Gondhoraj Lebu and Orange-And-Chocolate ice cream at Pabrai’s
I don’t know much about Bengali food, though it has always been a dream of mine to visit Calcutta, the City of Joy. I have had just one meal at Oh! Calcutta!, and that too was limited to luchis and a simple, mustard-flavoured aloo sabzi whose name I cannot recollect now. Puchkas, jhalmuri, aloor dum, sondesh and rosogulla are a few other things from Bengal I knew of, but hadn’t really tried. After my recent visit to the Bangla Mela in Bangalore, I decided to get out of my ignorance of Bengali food. I began reading up about the cuisine – blogs and online articles, mostly – and got to know a whole lot. I got as up, close and personal as one can get to Bengali food in Bangalore, at the Durga Pujo pandals. I am still learning, still experimenting with Bengali food, but I am happy to say that I now know a wee bit more about it than I used to.
It was from one of the online articles about Calcutta I read that I got to know about Gondhoraj Lebu, that gorgeous lemon/lime that is unique to Bengal. And, then, I got to know that one of my favourite ice cream parlours in Bangalore, Pabrai’s, has launched a Gondhoraj Lebu-flavoured ice cream this Durga Pujo! Of course, I had to go and try it out!
Sadly, though, I was utterly disappointed by the ice cream. I had expected it to be sweet and sour, and very lemony, but it was just like any other plain ice cream, with just the essence of lemon. In no way does it match up to Pabrai’s lovely, lovely, lovely Nolen Gur ice cream. The husband quite liked the Gondhoraj Lebu ice cream, though, so it could be just me.
For me, the one good thing that came out of our visit to Pabrai’s was that I discovered their Orange-And-Chocolate ice cream, another recent introduction. I loved the ice cream to bits – I thought the slightly bitter chocolate and the orange made a gorgeous pair. We have been on an ‘orange’ spree lately (See this, this, this and this!), so we were all the more delighted to find this. The husband didn’t love this one so much, but didn’t hate it either.
These ice creams are priced between INR 80 and 90 per scoop, like most of Pabrai’s offerings are. They are super-fresh, though, and I think the price is justified for the quality of their products. If you plan to visit Pabrai’s in the near future, give the Gondhoraj a miss if you must, but do try out the Orange-Chocolate, I tell you!
Schezwan Vada Pav at Eateroo, Marathahalli
But for this girl’s repeated ravings about the food at Eateroo, I might never have visited this place. I might never have been thrilled by the sort-of food lane that opens up in Marathahalli every evening, serving everything from litti chokha, rabdi jalebi and dabeli to dosas, sweets from Orissa and pav bhaji. Thanks a ton for helping us in this discovery, GB! 🙂 Now, we just have to go back to this food street again and again and again, to try out all the lovely fare that is on offer here.
I don’t know why I thought Eateroo would be a smallish eatery, with seating and all. It so isn’t that. Eateroo is a street-side cart in Marathahalli that dishes out varieties of vada pav, dabeli, and some other delicacies from Mumbai, everything priced between INR 30 and 50.
We tried out their Kutchi dabeli, Special Vada Pav and Schezwan Vada Pav.
I found the dabeli to be okay – not ‘Wow!’, but not too bad either. The Special Vada Pav was delish – well-made and just the right blend of flavours. The Schezwan Vada Pav was lovely – the home-made spicy Schezwan paste adding to the taste greatly. The husband’s opinions were exactly the opposite of mine – ‘Wow!’ for the dabeli, ‘Just about OK’ for the Special Vada Pav, and ‘Meh!’ for the Schezwan Vada Pav.
If you find yourself in Marathahalli any time soon, I would highly recommend this outlet to you. Especially the Schezwan Vada Pav.
Jalebi With Rabdi at Jai Gurudev, Marathahalli
While at Marathahalli, we also discovered a cart called Jai Gurudev, which was manned by a Rajasthani guy doling out jalebis, rabdi and jalebi-rabdi. We couldn’t stop ourselves from trying out the jalebi with rabdi and, my, what gorgeousness it was!
Piping-hot ghee jalebis dunked in a beautiful, sweet, cold, thick rabdi – this was simply a plateful of heaven for us. We slurped it up, thoroughly enjoying every bite.
One plate of jalebi-rabdi here is priced at INR 50.
Don’t miss this beauty, if you are ever in the food lane at Marathahalli, I would say!
What have your recent foodie discoveries been? Hits or misses? I’m all ears!
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