A Real Taste of India

Chuck and I LOVE to do street food tours anyplace we can when we travel.

However, heading to India, nearly everyone we know told us not to eat the street food and had concerns about the dreaded Delhi Belly.

Turn To Youtube

So, when all else fails we turn to Youtube. Nearly all of the food and travel vloggers from Kara and Nate to David’s Been Here and The Food Ranger have all done tours with Delhi Food Walks.

We figured with such a stellar reputation they were bound to only take us to places that were safe.

Great Customer Service

We reached out to book their Old Delhi Night Food Walk.

We only had one day free in Delhi before our tour package began and would be getting in very late the night before. This gave us the opportunity to get some sleep before heading over for an evening tour.

They answered all of our email questions about booking, deposits, and cancellation as well as the best transportation ideas to the meetup location.

They were wonderful with confirmations, follow up and connecting with us via Whatsapp when we arrived in India.

Virat

Virat was our tour manager and could not have been more amazing and informative.

We arrived at Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi in a major downpour – we were early for our meeting and managed to find a shop with umbrellas.

Virat arrived right on time, told us that the other people joining us would be late and that we were starting our tour and they would join us.

I can’t say enough great things about Virat, the information he shared and how he went out of his way to ensure that were safe in the back lanes of Delhi.

Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib

Gurudwara Sisganj Sahib is an incredible Sikh Temple. We were able to tour the temple, learn about the Sikh people and their religion. The principles of their religion and their founder were very touching.

We toured their Langar Hall where people from all walks of life come together to be fed a meal. No one is turned away and everyone is equal.

Volunteers prepare 25,000 meals a day over the course of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Hindu Sector

The rain had stopped as we left the Sikh Temple and began to make our way through the Hindu Sector of Old Delhi. However, we still had to navigate some wet, muddy, crowded streets.

We enjoyed a number of delicious vegetarian specialties handpicked by Delhi Food Walks, many of the businesses they work with have been operated by the same families for several generations.

Just before our first stop, we were lucky enough to be joined by Delhi Food Walks owner, Anubhav, who brought everyone gift bags and spent some time with us as we explored the lanes of Old Delhi.

Our first stop was for some Aloo Tikki, a crispy potato cake with a sweet tamarind sauce.

We had freshly baked shortbread cookies that were baked under a pan of charcoal.

Our third location was for fried Parantha – we tried varieties filled with nuts, mixed vegetables, lemon, and condensed milk. The four breads came with a potato curry, pumpkin curry, sweet tamarind with banana and potato and peas. Each was more delicious than the last.

 

After exploring a quiet alley where members of the Jain community lived, and their ornate doorways; we enjoyed a sweet treat only available in the winter and the spring. The dessert of whipped cream, saffron and pistachios loosely translated into “money in your mouth” because it disappears so quickly.

Additionally, we had some Chai, samosas filled with peas, a Jain specialty, and the super sticky sweet jalebi.

More Exploration

We rode in electric rickshaws as we crisscrossed the neighborhoods, we explored alleys filled with wedding gowns, beautiful decorations, silver jewelry, and spices.

We made a stop at a rooftop flower market with vendors who were processing and drying marigolds and roses.

With a few flooded roads, our driver took us in some really off the grid back alleys to get to the Muslim Sector and our Non-veg treats.

Meat!

We made several stops at iconic places offering lamb kebabs with freshly baked bread, mutton curry, and insanely amazing butter chicken.

As Chuck doesn’t eat lamb they were kind enough to substitute a panner dish and a chicken kebab.

A couple people at our table were adventurous and tried a brain curry – we had to pass.

While enjoying our butter chicken we also had some thick, creamy traditional rice pudding with almonds, pistachios, and cardamom.

ICE CREAM

We ended our unbelievable adventure with ice cream called kulfi.

The shop basically said we’ll keep bringing the group flavors until you say STOP. Nearly a dozen flavors later we had tried – coconut, mango, mixed berry, leeches, rose, Indian blackberry, Tamarind with toasted cumin seed, strawberry, and a traditional saffron pistachio cream.

We had the BEST NIGHT EVER! We made some new friends, tried food from places we would have never found on our own and really explored the back lanes of Old Delhi.

Be sure to check out Chuck’s blog post on an opportunity for giving back to people in need if you find yourself in Old Delhi’s Muslim Sector.

It was the perfect way to start our India vacation!