fall and hurt, but it was overall wonderful experience. 

 I would recommand Laxman for the guide services. He was so much helping during the trek. 

thanx for visiting my blog.

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