Indore Food Trail

Food trail · Indore

Indore eats on a schedule of its own: poha-jalebi from brass handis at breakfast, and a jewellery lane that turns into a midnight food bazaar. This trail runs the full day — Chappa…

Indore After dark for Sarafa; October to March for the full menu 5 stops, in eating order All-veg trail

The trail

Indore eats on a schedule of its own: poha-jalebi from brass handis at breakfast, and a jewellery lane that turns into a midnight food bazaar. This trail runs the full day — Chappan Dukan in the morning, then Sarafa after dark, where the dahi bada flies and the rabri pans never empty.

At a glance

5 stops, in eating order.

1
New Palasia
Chappan Dukan
Poha-jalebi
2
Sarafa Bazaar
Joshi Dahi Bada House
Dahi bada
3
Sarafa Bazaar
Sabudana khichdi stalls
Sabudana khichdi
4
Sarafa Bazaar
Garadu carts
Garadu
5
Sarafa Bazaar
The sweet pans
Rabri, jalebi & gulab jamun

What to eat, stop by stop

Every photo below is a real photograph of the dish — this is what your plate should look like.

1
Poha-jalebi
Chappan Dukan
New Palasia
Veg Morning One plate, pocket change
Indore starts its day with poha-jalebi: flattened rice steamed soft, dressed with jeeravan, raw onion and a handful of sev, a hot jalebi riding on the same plate. Chappan Dukan — the row of fifty-six shops in New Palasia — is the classic place to stand and eat it, served from wide brass handis until late morning.
The poha handis at Chappan Dukan.
Poha and jalebi, sharing the plate as they should.
Indori poha under its sev and jeeravan.
2
Dahi bada
Joshi Dahi Bada House
Sarafa Bazaar
Veg After 9 pm Street food with a floor show
Sarafa's most famous counter is a man with a bowl: at Joshi Dahi Bada House the dahi bada is flipped spinning into the air and caught before it is dressed with curd, jeeravan and both chutneys in one unbroken motion. The bada underneath is feather-soft from its soak; the performance costs nothing extra.
Dahi badas under their chutneys.
Soft bada drowned in whipped curd.
Dressed with chilli, coriander and masala.
A mango-topped dahi bhalla at the night market.
3
Sabudana khichdi
Sabudana khichdi stalls
Sarafa Bazaar
Veg After 9 pm Plate food, pocket money
Sarafa's sabudana khichdi is fasting food promoted to festival food — pearl sago steamed glassy, tossed hot with roasted peanuts, potato, green chilli and lime, and served by the plateful all night. It is gentle where the rest of the lane is loud, which is exactly why regulars slot it between the fried courses.
Sabudana khichdi, peanuts through every spoonful.
A street plate of khichdi, done properly.
With a spoon of sweet curd on the side.
4
Garadu
Garadu carts
Sarafa Bazaar
Veg Winter nights A winter plate, street money
Garadu is Indore's winter signature: cubes of yam fried until the edges crackle, tossed with lime juice and a heavy dusting of jeeravan, eaten off the plate with a toothpick while they are still too hot. The carts appear when the cold arrives and vanish with it — if you see garadu, you have come at the right time of year.
Fried yam, toothpick service — garadu as it is eaten.
5
Rabri, jalebi & gulab jamun
The sweet pans
Sarafa Bazaar
Veg Late night Dessert by the ladle
The wide pans at Sarafa's sweet stalls do their best work late: rabri reducing under saffron and nuts, jalebis pulled hot from the kadhai and laid over it, gulab jamuns bobbing in syrup by the hundred. This is how a Sarafa night is supposed to end — standing at the pan, sharing a plate you said you would not order.
The rabri pan at Sarafa, saffron on top.
Sarafa after dark — the crowd around the gulab jamun cauldron.
A sweet stall in the lane, trays going fast.
Jalebi over rabdi — order one, get two spoons.

A short history of this food

Indore grew rich as the Holkar capital on the Malwa plateau, and its kitchens grew with the trade routes that crossed it — the poha that starts every Indori morning came north with the city's Maharashtrian connection and was made local with jeeravan, the tangy spice blend the city shakes over almost everything. Sarafa is the stranger story: by day it is a jewellery bazaar, and after the shutters come down the food stalls take over the lane until well past midnight. The story Indore tells is that the jewellers welcomed the night crowd because a busy lane is a guarded lane — either way, the arrangement has fed the city for generations.

Eat like a local

Sarafa only comes alive after the jewellery shops shut — go after 9 pm and expect it to run past midnight.
At Joshi's, the dahi bada gets tossed in the air before it's dressed — the show is part of the order.
Garadu is winter-only. If you see it, that is the season; order it.
Almost everything in Sarafa is vegetarian — pace yourself, the sweets are the second half.
Poha-jalebi is a morning ritual: one plate, standing, jalebi on the same plate as the poha.
Carry small notes — the counters move too fast for big change.

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