Eating out in India is an adventure for any gastronome. The local food is unique and often cheap in every state. Travelling across the country, I realised that the most authentic food is available in small food joints. The food quality and the value for money one can experience in the local inexpensive food places makes exploring India worthwhile for a food explorer.
1. Dhabas
A boon for all travellers, Dhabas are the lifeline of Indian road travel. Truckers take refuge and refresh at these dhabas lined across the Indian highways. A simple meal at an authentic, inexpensive dhaba with sabzi, dal, rotis and salad may cost around 50 to 70 rupees. The extended time one spends on their cots (charpais) to relax, or a short nap is not chargeable.
Dhabas with a humble set up of mud floors and thatched roofs to the ones with fancy dining halls with air conditioning, the food at a Dhaba always brings back nostalgia. Tandoori Parathas served with a mountain of white home-churned butter, Dal Makhani, Baingan Ka Bharta, Chole, Rajma, Palak Paneer, Saag etc., are some of the loved Dhaba dishes. Dhaba cuisine is based on the most easily procured seasonal ingredients, thus, providing cheap, healthy, and delicious food to travellers ever since their inception in the 20th century.
2. Tiffin rooms / Udupi Hotels / Darshanis
As we travel across South India, affordable breakfast options are plenty. Dishes like dosa, idli, uttapam, Upma, Appam, Puttu, etc., are commonplace in eateries like the tiffin rooms, Udupi hotels, or Darshnis.
A dosa meal can cost between 50 rupees to 80 rupees, depending on the kind of dosa you are eating. Idlis can cost anywhere between 20 rupees to 30 rupees a piece and is served with traditional accompaniments of chutney and sambhar. A multi-dish vegetarian lunch meal can cost around 100 rupees, including unlimited servings of rice, sambhar and rasam. In Bangalore, you can visit Darshanis, a common name given to vegetarian eateries serving traditional Karnataka-style tiffin items. Try local specialities like Bisi Bele Bhath or a Chow Chow bath, and finish the meal with a cup of hot filter coffee.
3. Tea Stalls
You can find small tea shops in every nook and corner of India. Tea brewed with milk and spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and tulsi, can be commonly found in tea stalls selling at 10 rupees per cup. Small snacks like samosa, bread pakoda, bhajjis, and other fritters are cheap yet delicious. One can also opt for a Matthi, biscuits or Khara puffs at these small tea shops. In 20 to 30 rupees, one can enjoy a good cup of masala chai, served in a kulhad, along with a snack to fill oneself with a small grub.
4. State Bhawan and canteens
Growing up in the capital city of India, New Delhi, visiting the state Bhawan canteens has been a regular affair for me. State Bhawan is established as a guest house for people visiting from a particular state to the capital and has a canteen serving the regional cuisine of the state it represents. Food is often subsidised and is served at low prices. For the quality of unique food offered at each of the state Bhawan canteens, food exploration at State Bhawans is a worthy cause for any gastronome. Andhra Bhawan, Karnataka Sadan, Gujarat
Bhawan, Maharashtra Sadan, Assam Bhawan, Goa Niwas, Bihar Niwas, and Tamilnadu House etc., are some of the popular state Bhawan canteens in New Delhi that offer delicious regional cuisines to their patrons.
5. Military Hotels, Messes and Lunch Homes.
For delicious and reasonably priced non-vegetarian food in the southern states of India, look out for a mess or a military hotel. Military hotels have a long and interesting history, with many of them being operational since the colonial era. Dishes like Donne Biryani, Mutton Pulao, Chicken chilli, Khaima Balls, Kaal Soup, Pepper Chicken, Boti Masala, Liver, Chicken chop, or mutton chop are some of the delicious non-vegetarian options one can indulge in.
Lunch homes across India’s southern and coastal belt take pride in the delicious non-vegetarian food, especially seafood. Rice and fish curry make the base of the meal served on a banana leaf, and pickles, gassi, or a vegetable are served along. What makes the meal enjoyable is the cheap and excellently cooked spicy seafood one can enjoy.
6. Railway stations and Platforms
A train journey can introduce us to many flavours. The food served on the railway platforms across the length and breadth of the country and by various snack vendors ferrying around the wagon makes for an exciting culinary exploration. Food is reasonably priced and carries the local flavour; many travellers remain intrigued to try out the famous food of the regions they are passing through. Food served by the railways, be it the cutlets or the famed railway mutton curry of yesteryears, has nostalgic value and is often replicated by restaurants.
7. Indian Coffee House
Indian coffee houses are a chain of decades-old coffee houses run by worker’s cooperative societies. A place to socialise over coffee and snacks, the Indian coffee house, a concept started before India’s independence, has lived on to tell the story of the past. The food served at coffee houses is simple and delicious. From cutlets, sandwiches and coffees to serving Indian cuisines from the states they are situated in, Indian coffee houses have remained a trusted and memorable brand epitomising charm in reasonably priced dining.
8. Homestays
Across India, homestays are available for people to rent out on vacations. They are often close to nature-filled hills or beaches. Even at the remotest tourist locations, homestays offer guests an authentic living experience and dining at a reasonable cost. Be it in the Himalayas or on the ghats of Varanasi. On the coast or the western ghats, in beautiful northeast India or the heritage land of Rajasthan, homestays are a perfect way to delve into the lives of the local populace. Food served at homestays is delicious, homely, and at a nominal cost. Throughout the country, staying in homestays and eating the local food has been a preferred way for people across the globe to experience India. The charm of a homestay ceases to go away.
9. Hole-in-the-wall food joints
Chaat, Kachori, Chole Bhature, Idli, dosa, and Paratha. These are just some of the delicious dishes one can enjoy in India from small hole-in-the-wall shops, dishing out regional specialities. Be it Kebabs and Haleem, Tikkas and Soups, or Shawarma meat roasting in public view, delicious food doesn’t need a vast fancy place to be liked by the patrons. Many famous and legendary food joints still shell out from the tiny little shops they started from. Specialising in small plate foods, served in disposable plates or donnas.
Chaat items form a sub-cuisine of their own, with food items like aloo tikki, gol gappas, paapdi, Bhalla, laccha tokri, tamatar ki chaat, Matar ki chaat, fruit chaat, aloo chaat, and many other unique food items are served with enticing masalas and chutneys. Enjoying food at these old and famous places gives you the true culinary essence of the region, and these hole-in-the-wall places do not burn a hole in your pocket.
10. Street Carts
Real innovation and craftsmanship can be experienced at street food carts across India. Not just the unique ingredients and cooking styles of India on exuberant display in the bright streets of India’s many bazaars, but the sheer craftsmanship of the food vendors lights up the culinary landscape of Indian street food. A guy on the cart may have dishes like Pao Bhaji, Dosas, a Vada pao, an omelette, soup or a curry. In Southern India, dishes like chicken 65, parottas, bhajjis, and idlis can all be enjoyed on the cart, with many other food lovers looking to fill up delicious street food at a low cost.
Indian food will introduce you to many flavours, as the taste and style of cooking differ from state to state. As you travel across India, you will have many options for trying authentic flavours without having to worry too much about the expenses. A culinary exploration of India requires your will and a big appetite for delicious cuisines, and you will have the time of your life. Keep exploring!
Sidharth Bhan Gupta, Founder of 361 Degrees Hospitality, is a Hospitality / Food and Beverage / Restaurant Consultant, Travelling across India on a Cultural and Culinary Exploration.