What we ate in India

Mc Aloo Tikki burger and Mc Veggie burger (with fries and drinks)

Where: McDonald near Victoria Terminus (CST), Mumbai

Price: Both under ₹200 for a set meal.

Rating: Mc Aloo Tikki 3/5, Mc Veggie 1/5

That’s right. We kicked off our Indian food adventure at one of the world’s largest fast food restaurant chains. It’s actually really fun to explore regional menu items.

Veg Jalfrezi, Cheese Naan and Paneer Naan

Where: Harish Family Restaurant and Bar, 20/22, Giri Niwas, Adi Marzaban Street, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort, Mumbai

Price: Jalfrezi ₹220, Naan around ₹70

Rating: Jalfrezi 4/5, Cheese Naan 3/5, Paneer Naan 4/5

The restaurant was right opposite our hotel AK International. Not a fancy place, but the food was so tasty, also friendly service.

Pav Bhaji

Where: Cannon Pav Bhaji, Opposite CST Station, Mumbai CST Area, Mumbai

Price: ₹80

Rating: 3/5

Comfort food. Friendly and warm service, great atmosphere.

‘Filter Coffee’ and Espresso

Where: Cafe Coffee Day, Colaba Causeway, Mumbai

Price: Double espresso ₹170, Filter Coffee ₹130

Rating: 0.5/5

CCD is an Indian cafe chain and they can be found everywhere. Comfortable and friendly service, although coffee is pretty very poor. ‘Filter coffee’ means coffee with milk!

Veg Masala Grilled Sandwich

Where: Raju Sandwich Stall, Opposite HR College, Churchgate, Mumbai

Price: ₹60

Rating: 3.5/5

We stumble across this place on our way to Marine Drive. They were busy with many people gathering, eating, chatting and just had a really cool vibe! The sandwich was fun and tasty, there was tiny salad in it, but we were okay.

Puri Bhaji

Where: Opposite CST Station, Mumbai CST Area, Mumbai

Price: ₹30

Rating: 2/5

Masala Dosa

Where: South Corner, Opposite CST Station, Mumbai CST Area, Mumbai

Price: ₹30

Rating: 2/5

Fresh coconut juice + fresh coconut

Where: everywhere

Price: ₹30-₹50

Rating: 5/5

So refreshing and such fun to drink. In Mumbai, a man curved fresh coconut out for us after we drunk the juice. In Jaipur, a man simply said ‘no’ (when we asked) and snatched the coconuts off our hands.

Bhel Puri

Where: Bhim Singh, Girgaon Chowpatty, Adjoining Marine Drive, Girgaon, Mumbai

Price: ₹40

Rating: 3/5

Nice snack. People are super nice at Bhim Singh.

Cold Pani Puri and Ragda Pani Puri

Where: Bhim Singh, Girgaon Chowpatty, Adjoining Marine Drive, Girgaon, Mumbai

Price: ₹30

Rating: 3/5

I preferred Ragda Pani Puri in terms of flavour, although Cold Pani Puri’s crazy texture sensation was something everyone must try once!

Moong Dal Bhajiya

Where: 28-38 Sunder Bhuvan, Shop No 4, Bazar Gate St, Fort, Mumbai

Price: ₹20

Rating: 5/5

People were just crowding around this place and we simply had to try something. Super fresh and delicious fritters!

Veg Samosa

Where: Jamnagari Farsan & Sweets Mart, Shop No.8, Dwarkadas Cross Lane, 32, Modi St, Borabazar Precinct, Ballard Estate, Fort, Mumbai

Price: I think it was around ₹15

Rating: 4/5

Another place where people were crowding around. The samosa was large and flavour was excellent. The dough was a bit too thick for me.

Chai

Where: Everywhere!

Price: around ₹10-20

Rating: 5/5

Ldli and Medu Wada

Where: Street Foods by Punjab Grill at Mumbai airport

Price: 2 ldli and 2 medu wada combo ₹201

Rating: 3.5/5

They were perfect pre-flight breakfast, light, warm, comforting, tasty. We had it with chai (₹84)

Veg thali and Non veg thali

Where: Peacock Rooftop Restaurant at Hotel Pearl Palace, 51 Hathroi Fort, Hari Kishan Somani Marg, Ajmer Road, Jaipur

Price: Veg ₹260, Non veg ₹300

Rating: 5/5

Just fantastic. Each curry with different texture, flavour and spice level. Exciting, elegant and really tasty, even comes with a desert! We also had lassi, both sweet and salted (₹90) and both really really good.

Veg biriyani with raita

Where: Peacock Rooftop Restaurant at Hotel Pearl Palace, 51 Hathroi Fort, Hari Kishan Somani Marg, Ajmer Road, Jaipur

Price: ₹240

Rating: 3/5

Found it a bit too oily. Wanted a bit more character and flavour.

