Mint street in Sowcarpet is an area I have “heard” about but never visited - All I knew was that “Mint Street” aka “Thanga Salai” derived its name since it housed East India Company’s mint those days. Sowcarpettai is actually the moneylenders pettai deriving its name from "Sahukar".
Step in to this area, and you are in a different part of India – Rajasthan or Gujarat whatever.. Colorful clothing, sarees, bindis, bangles in trend thanks to the latest Hindi serials, Gujarathi and Hindi name boards - Definitely not for the weak hearted and for contented souls who shop in the empty AC malls of Hyatt! This is real shopping, for hard-core shoppers (meaning, us) - You master the art of jumping over cow dung and slush yet keep track of lines and lines of jewellery & saree shops, wholesale markets amongst the tightly packed traffic. It’s just the world in one street, and hats off to the Madras week to organize such an gutsy event!
The registered members had to assemble at Kakada Ramprasad’s sweet and savoury shop in Sowcarpet – It’s such a legendary shop and the aam junta guides you correctly to the location. We met Pratibha Jain and the co-foodies; she said that we should taste the jalebis and fafda – we went and picked up one plate – which had 4 hot and crispy, juicy jalebis, fafdas and a yummy papaya chutney (Rs.37/-) and a glass of rich “Badam milk” for Rs.70 – (living up to its name, sweet and thick milk with almond bits) – Its far better and cheaper than Gangothris and Shree Mithais of Chennai.. We quickly had a food group which decided to go group-tasting the abundance overload of sandwiches, chaats, kesar milkshake, cane juice and kachoris!
The next stop was the Kachori stall – Ramawat Chaats – which is actually a movable stall which sells kachori, samosa and mirchi vada – The Dal kachori will stand good for a week and the rest of the kachoris a day or two. As Indians we are way too good in Indianizing western or Chinese cuisines and how long it takes for us to come together to produce a tamilian cocktail with Rajasthani taste blend? – The classic example is the Sundal Kachori – white pattani sundal and kachori served in a bed of green juicy hot and sweet chutney! Slurp..
The cane juice was not up to the mark – Ranganthan street and T.Nagar serves thicker version (without ice) and so we went along to Rajshree Panipuris.. Set of 6 panipuris served in a bed of onions, brown kondai kadai sundal, and a dynamite of green liquid – the final one is a sukha pani puri which is supposed to absorb all the spiciness!
The eating spree continued to the Murugan sandwich shop – we wanted to try the Murukku sandwich, and it turned out to be layers of Small murukku, onion, cucumber and tomato slices stacked on after the other, and topped by a murukku again, with a generous dash of sev as garnish – what the heck, no bread?? We had to give into our temptations to taste the melting cheese and chilli sandwich and satiate our hunger pangs.
One feedback to the organizing team is if your guides can explain the history of the shop and the specialties it would be good..
All in all, a real offering of all good things in life, and a sensory overload!
Step in to this area, and you are in a different part of India – Rajasthan or Gujarat whatever.. Colorful clothing, sarees, bindis, bangles in trend thanks to the latest Hindi serials, Gujarathi and Hindi name boards - Definitely not for the weak hearted and for contented souls who shop in the empty AC malls of Hyatt! This is real shopping, for hard-core shoppers (meaning, us) - You master the art of jumping over cow dung and slush yet keep track of lines and lines of jewellery & saree shops, wholesale markets amongst the tightly packed traffic. It’s just the world in one street, and hats off to the Madras week to organize such an gutsy event!
The registered members had to assemble at Kakada Ramprasad’s sweet and savoury shop in Sowcarpet – It’s such a legendary shop and the aam junta guides you correctly to the location. We met Pratibha Jain and the co-foodies; she said that we should taste the jalebis and fafda – we went and picked up one plate – which had 4 hot and crispy, juicy jalebis, fafdas and a yummy papaya chutney (Rs.37/-) and a glass of rich “Badam milk” for Rs.70 – (living up to its name, sweet and thick milk with almond bits) – Its far better and cheaper than Gangothris and Shree Mithais of Chennai.. We quickly had a food group which decided to go group-tasting the abundance overload of sandwiches, chaats, kesar milkshake, cane juice and kachoris!
The next stop was the Kachori stall – Ramawat Chaats – which is actually a movable stall which sells kachori, samosa and mirchi vada – The Dal kachori will stand good for a week and the rest of the kachoris a day or two. As Indians we are way too good in Indianizing western or Chinese cuisines and how long it takes for us to come together to produce a tamilian cocktail with Rajasthani taste blend? – The classic example is the Sundal Kachori – white pattani sundal and kachori served in a bed of green juicy hot and sweet chutney! Slurp..
The cane juice was not up to the mark – Ranganthan street and T.Nagar serves thicker version (without ice) and so we went along to Rajshree Panipuris.. Set of 6 panipuris served in a bed of onions, brown kondai kadai sundal, and a dynamite of green liquid – the final one is a sukha pani puri which is supposed to absorb all the spiciness!
The eating spree continued to the Murugan sandwich shop – we wanted to try the Murukku sandwich, and it turned out to be layers of Small murukku, onion, cucumber and tomato slices stacked on after the other, and topped by a murukku again, with a generous dash of sev as garnish – what the heck, no bread?? We had to give into our temptations to taste the melting cheese and chilli sandwich and satiate our hunger pangs.
One feedback to the organizing team is if your guides can explain the history of the shop and the specialties it would be good..
All in all, a real offering of all good things in life, and a sensory overload!
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