When a city is your occasional home for nearly three decades—the way Ahmedabad is ours—you forge a gently forgiving relationship with it. There’s a healthy sentimentality untinged with prejudice. A dispassionate attachment without forced niceties. As incorrigible foodies, our love-hate association with Ahmedabad manifests in the foods we have eaten, the tastes we have relished or dissed, the restaurants we’ve patronised or dumped, the anonymous chefs we’ve admired or denounced. Every emotion experienced and milestone covered in Ahmedabad in all these years has had an analogous food. The joy of sharing plates of Ambika dal vadas after bunking college on rain-drenched afternoons. The enervating chais at the tapri near IIM discussing your dissertation. The chilled refreshers from Girish Cold Drinks on CG Road on a day you are out reporting in the cloying heat. The working lunches at Epicurean and celebratory dinners at Sheeba or Gopi.
But, cities change—as they must. The nameless lassi shop in Navrangpura near the bus stand that served my strawberry drink has vanished. Chills Thrills Frills (CTF for locals), which gave us our first authentic taste of Italian pizza, is now an entity only in memory. Rasranjan, my go-to for the tangiest, most gratifying pani-puris, is a shadow of its former self. Once the darling of the city’s residents, Law Garden’s khau gali has lost favour (and flavour) to the Food Truck Park on SG Highway. Manek Chowk is passe, Urban Chowk—the ritzy container food court—is the current phenom. Even CG Road and Ashram Road have lost their sheen to the swashbuckling Sindhu Bhawan Road. In the palimpsest of the city’s foodscape, the reassuring presence of our long-standing favourite restaurants signals that we are back in the place that has our heart. We are home. Here are the ones to bookmark and devour.
All-day breakfast at Chandravilas
Ever wondered how the zany pairing of sweet, syrupy jalebi and savoury fafda came to be the de facto breakfast of Gujaratis? Blame it on the inventiveness of Chimanraj Hemraj Joshi, the man who started Chandravilas on a cart. The restaurant transposes the British-Irish concept of all-day breakfast to the most unlikely cuisine! Though, we like Chandravilas not for its historicity (at over 125 years old, it is arguably the oldest surviving restaurant of Ahmedabad) or patronage by stalwarts or, heck, even its authenticity. The nicest thing about Chandravilas is that it has never pretended to be anything it is not: A humble teahouse that can give a newcomer to Gujarati food the finest crash course on breaking the fast, Gujarati-style. In fact, the curated walk through the pols (the densely packed, gated residential clusters that earned the city its UNESCO Heritage title) usually culminates for adventurous eaters at Chandravilas with scrumptious sev usal, patra, methi na gota, and approving nods. Crisp, thin jalebis—every batch freshly fried in desi ghee and dunked in sugar syrup only after an order is placed—are combined with crunchy yet soft fafda with a side of grated papaya salad and kadhi. Confused about what to order? Just get their all-day breakfast thali; it has reasonable portions of every item on the menu: khaman with a tempering of green chillies and mustard seeds; poori-shak; chana; bataka vada; methi na gota; patra; and, of course, jalebi-fafda. Over the years, we’ve made it a rite of passage for visiting guests. As far as we know, no one’s complained.
Near Ratan Pol, Gandhi Road, Tankshal, Ahmedabad. Phone: +91 98980 97397
Panki-chatni and sukhdi at Swati Snacks
Swati Snacks is one of those places that call for the easy comfort of a routine: You try different things but find yourself drawn to the exact same dishes every time. The menu features fan-favourites like ragda patties, thalipith, sev puri, and the almost mandatory dabeli (alongside the dosas and pizzas), but we always choose to start our feast with their unofficial USP: the feather-light panki-chatni. Like a precious gift, you carefully unwrap the wilted-from-steam banana leaf before gently prying out a bit of the thin layer of soft savoury rice cake, popping it into your eager mouths to feel the implosion of smoky flavours. Despite the obvious presence of garlic and aromatics, panki-chatni is subtle; no one ingredient assails the taste buds. Repeats are par for the course.
Right from its early days in the early 2000s, we’ve been hooked on the restaurant’s methi bajri roti with bataka vatana shak, handvo, and fada ni khichdi. But our secret guilty pleasure is the sukhdi—fudge-like tepid squares of wheat flour, jaggery, and ghee. Break a piece, put it on your tongue, and let the satiny smoothness envelope the senses. Food hug, anyone?
Panchavati Road, Law Garden, Ahmedabad. Phone: +91 95739 51406
Nalli rosh and mutton chanp at New Irani Restaurant
Why should it be a revelation that top-notch non-veg is available aplenty in a city founded by a Sultan (Ahmed Shah I)? In fact, not far from the Sultan’s Bhadra Fort—a landmark almost as old as the 600-year-old city itself—stands another bastion that’s also stood the test of time (over 80 years, if you must know) and morphed into an icon. New Irani Restaurant will never make the cut for Instagram plating and presentation, but the service is quick, the place clean, and the food spot-on. Think the tenderest shanks, juiciest bone marrows, and chunkiest meat pieces hugging aromatic masalas or afloat zesty curries. Paya? Gurda? Korma? Bhuna? Just ask.
