Food Indulgence : Try A Roadside Dhaba
I stay in Mumbai and frankly speaking I never had food in this metropolis which should satisfy my taste buds and also delight my all the five senses. My search had taken me to street food to star hotels but could not find such place. But when ever I go to a Dhaba any where in the country right from Assam to Amritsar, I really enjoy its food. What is the secret ? Let me try to share.
How the Dhabas came into existence ? It is an offshoot of transport revolution in our country. The real growth started from the mid of 19th century when transport business started evolving, most of the truck were Sardar Ji needed home kind of Punjabi food full of pure Desi Ghee, village home kind ambience and lot of charpais ( cots ) , if the driver decides to break his journey and take rest these charpais become his open air hotel room. The Dhabas first cropped up in Punjab and thereafter spread in the length and breadth of the country. Most of the owners of these Dhabas are either Sardarjis or any body who has imitated the style of rich Punjabi Food. The beauty of Dhabas is that most of the time you will get consistency in taste, aroma as well as ambience.
Let me share with you my own encounters with Dhabas. Once I was traveling from Lucknow to Moradbad in a car with my wife and a friend's family who had come from Mumbai to visit Nainital after attending marriage of one of our common friend. While traveling all of us felt hungry and asked me to search for a good restaurant to stop for lunch. Instead I preferred to search for a road side Dhaba, one I randomly saw somewhere near city called Shahjahanpur. As soon as I parked my car, boy around age of 17 years guided us to a corner and set two charpais where we settled down. A very unusual ambience for my Mumbai friend and his family, boy first brought tall glasses containing chas (salted butter milk) with black pepper, adrak, pudina and black salt. Very refreshing and soul lifting drink. The option in menu were limited, we settled for dal fried, pindi chole, mixed vegetables, raita and of course paneer tikka masala, butter nan and tandoori roti. Every thing was so fresh that you can feel the aroma and flavor. In city restaurants and star hotels every thing has same kind of gravy and the procurement of raw stuff specially non vegetarian is usually a week old. My daughter once used to work in a five star hotel at Nariman Point, where one of there basement was a huge cold storage and they procure non veg stuff for two to three months ! So how you will get the taste.
On the contrast, the Dhabas are totally a family enterprise where all members are engaged in business 24x7 round the year. Usually the owner has entirely home grown raw material and fresh pic ups, he keeps cows, hens, goats and do his own farming in the backyard of Dhaba where he cultivate all seasonal vegetables. They also specialise in making Khada Masala, grounded every day, that is the real magic. Most of the time whatever they cook it is fresh procurement as the footfall is so high that the entire stuff is consumed on the same day. Each Dhaba has it's own food specialities also, depending upon the place of domicile of the owner, if he is migrated from frontier area , which is now a part of Pakistan, then expect some flavour from frontier.
In the recent years many Dhabas have cropped up around the outer limits of Mumbai city where you may enjoy fresh and tasty food, of course there is no comparison of rates from the Dhabas near smaller cities but still these are far cheaper than the city eateries.
How the Dhabas came into existence ? It is an offshoot of transport revolution in our country. The real growth started from the mid of 19th century when transport business started evolving, most of the truck were Sardar Ji needed home kind of Punjabi food full of pure Desi Ghee, village home kind ambience and lot of charpais ( cots ) , if the driver decides to break his journey and take rest these charpais become his open air hotel room. The Dhabas first cropped up in Punjab and thereafter spread in the length and breadth of the country. Most of the owners of these Dhabas are either Sardarjis or any body who has imitated the style of rich Punjabi Food. The beauty of Dhabas is that most of the time you will get consistency in taste, aroma as well as ambience.
Let me share with you my own encounters with Dhabas. Once I was traveling from Lucknow to Moradbad in a car with my wife and a friend's family who had come from Mumbai to visit Nainital after attending marriage of one of our common friend. While traveling all of us felt hungry and asked me to search for a good restaurant to stop for lunch. Instead I preferred to search for a road side Dhaba, one I randomly saw somewhere near city called Shahjahanpur. As soon as I parked my car, boy around age of 17 years guided us to a corner and set two charpais where we settled down. A very unusual ambience for my Mumbai friend and his family, boy first brought tall glasses containing chas (salted butter milk) with black pepper, adrak, pudina and black salt. Very refreshing and soul lifting drink. The option in menu were limited, we settled for dal fried, pindi chole, mixed vegetables, raita and of course paneer tikka masala, butter nan and tandoori roti. Every thing was so fresh that you can feel the aroma and flavor. In city restaurants and star hotels every thing has same kind of gravy and the procurement of raw stuff specially non vegetarian is usually a week old. My daughter once used to work in a five star hotel at Nariman Point, where one of there basement was a huge cold storage and they procure non veg stuff for two to three months ! So how you will get the taste.
On the contrast, the Dhabas are totally a family enterprise where all members are engaged in business 24x7 round the year. Usually the owner has entirely home grown raw material and fresh pic ups, he keeps cows, hens, goats and do his own farming in the backyard of Dhaba where he cultivate all seasonal vegetables. They also specialise in making Khada Masala, grounded every day, that is the real magic. Most of the time whatever they cook it is fresh procurement as the footfall is so high that the entire stuff is consumed on the same day. Each Dhaba has it's own food specialities also, depending upon the place of domicile of the owner, if he is migrated from frontier area , which is now a part of Pakistan, then expect some flavour from frontier.
In the recent years many Dhabas have cropped up around the outer limits of Mumbai city where you may enjoy fresh and tasty food, of course there is no comparison of rates from the Dhabas near smaller cities but still these are far cheaper than the city eateries.
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