VV Puram: Roadside Eatery Heaven
Come nightfall, a couple of streets in the VV Puram area (near Lal Bagh West Gate) come alive. Carts piled high with vegetables, fried lentils, the ingredients for chaat, pani puri, bhel puri and dosas, line the streets. Patrons come by walk, by bikes, by cars, park in the narrow streets branching off of the main street and saunter lazily from one cart to another, sampling the fare from each cart.
Half the fun is in watching your food being prepared right in front of you, out in the open. My favorite is the moong dal (split green gram) concoction with tomatoes, onions, coriander leaves and some spices.
Once you get your food (in paper cones or plaintain leaves) you stand around with your friends in a gaggle, and eat – on your feet. The food is cheap, the variety is great and of course, the company is as good as you keep.
The carts hang around till around 10:30 at night. Parking is tight, so get there early (around 6:30). Remember to take lots of small denomination currency notes.
To get there, from Lal Bagh West Gate go towards JC Road and make the second left after the circle in front of Lal Bagh West Gate.
There was a nice review sometime ago on roadside eateries. It’s a good read. Raste Oota
We used to call this as ‘Food Street’ or in short FS. This used to be our hangout during my college days… just a stone-throw away distance from my hostel..
But the roadside carts were closed and not allowed due to some court order – 2 years back. Are those carts are back on FS??