We begin with a dish that seems to have glided straight out of the royal angeethis of Lucknow into our plate in New Irani: nalli rosh. The tender mutton and bone marrow—achingly slow-cooked in an oomphy gravy that’s as much a feast for the eyes as for the tongue—has just the right amount of bite. After sucking out every bit of tasteful residue from the marrow, we progress to mutton chanp, a crowd-puller further enhanced with the unheralded roti slapped with ghee. Hardcore omnivores should enquire about the day’s sabzi fry; their baingan fry—small aubergines cooked in a thick onion-tomato gravy and spiced liberally without being overly pungent—is nearly as good as the chicken fry. Mop it up with desi ghee paratha.
This place is also popular for bun maska (and its swankier variant, Nutella maska bun). What can you do? Eat some, pack many, and say a prayer of gratitude for Behram Irani, the immigrant from Iran who started the restaurant pre Independence.
Opp Sunheri Maszid, Salapose Road, Bhadra, Ahmedabad – 380001. Phone: +91 79253 51047
Kesar mohanthal at Kandoi Bhogilal Mulchand
Mohanthal is not your standard besan barfi. It’s not even Mysore pak. And it’s definitely not the lampooned soan papdi. It’s an eggless marzipan-y sensory overload of besan. To experience the heavenly mohanthal, you have to head to the legendary Ahmedabad mithai institution, Kandoi Bhogilal Mulchand. Thriving for almost 180 years, it’s a story that can be summarised as the realisation of the dream of two brothers, Bhogilal and Mulchand, who wanted to be synonymous with quality sweets. Starting out with one tiny shop in what is now the Walled City area, it has turned into a wonderland for lovers of sweets with a lineup of laddoos, barfis, halwas, and ghebar with branches all across the city.
The kesar mohanthal, though, remains their signature. It is grainy, firm yet soft, endowed with a nutty, roasted taste courtesy of besan sautéed on a low flame, further amped with the infusion of pure saffron and cardamon. Neat squares of silver varq-laced mohanthal sprinkled with slivers of almond and pistachio are the stuff that sweet dreams are made of.
2715, Kandoi Ole, Manekchowk, Ahmedabad – 380001. Phone: 99795 05811
Farsan from Induben Khakrawala & Co (IKC)
For an Amdavadi, IKC is to farsan what Chaplin is to slapstick: inalienable and the ultimate pinnacle. Induben Sumanlal Jhaveri couldn’t have ever dreamt that, decades from 1965, what she started in her kitchen to keep the family going would become a multi-crore empire and a veritable institution for farsan, the umbrella term for crunchy, savoury anytime snacks. At IKC, khakhra—healthy, papad-like snacks—comes in scores of flavours, from plain to jeera, and cheese to achaar masala. Even though they are the mainstay—and the identity—of the brand, there’s also fulwadi, chevdo, bhakarwadi, and sev among the long list of items, and even chutneys, pickles, mukhwas as well as sweets like kopra pak and chikki. They have recently ventured into the ready-to-eat meals with the packets of khichdi-kadhi and Gujarati dal-bhat. Our trips to Ahmedabad are never complete without bringing back bagfuls of Induben products as food souvenirs.
100/A, Swastik Society Cross Rd, Swastik Society, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. Phone: +91 82009 97891
Thali at Vishalla
Coming to Ahmedabad and not sampling the thali is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. Inherently blended into the Gujarati foodscape, there’s a thali to suit every budget, right from the home kitchens near colleges dishing out dal-bhat-shak to tony ones like Agashiye that serve epic platters, and the in-betweens like Toran, Gopi Dining Hall, Gordhan Thal, et al. Needless to say, everyone has a favourite thali place. The one that has found favour with us since our cub-reporter days is Vishalla, the hallmark of quality for almost half a century. A meal here is an exhilarating experience: of memorable food, of course, but also of legendary hospitality and—with a world-class utensil museum, a sprawling art gallery, lively performances of puppetry and dance, all in an organic, rustic environ—infotainment too. Even before you’ve tasted the food, this smorgasbord will lead to some bewilderment: Chutneys of every colour imaginable, veggies and salads, grams, boiled peanuts, papads. These, however, are mere conversation-starters. The real magic begins once the servers start trooping in with the mains. Adhering to the Ayurvedic concept of shad rasa, or the balance of six tastes, it astounds with variety. There are rotla, bhakhri, thepla, farsan, shak, dal, kadhi, khichdi with fresh white butter, sweets, chaas, everything unlimited, fresh, delicious. The hedonism extracts a price as you start slipping into a torpor. But not the beating heart. Even as the rest of the body threatens to shut down, the heart keeps doing its job, happy and secure because it knows it’s in the right place. Ours is in Ahmedabad, specifically in the spirals of Induben’s chakli right this minute. Bhale padharya.
Opposite APMC Market, Vishalla Circle, Ahmedabad – 380055. Phone: +91 82005 43694
