Kulfi Auto

What would you do to a rich, creamy, yummy, 6 inches of nutty delight in your hand? Don’t look at me like that!!! I would slurp the hell out of it..! And wish for 9’’. Confused..? I’m talking about everyone’s after meal favourite, “Kulfi”.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Taste Buds. We will continue to bring forth our views from the City of Destiny. And in today’s special let us take a peek at the 6’’ wonder (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist myself; that was the last time).

On a lazy Sunday evening (Like all the other 364 lazy days) we were sitting in the beach, staring at the sea and humming to the melody of the waves. All of a sudden, one of my friends said “Let’s go, I will treat you with something which you have never tasted in Vizag”. In the next 5 minutes were nearing at this place where they were selling food on an auto, my initial thoughts were “What a jerk!!!” Starting that evening till now, I would have slurped off at least 100 Kulfis; I’m talking two years time, which on an average is at least one Kulfi every week.

So, what is a Kulfi? What is it made out of? And what place are we talking about?

Kulfi is a culinary sweet delight of the sub-continental people, it is super simple to make and super easy to eat. It is a traditional dessert which is centuries old, so don’t even think about it, yes, don’t ask me who invented it. But I will tell you how it’s made. There are only two organic ingredients required for this recipe; Full Cream Milk and Sugar. And for props? You would need some moulds silly. Ever heard this from your grandmother? “Patience is the greatest virtue of all successful people”. Yes you guessed it right, you have to boil the milk to one third’s its volume and add sugar to it. Mix it well, cool it down and freeze it.

Now that’s the most basic Kulfi idea, as time progressed people started experimenting with food and now you have Kulfi in various flavours and toppings such as Saffron, Malai and various fruit flavours; and  Pistachio, Almonds, Sugar Coated Fennel to name some as toppings.

So this place, like many street food places is being managed on an auto rickshaw. In a chat with the owner, he mentioned that he is managing this Kulfi Auto for the past 9 years in the city and he is one of the 250 push carts/mobile eating joints on the beach. He was pretty talkative and open to tell us about his saga. Nevertheless let’s continue with our own little saga here. He had limited varieties of Kulfis but they were a true delight on our taste buds. Our personal favourite was the dry fruit Kulfi which is filled with almonds. He charged us INR 20 apiece for the dry fruit Kulfi, the plain one was INR 15 and the costliest of all was matka at INR 50. At this price and taste, this probably is one of the better Kulfis on the street.

His place is at the roundabout in front of The Park Hotel on the other side of the road. The GPS coordinates of the place are 17.722299, 83.335973 (17°43’20.3”N 83°20’09.5”E). The place is open from 6PM to 10 PM every day.

**Spoiler Alert!** Ever been to this place called Barbeque Nation in Vizag? The place has an amazing variety of Kulfi on the menu. You can literally custom design your Kulfi with flavours and toppings. It is covered in the buffet, so you can be at your creative best. All you need is INR 600* for the buffet and a little place in your belly after trying their starters.

Momos Rolls

Hello everyone, good morning and welcome to “Taste Buds”. We provide you the review of the food that is served to millions of people of Vizag and millions more visiting the city of destiny. So all of you foodies out there sit back and enjoy the mouth watering treats in Vizag.

So, are you ready for today’s special???  “Momos Rolls”

Yes guys and girls, you have heard it right, who would have thought Momos, would be one of street food options in Vizag, especially when you talk about the origin of the recipe. Didn’t get it??? Okay let me not confuse you anymore; let’s give you all a brief background to Momos.

Momos are also called as dumplings; they have originated somewhere in the north eastern part of the sub continent and are one of the common foods in countries like Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. They are also fairly common in Indian States of Sikkim and Assam. Momos were originally authentic Non Vegetarian dish, stuffing can range from Water Buffalo, Yak and Pork to Mountain Goat, Sheep and Chicken. Generally the meat is minced and mixed with other ingredients like sautéed Onions, Ginger-Garlic, Cabbage and Coriander and sometimes tomato puree also can be added. The stuffing is then placed on flat bread made of dough which is prepared out of refined wheat flour/all purpose flour. Then the ends of the flat bread are pulled together and sealed off, making a ball like shape. Finally the Momos are steamed and severed hot with Spicy and Tangy Gravy/Sauce. Now, I will tell you a secret. If you are from the West or the Southern part of India, you also have a fried version of Momos which we all love to gobble up, you know what I mean??? We love our fried foods right?

Although we do not know the exact way how this recipe has ended up in Vizag, I do know this fact that Vizag is a melting pot of cultures. Thanks to the steel plant and port and the eastern naval command, it has people settled down from almost all the states across the country and it’s not really a tough job to spot someone from the North Eastern part.

So, this place is called “MOMOS ROLLS”, it a very small food joint located on the beach road. The guy is managing the whole show on what looks like a modified Push cart or an Auto. You will understand when you see it, it is really hard to make out what is that thing was before becoming a famous Momo place. The place is located in the street that takes you to the Central Marine Fisheries Institute on the beach road. The GPS coordinates of the place are 17.715537, 83.325409 (17°42’55.9”N 83°19’31.5”E). The joint is open from 6 PM to 10 PM; it has completed its 5^th anniversary this year.  

We paid a visit to the place and have tasted a couple of dishes that the place has to offer. Of course Momos were our first choice on the list and the place did not disappoint us. It was pretty crowded for a Monday evening, but they managed to serve snack in about 7 minutes. They served it exactly the way we love it, piping hot and with a delicious Red Chilli - Tomato Sauce. The filling was absolutely delicious, rich with minced Chicken and the aroma of freshly sautéed veggies was delight for the taste buds.

We would have give a 5 on 5 for the Momos had they been a little more moist and would have loved it had the sauce been a little more spicy. At INR 50 per portion of tasty, proteinaceous and healthy Momos it is a place that you should definitely visit. The place is hygienic when compared to a lot other street foods and they are currently having a cash only option.

Other options that we have tried that evening at Momos Rolls were spring rolls and double egg rolls. Yes we did try the non vegetarian option, the spring rolls were absolutely scrumptious; they were super crunchy on the outside without losing the taste of the Chicken and fresh veggies inside. The same Red Chilli – Tomato sauce that was served for the Momos was dished for the spring rolls as well. Double egg role was moist and delicious; they made sure that the eggs were not over cooked. Oh yes they absolutely have the vegetarian options in all the varieties and they also have a take away option with an extra charge of INR 5.

And after eating so much, dinner was history. I would give a 4/5 for the place.