Best VARHADI/वर्हाडी Food in Amravati I Street Food Tour, Part 2 I सांभर वडी + पुरणपोळी + थालीपीठ

With so many famous food joints and restaurants in place, we undertook another food tour in Amravati to explore some other culinary delights from the city. This led us to a delightful experience revolving around some famous snacks, sweets and a huge rustic style vegetarian Varhadi spread. Accompanying us was our gracious host in the city, Apurv whose awareness about the local food scene was both impressive and inspiring. Let's walk you through this unique food tour.
First we went to New Mama Refreshment, a small shop famous for sambhar vadi and farali pattice. The first one is a specialty of Amravati and is like a deep fried elongated pastry stuffed with a fresh coriander, peanuts and spices based mixture. It was crunchy, flaky, sweet and sour. Locals are hugely fond of this hearty snack. This place is believed to be the one where it was first introduced. Farali pattice on the other hand was a round shaped snack whose out covering was made of potatoes and the stuffing with coconut, fresh coriander, peanuts and spices. It had a crusty exterior and a soft center. What was once a fasting specific food item was now a general thing.
Next we stopped at Nyahari Refreshment for a mandatory dose of evening tea. Their jaggery tea is quite famous so we had it. We were intrigued by the name as it reminded us of the famous non veg dish Nihari and got to know that the word refers to a quick snack. The jaggery tea was strong and refreshing.
From there we reached Raghuvir Refreshments. The swanky interiors and the wide range of sweets at this popular sweet and snacks shop was impressive. Here we joined the young owner who was very hospitable and helped us decide what to try. We settled for chocolate gajak, pista gajak, dink ladoo, til katli and popcorn rewari. The last one was his strong recommendation and it turned out to be our favourite of the lot. The remaining ones were tasty as well. We then accompanied him to the huge sitting area which is adorned with big boards with all the milestones written on them which together charts put the journey of this brand so far. We ended our food experience here with their best selling sambhar vadi and it was tasty.
Next we had one more cup of tea from Maharaja Cafe in Sarafa bazaar before heading to a famous snacks cart. What caught our attention here was a heap of old-style daily expenses diaries belonging to various shops who are their regular customers. It is a rare sight in recent times.
Soon after we arrived at Sharmaji Kachori stall. This place is so famous for their fried snacks that people coming here end up having more than what they intend to have. We saw locals polishing off kachori bhajia and then refiling it with some other combo like samosa bhajia. Snacks are a serious affair here in Amravati. We tried the moong dal kachori and moong dal bhajia combo which was served together with a topping of yogurt and two kinds of chutney, one sweet and other spicy. It was zesty and irresistible.
The next stop was Bholaji Mishthan Bhandar whose peda are extremely popular over there. At this humble sweet shop we tried their best selling bhola peda, malai peda, petha and kalakand. The quality of all these sweets were really very good. The luscious and fresh. The bhola peda was slightly crunchy and flavoured with saffron while the malai peda had a more creamier taste. The fact that it has been visited by some renowned freedom fighters and is one of the first shops in the locality makes it a historic one.
From there we reached Farmhouse Krushi Paryatan Kendra which is a recreational place that houses a nursery, pets and restaurant specializing in traditional Varhadi cuisine. The warm and generous owner served us a huge Varhadi spread consisting of 12 dishes. This included thalipeeth, bajre ki khichdi, bhakri, patodi, golhana, vangyachi bharit, puran poli, khawa poli, sargunde etc. The noble passion behind this lovely enterprise reflects in the food served here. Because of the homely flavours, it was indeed a meal to remember.

While heading to our last destination, a paan shop, we stopped by a cart selling aalu ponga as it looked quote tempting. We tried a small helping of this fryums and spicy potato mixture combo. The young fellow running the stall was a content creator.


About the host:
https://anubhavsapra.com/

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Text by Swetaleena Nayak