Sugar cane juice

Where: Everywhere!

Price: ₹40

Rating: 5/5

I wrote ‘everywhere’, and yes you will find sugar cane juice sellers everywhere, but we saw them mixing with crashed ice and decided to stay well out of it. Our tuktuk driver said one could order ‘pure cane sugar no ice’ and he ordered it for us. Absolutely delicious.

Matar Makhana

Where: Peacock Rooftop Restaurant at Hotel Pearl Palace, 51 Hathroi Fort, Hari Kishan Somani Marg, Ajmer Road, Jaipur

Price: ₹240 (steamed rice ₹150)

Rating: 5/5

Yes, we went back to Peacock Restaurant for the next night’s dinner. The curry had such unique-delicious taste, exciting and interesting flavours we haven’t quite experienced before!

Hakka noodles

Where: Peacock Rooftop Restaurant at Hotel Pearl Palace, 51 Hathroi Fort, Hari Kishan Somani Marg, Ajmer Road, Jaipur

Price: ₹180

Rating: 3/5

I’m the guilty one here. As much as I enjoyed Indian food, my stomach started to struggle with all the different and exciting spices. It was clean taste and yummy.

Seekh kabab, Aloo palak and Shahi paneer

Where: Karim’s, 16 Matia Mahal Bazar, Near Jama Masjid, New Delhi

Price: With 2 different rotis and rice, the total bill came to just under ₹500

Rating: 4/5

I guess Karim’s is a non-veg specialised restaurant. Whilst C was completely blown away by the kebab, the veg curries were sort of just-alright. Friendly place and great atmosphere.

Dosa and Onion Bhaji

Where: Food Court at Agra Cantt Railway station, platform 1, Agra

Price: Plain Dosa starts from ₹50, I think Onion Bhaji was around ₹60

Rating: 3/5

Tasty, comforting food in a superb location for a really reasonable price.

Raj Kachori and Aloo Tikki

Where: Haldiram’s, 6-7, L-Block, Outer Circle, Connaught Place, New Delhi

Price: Raj Kachori ₹112, Aloo Tikki ₹76

Rating: 4/5

Haldiram’s is a famous food chain store/restaurant offering hygienic Indian chaats. Raj Kachori was such fun to eat and refreshing. Aloo Tikki was also good, the sauces made the whole experience even more exciting.

Coffee

Where: United Coffee House, Block E Ground Floor 15 Inner Circle, New Delhi

Price: From ₹165

Rating: 2/5

We wanted to try coffee from India. Lovely place but the coffee was too watery for our taste.

Crunchy snacks

These things are just awesome. I think they were around ₹20 a bag.

Momos

Where: Big Bazaar super market near Kalkaji Mandir metro station, Delhi

Price: It was around ₹50 (6 pieces)

Rating: 4/5

Momos were recommended by the local family that we met on a train and on our ‘to eat’ list ever since. I was at this supermarket and saw a tiny momos stand by the tills. We initially only bought a plate of veg momos just to try, but they were so good we went back to get more. The plump dumplings with flavoursome fillings with funky hot sauce! We had paneer momos and chicken momos the second time round.

Vada and coffee

Where: Indian Coffee House, 2nd Floor, Mohan Singh Place, Baba Khadak Singh Marg, Near Hanuman Mandir, Connaught Place, New Delhi

Price: Vada ₹55 (2 pieces), coffee ₹31

Rating: Vada 2.5/5, Coffee 0/5

Apart from the coffee which was … bad, I quite liked this place. Had a quirky student’s canteen meets old warehouse feel about it. Relaxed atmosphere and cheerful waiters.

Tea

Where: United Coffee House, Block E Ground Floor 15 Inner Circle, New Delhi

Price: From ₹125

Rating: 5/5

By this time we decided that coffee is not really their thing and went back to this posh tea/coffee house to try some tea. I’m glad we did. We had Darjeeling first flush, ‘Champagne tea’ (rare selection tea) and Saffron infused green tea. Probably the best tea (black tea) experience I’ve ever had.

Chicken Maharaja Mac and McSpicy Paneer (with fries and drinks)

Where: McDonald’s, Delhi Airport, Food Court, Domestic Terminal of T-3

Price: Each set meal was around ₹300-400 (airport price alert!)

Rating: 4/5

Yes, we did start and ended our Indian food journey with McDonald’s. Chicken Maharaja Mac was on C’s ‘to eat’ list and this was our last (for now!) opportunity, and it did reach his expectation. My McSpicy Paneer was really delicious. The balance of the bun, paneer cheese, salads and spicy sauce was just right. The fries were super fresh and scrumptious.