Dilli- here and there! Shawarma @ Albake, New Friends Colony, New Delhi

Al Bake! - New Friends Colony, New Dilli:

The unique thing about this place are the 'Shawarmas' - grilled chicken/lamb/meat wrapped in a roll served with mayonnaise and mint sauce, it is something to die for! Shawarmas is an arabic delight, usually grilled for more than a day before it is served and the wrap is nothing but a pita bread. The first time I went there, as much as I remember I had close to 6 shawarmas for Rs 20 each.. its quite affordable. I recently heard the prices have risen to Rs. 25!  The only thing to be careful about is the crowd and the area around it is a bit too dirty.. :( infact, if you look at the restaurant you may not want to eat there but who cares.. get it packed and come home to enjoy the best shawarmas in the world! 

Delhi: Here and There!! : Rajinder Da dhabha , Safdarjung

Rajinder Da Dhabha (Safdarjung):








For the hard core non vegetarians.. this is the place for you! chicken wings, tangri, tikka, seekh kebab, mutton burra, fish fry.. omg.. my mouth is watering.. this is a small shop in Safdarjung enclave.. infront of Safdarjung club.. every evening, you will see a rush there, the food is actually value for money. It can cater to the needs of people from all walks of life.. you will see rikshawalas, students, working professionals, businessmen, this place is always jam packed, getting the food is like winning a medal..you keep enjoying the feel even after it..i love their appetizers..the menu is incredible and the service is excellent. The history behind this place is that it was a small 'thele wala' road side dhabha, and now, they have their own shop, restaurant.. this one is a must try place...!! The smell of the tandoori food lures you in to give it a shot, and once you do give it a try, rest assured you will be hooked.

'Dilli' - Here and there - (Wongden House, Majnu Ka Tila) - A little piece of Tibet!

I love my city..... there is so much to do in this city, especially if you have strong taste buds (as strong as mine- I am a foodie and am proud of it). It was March 14, 2010 (my birthday), wanted to do something different, dint know where to go but a friend helped me figure out the exact plan. We planned to go to Majnu ka tila, it is a tibetan colony in New Delhi which has a few restaurants and economy hotels (not under the ISBT bridge- not the tibetan colony one but its near Delhi University in Aruna Colony), I had heard a lot about this place throughout my childhood but had never gathered the courage to actually discover tha place myself. And, the rest is history.

 

   A mini Tibet!

How to get there- If you are in New Delhi, take the metro from Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, CP or else where as per your convenience to Delhi University. (Rs 20 apprx) , catch a rikshaw ( Rs 30) and ask him to escort you to Aruna Nagar. Its a small alley which takes you to the 'Tibet' in our city, when you go there do not be taken aback by the dirty lane. What you are about to witness is worth the wait.

A traveller shopping from the mini market (the side shops) 

There are a lot of small side shops where you can buy cheap junk jewellery, clothes, bags, flip flops and much more at a very discounted price. I felt that I am travelling in a different country all together, I really liked the place and the people. They were so chilled out and friendly, unaware about the world outside their colony, enjoying the small and meaningful things, not running behind the materialistic things in life, enjoying life and their relations to the core, they just seemed closer to life.. 

the wongden house- entrance

Wongden House, Majnu Ka Tila (Speciality- Tibetan food)- It is a small low budget hotel which caters to a lot of tourists in the city and it has a very small and quiet restaurant inside the hotel premises. When we went there, it was already filled witha few people, mostly foreigners (assuming that they were staying in the same hotel). It was my first tibeten food tasting experience, I was super duper excited. I had the best company in the world who had experienced it before, so I got the perfect guidance from him. We ordered pork chilli dry, kung pao chicken, chicken wontons, shabatley and tingmo (tibetan bread). It was a lot on my plate but I still managed to finish it all as it was one of the best meals ever! Yummy, I have to go there tomorrow again and I will be re-living the past!

Kuchesar- the royal trip

Kuchesar, 80 kms away from New Delhi (2 hours drive approx.) was chosen to be our next destination. How did Kuchesar happen and why Kuchesar?...it was another long weekend, everybody was running away from the city, we heard their plans and realized we had not pre-planned like everyone else, so there was no where to go. Friday morning, sad and miserable, we woke up and cursed ourselves for not planning it well and in advance. Suddenly, this thought struck us that we could go to a STILL DO IT, exlore a place away from the chaotic city life and just relax and maybe try do NOTHING for a change.

We called up this heritage fort turned into a hotel called the mudfort, got a great deal. Rs. 9000 for 2 nights 3 days (including all meals, bullock cart ride) and we spent about Rs 1000 in travelling by our deisel car (to and fro). At 1 PM, it was decided that we are packing our bags to go and experience the royal heritage. We left by 3 PM by NH 24, stopped over at a roadside dhabha for an awesome late lunch Rs. 160 for 2, I can still recall the taste of that yellow dal tadka with butter naan, reached Kuchesar by 5. The drive was simple and covenient, it was a straight road.

