In search of Sulemani Chai in Bhopal

We were in Bhopal for a day during our long road trip to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. A day wasn't sufficient to explore this lovely place, which still retains its old world charm. Bhopal is still laid back and is similar to Lucknow or Hyderabad to some extent. 

Apart from sights of Bhopal, which are lovely, it is also famed for its Nawabi cuisine. Bhopal Khansama is not well known like Hyderabad or Lucknow. But for connoisseurs of good food, it is an amazing place to explore. 

Being veggies, we were at a disadvantage when we moved around the food streets of Old Bhopal. This is a paradise for Non-vegetarians. We knew this. But we were now in search of the authentic Sulemani chai of Bhopal. It is different from Sulemani chais you get elsewhere. Our search ends at Itawar Chowk in Old Bhopal at Jamal Bhai's chai ki Dukaan. 

There is big crowd of chai drinkers at the dukhan. Chai served from a huge samovar something unusual for anyone familiar with the way chai is made in North India. It almost resembled the famous "boiler" which is used in Tamil Nadu in South India for making tea. The tea is sweet and salty, served with dollops of cream! It tastes heavenly. We have one cup first followed by another!

Food street @ Old Bhopal 

We asked Salim to pose with the Chai! 

Kheema roti under preparation

Kebab Bun - Delicacy of Bhopal 

Better do it the way Bhopali does. Eat a "Kebab bun" - another unique dish of Bhopal - or a kheema samosa and wash it with Sulemani Chai! 

Don't miss it when you are in Bhopal next time!

Related posts in this blog which may be of interest

Sumptuous Bhopali breakfast!

Back of the Blog - Breakfast in Bhopal

Back of the blog. Here we will share tit-bits and snippets on India Travel which may be useful for a traveller in India. It may be some new information about the place, a new cuisine one can explore, a bit of history, a funny anecdote or a good travel book. Anything connected to Travel in India. 

Nothing can be better than starting with food. Indians love their food. India is a Gourmet's paradise. The tastes change every few KMs in this country. Exciting part of traveling in India is also becoming adventurous in experimenting different cuisines.

When we went to Bhopal last year, we did not want to eat in the hotel we stayed. Noor-us-Sabha is the best hotel in Bhopal. But we wanted something authentic, something very "Bhopali". So we took an auto-rickshaw and headed to the small bye-lanes which are famous for the breakfast of Poha and Jalebi.  A motley group pf locals were already gathering in front of Sharmaji's joint which is famous for tangy Poha and hot, crispy Jalebis.

Crowd gathering in front of Sharmaji's stall

Poha is spicy and tangy puffed rice which is soaked and light fried with a garnishing of chillies, coriander leaves etc.....and Jalebi is the the sweet which is made of lentil batter which is deep fried and then soaked in sugar syrup. Jalebi must be the national sweet of India!!

Poha (yellow in colour), Jalebi (orange in colour). The other dish is Kachori.

Sharmaji serving Poha and hot, crispy Jalebis

 The combination was heavenly. No doubt, we helped ourselves to generous helpings!!

Useful links

Jalebi - Wiki on Jalebi

Poha - Wiki on Poha