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.

How to walk this trail

Do this as one long day with a hole in the middle, not as two half-days. Morning is poha and jalebi. Eat them together off the one plate — the jalebi is not dessert, it is the sweet half of the mouthful — and ask for more jeeravan, which is the entire reason Indori poha tastes unlike the Maharashtrian version. Sabudana khichdi is the other thing worth ordering there. Then stop. Sleep, or go and look at the Rajwada and Lal Bagh Palace, because you will not be able to eat usefully again until night. Night: Sarafa does not really begin until nine and is at its best between ten and midnight. Work savoury towards sweet — dahi bada, bhutte ka kees, khopra patties, then rabri and the milk sweets at the end. Two things to skip. Arriving at Sarafa at eight expecting it to be running, and the pav bhaji and roadside 'Chinese' stalls, which exist in every Indian city and are not what Indore does well.

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.

Frequently asked

What time does Sarafa Bazaar start serving food?+

It follows the jewellers rather than a restaurant clock. Arriving at eight means watching people put up stalls.

Chappan Dukan or Sarafa — which should I choose?+

They are not alternatives, they are different times of day. Chappan Dukan is a morning place and starts very early, which is where poha-jalebi belongs. Sarafa is a night place and does not exist before the jewellers close. Doing one and skipping the other means missing half of how Indore actually eats.

When can I get garadu?+

Winter only, roughly November through February and sometimes into early March. It is yam, cut into cubes, deep-fried until the outside crackles, then hit with chilli powder and lime. It is close to unfindable elsewhere in India, so if you are in Indore in the cold months it should be near the top of the list.

Is Indore's street food vegetarian?+

Overwhelmingly so. Poha, jalebi, sabudana khichdi, dahi bada, bhutte ka kees, garadu, khopra patties and the whole sweet end of Sarafa are vegetarian, and many stalls cook nothing else. Jain travellers should ask about onion and garlic at each stall.

What is jeeravan?+

The masala that makes Indori poha taste specifically Indori. It leans on cumin, with dried mango and other spices giving it a sour edge, and it is usually sitting in a shaker on the counter for you to add yourself. Most stalls will not put on as much as a local would, so ask for more.

How long do I need in Indore?+

One full day and one night covers the essentials if you are disciplined about resting between them. Two nights is more comfortable, because Sarafa alone is worth returning to and the seasonal items — garadu in winter, bhutte ka kees in the monsoon — reward a second pass once you know what you are looking at.

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