The Mudfort Resort, Kuchesar

Reached the fort, went to our room (the "Jag Mandir"), it was on the terrace and had a huge verandah infront of it. In the next room, a dutch couple were staying, they had an amazing collection of instrumental music, piano in particular. We kept the baggage in our room, went down to explore the place, it was a quiet palace, they had a billiards room, a table tennis table, a badminton court and a swimming pool. We tried our hands on everything and came back to the room, we saw our neighbours sitting in the verandah and reading, they had their ipod dock and were listening to piano. We sat on the other table on the verandah, staring at the sky and enjoying their music, talking about relevant things, things that were close to our heart, that we forget to discuss in our daily chaotic lives. Then we were called for the royal dinner, we went to the dining hall, the food was good, it felt like a home made meal. A home away from home.

Next morning, after breakfast, we decided to explore the Kuchesar village,the fort provided us with a chauffer driven bullock cart.



Bullock Cart Ride in the Mango Orchards!



Followed by a cycle ride in the evening in the village and we almost felt like foreigners in our own country, how the people looked us (the village was beautiful- very real , very pure, very peaceful.. serene is the word!). 



A house in the Village..



 

The perfect candle light dinner



Dinner was the highlight of the day, we decided to get the food from the dining hall and sit on the terrace outside our room (under the stars with a candle lit on our table). We were just happy!



The next morning, we packed all our bags and were ready to go! Another awesome trip ended but had given us alot of memories to cherish.. :)

Jaipur - Envasion

A long weekend in New Delhi, choices were too many but the finance was limited. We wanted to not waste too much time in travelling, so the destination had to be closer to the city. After much discusssion, we decided to go to Jaipur, along with exploring the place, we wanted to spend good time together. We started by looking for hotel deals online, make my trip turned out to be a blessing for us (Rs. 2300 per person for 2 nights 3 days at Umaid Bhawan, a three star heritage property with free pick and drop to the bus stop), we looked at the photos available, the website and the feedback of various tourists and decided to go for it. After booking the hotel, we booked the rajasthan state run volvo bus online at Rs. 650 per person. We were all set to go on a Friday morning, realizing that we had not chosen the best time to visit the city (September was the month), we were expecting it to be very hot.

We boarded the bus from IFFCO chowk in Gurgaon, a 5 hour drive to Jaipur was so comfortable, I loved the bus and the way it looked with pictures of Jaipur city on it, the seats, the leg space were perfect. The bus stopped at the Behror which is a mid-point, we treated ourselves with a cheese omellate and masala dosa. As we reached the city, the weather god welcomed us by making it rain, the hotel had sent a car for us, we reached the hotel. The hotel was small, we were unsure of what to expect next, the reception was small, we were escorted to our room, the decor was rajasthani, looked very beautiful, it had a small balcony attached to it. We loved the hotel and our room, the hotel had a very nice roof top restaurant, we tried the mouth waterimng Lal Maas (a rajasthani mutton speciality) with dal tadka, the food was incredible. The foodie in us, always judge a place by the quality and taste of food it offers, we were more than satisfied. We decided to spend the entire day at the hotel as we just wanted to relax for a while.

Next morning, we booked a taxi for 8 hours for Rs. 600, and then envaded the entire city in just 8 hours. Starting from Hawa Mahal, the architecture was so beautiful, we almost started believing that we are living in that era, we proceeded to Amber fort, Nahar Gar, Jai gar fort, three of these forts are a little away from the main city and are located near the hills, Amber fort also gives you to the option of travelling by an elephant to the top of the fort, it would cost anywhere between  Rs 900 to 1200, we thought we could just walk it and save the cost. At all the monuments, you get audio visuals sets for some Rs. 300 to 400 but I would suggest that you with a guide who can charge anywhere between 100 to 300 but gives more of a personal touch.  We realized that the architecture in almost all these monuments were the same. After seeing the 3 monuments, we took a break for Lunch at Glitz, a famous restaurant, tried their buffet for Rs, 400 per person. The food was ordinary though, but we tried to enjoy it to the maximun extent peossible.

We started travelling again, we went to lake palace and then the city palace, the architecture was beautiful but almost same as the Amber fort. We decided to call it a day as we realized that we had covered almost all the places except the Jantar Mantar. We went to the market after that for while, reached hotel in the evening, decided to swim for some time, and then enjoyed the dinner on the roof top restaurant, with some rajasthani folk dance!

Woke up next morning, realizing that our trip was almost over, we checked out and went to the nearvy market, which has a very well known shop called the "LMD" and tried dal bati there, I am not that big a fan of Dal baati but I enjoyed it here.

After our Jaipur envasion, it was very hard and difficult to return back home to the same monotonous life, but I guess there is no running away. We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend getaway, the cost turned out to be close to Rs. 6000 per person.

This is the photo of Umaid bhawan, we recommend you go there and have a relaxing but a cost friendly stay!