Eat like a local
Gujarat
A Gujarati thali — rotli, dal, shaak, farsaan and a touch of something sweet.
City-by-city food walks worth travelling for — the dishes, the lanes they live in and the right time to go, one stop at a time.
16 trails · 15 cities · every dish photographed for real
AhmedabadKhao Gali, Law Garden, Ahmedabad
Every evening the pavement beside Law Garden turns into Ahmedabad's favourite khao gali — a lane of vegetarian stalls where woks flare over gobi manchurian, grilled sandwiches disappear under grated cheese, and families graze from cart to cart until late. It is loud, buttery, strictly veg and completely Amdavadi.
5 stopsEvening_01.jpg?width=2048)
AhmedabadManek Chowk Ahmedabad
By day Manek Chowk is a jewellery bazaar; after 9 pm the goldsmiths' square becomes Ahmedabad's legendary night food market. Cheese butter dosas sizzle on giant tawas, pav bhaji is mashed under mountains of butter, and sitaphal shakes close the night — all vegetarian, all eaten at folding tables in a 600-year-old square.
3 stopsNight time
AmritsarAmritsar Food Walk
Amritsar is Punjab at the table — rich, buttery and generous. Around the old city near the Golden Temple you will find crisp Amritsari kulchas, dhaba dal simmered overnight, fried river fish, thick lassi in tall glasses and hot jalebi. This walk strings together the institutions that have been feeding the city for generations.
5 stopsBreakfast and evenings, October to March
BengaluruBengaluru Thindi Trail
Bengaluru snacks in Kannada — thindi — and takes it seriously: rava idli where it was invented, benne dose glossed with butter in Malleshwaram, a whole street in VV Puram that exists only to feed you, and ragi mudde in the old military hotels. This trail eats the city's tiffin culture from morning to well past dark.
5 stopsYear-round; VV Puram after sunset; avarebele season in winter
ChennaiChennai Tiffin Trail
Chennai runs on tiffin: idlis under a flood of sambar in Triplicane, ghee roast dosas folded like architecture in Mylapore, filter kaapi cooled between davara and tumbler, sundal on the Marina at sunset, and the clang of kothu parotta blades after dark. This trail eats the city's day in order.
5 stopsMornings and evenings; the Marina at dusk
DelhiOld Delhi Food Walk
The lanes of Old Delhi around Chandni Chowk are one of India's great street-food grounds — a dense maze of centuries-old shops selling parathas, kebabs, chaat, jalebi and kulfi. This walk threads the classics on foot, from the deep-fried breads of Paranthe Wali Gali to the Mughlai kitchens near Jama Masjid, best done hungry and in the cooler evening hours.
6 stopsEvenings, October to March
GoaGoa Food Trail
Goa's real food happens away from the beach shacks: fish-curry-rice at a Panjim lunch counter, choris strings at the Mapusa market, vindaloo and xacuti simmering in the tavernas, ros omelette from an evening cart eaten with poee from the village baker, and bebinca built layer by patient layer. This trail eats Goa the way Goans do.
5 stopsNovember to February; Mapusa on a Friday
HyderabadHyderabad Old City Food Trail
Hyderabad's old city eats like the court it once was: kacchi dum biryani under sealed lids, haleem pounded smooth through Ramzan, kebabs cooked on stone, and Irani chai poured milky beside the Charminar. This trail circles the lanes around the monument, from the biryani houses to the sweet finish of qubani ka meetha.
5 stopsEvenings; Ramzan for haleem
IndoreIndore Food 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.
5 stopsAfter dark for Sarafa; October to March for the full menu
JaipurJaipur Food Walk
Jaipur's food is ghee-rich, vegetarian and unapologetic about both: kachoris fried before the city is fully awake, lassi in clay kulhads on MI Road, ghewar stacked high in Johari Bazaar and dal baati churma eaten with your hands. This walk runs the pink city's classics from breakfast to kulfi.
5 stopsOctober to March; kachori before 11 am
KochiKochi Food Trail
Kochi eats the way a port city should — puttu steaming before sunrise, appam lace at the breakfast table, Malabar biryani in Mattancherry, karimeen crisping by the water, and pazham pori with hot chaya when the rain comes in. This trail runs the harbour city's classics from first light to tea time.
6 stopsSeptember to March; the monsoon has its own charm
KolkataKolkata Street Food Walk
Kolkata takes eating personally — the kathi roll, the sponge rosogolla and biryani with potato were all born here, and the streets still sell them the old way. This walk runs from the roll counters behind New Market through puchka carts and jhalmuri tins to the sweet shops of Bhowanipore, one Calcutta institution at a time.
6 stopsEvenings, October to March
LucknowLucknow Awadhi Food Trail
Lucknow is the home of Awadhi cooking — slow-cooked, fragrant and refined, born in the kitchens of the Nawabs. This trail follows the legends: melt-in-the-mouth galouti kebabs, dum biryani, nihari with kulcha, and the city's famous milk sweets. Old Lucknow around Chowk and Aminabad is where to eat it.
5 stopsEvenings, October to March
MumbaiMumbai Street Food Trail
Mumbai runs on street food, and this trail hits the essentials — the vada pav and pav bhaji the city made famous, seaside bhel puri at Chowpatty, the kebabs and rolls of the old Muslim quarters, and the Irani cafes of Fort. Fast, cheap and endlessly varied, it is best grazed across an evening.
5 stopsEvenings, November to February
SuratSurat Food Trail
"Surat nu jaman" — the food of Surat — is the half of the old Gujarati saying everyone can act on. This trail eats the diamond city's legends in order: locho steaming at breakfast, khaman and sev khamani by mid-morning, undhiyu in winter, ghari for Chandani Padva, and roasted ponk when the jowar fields say so.
5 stopsOctober to February for the full menu; ponk and undhiyu are winter dishes.jpg?width=2048)
VaranasiBanaras Food Trail
Banaras eats to the rhythm of its ghats: kachori-sabzi and jalebi before the morning aarti crowds thin, tamatar chaat in clay kulhads at Godowlia, lassi under a cap of malai at Lanka, and — on winter dawns — malaiyo, the saffron milk foam that melts before the sun is properly up. End, as the city insists, with a paan.
5 stopsOctober to March; malaiyo only on winter mornings
Eating your way somewhere?
Every trail city has a full guide — attractions, itineraries and when to go.