sweta's food quest

Ode to the Siliguri Pao Bhaji

When you are in Siliguri, you can't miss the Pao Bhaji near Bombay Stores in Hill Cart Road. Although in the past I couldn't find a single reason to defend this dusty, cantankerous, cacophony of a town (or at present a growing city) to any of its long list of haters as I was one of them too, it's been not so long that I no longer give it a sidestep when I'm traveling out of Darjeeling or coming back home. My friends and I have even started to come down for weekend splurges or nights on the town owing to the many malls and eateries that have sprung up in the last five years during those occasional bouts that i give in to consumerism weakness! I will grudgingly admit here that it is actually a fun place to be! 

 

As children, the only motivation that would drag my brother and me to this place with the grown ups was the Pao Bhaji at this special tiny corner stall. The grown ups, the poor grown ups only dragged themselves to this dusty, cantankerous, cacophony of a town ( and I'm sure they suffered as much separation anxiety as we did) from the peace and tranquility of the hills to shop and not just for big, important things. People came down from the hills in hordes to buy almost everything under the sun – tiles, paint, cement, fittings, paper, saris, needles, yarn, fabric, vegetables, fruits, boxes, kitchenware, ink – you name it, you found it in Siliguri and in fact, although I hate to admit it, you still do.

The oasis in this desert as I mentioned was this sizzling, delicious, melt- in -the- mouth Pao Bhaji cooked in chunks of golden, simmering butter and served with soft, melt- in- the- mouth, heavenly buns - so decadent that i am almost cringing with shame and self-loathing or maybe not!

Paying tribute to this little piece of gastronomic relief, a dear friend during hard, hot times and a life saver on many occasions has always been on my mind. So I grabbed my camera the last time I was in Siliguri, hailed a rickshaw, found my way back to the dear old stall, clicked these pictures and rounded it off by polishing another serving of the never- fails-to-impress concoction - double on the go!

I came home a happy girl.

who da man!

date night

 the madness

of 

Siliguri

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