Do you know where to find bamboo biriyani in namma Bengaluru? Or for that matter have you tried banana flower soup? Guess where you can find bitter gourd chaat for diabetics? Or would you rather slurp on Haji Ali style sitaphal cream?
Maheima Kapur, who’s lived in Bengaluru for the last seven years, has all the answers and probably knows the city’s street food scene better than some who are from here.
That’s because she’s combined her love for travelling and tasting local food with a focussed drive to set up her site ‘Talking Street’. “Bengaluru has evolved in the last 10 years in terms of street food,” observes Maheima, 33, and a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management- Bangalore (IIM-B).
A physics graduate, she specialised in consumer insight and marketing mix development, and worked with FMCG brands like Unilever and Brittania before.
“Even three years ago you wouldn’t have found momos on the street. In the beginning it was largely boiled corn or peanuts and bhajjis. Darshinis as such was my first brush with street food when I first came here as a student,” she says. “Bengaluru is becoming a confluence of people from the North and the East and there’s a lot more of that food on the streets now.” Being a Delhi-ite she does complain that “Dilli chaat” is still hard to find here.
She’s gone out and explored some areas; she’s also asked local friends to give recommendations of their favourites before checking them out herself. People have mailed and connected with her through the site offering their personal reccos too.
Her idea of starting Talking Street was to help people find the best street food in and around places where they live and work; and let undiscovered places rise up the ranks in a foodie’s heart. She has mapped them, giving address and phone numbers (in case the thela/cart moves locations).
The site currently features about 250 eateries across 23 localities — from older legendary joints in Malleswaram and Jayanagar to the newer ones in HSR Layout and Koramangala. You can search by locality, dishes, or cuisine.
She also features famous street food trails you can take along, say along V.V. Puram, or even Indiranagar’s Sai Baba Temple Road.
Hygiene is a key factor that she and her team (of trained interns) check on when they visit these hole-in-the-wall kind of places — she checks on how they treat their food (covered?), how they clean and treat plates (lining used?), and mentions these comments in her reviews.
For more log on to talkingstreet.in
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Fork through
Bhajjis and pakoras
Vada pav and pav bhaji
Chinese
Kebabs and rolls
South Indian tiffin
Sweets and desserts
North Indian snacks
Look for:
* Street food
* Street side eateries
* Cozy cafes
Maheima’s finds:
* Malgoum shwarma
* Falahar food
* Harira
* Bubble milk tea
* Baledindin chaat
* Kachchi chai
* Capsicum bhajji bhel
* Thukpa and Chicken Shaptak
* Hindupur sandwich
