Bamboo chicken an instant hit

The cook stuffs the empty bamboo stem with marinated chicken chunks neatly wrapped in adda leaves and then places them on coal-fired stove.

As the stem is kept on the stove for almost an hour, curious visitors get little restless to wait for their turn and savour the piping hot chicken served to them in small portions.

With traditional music playing in the background and a group of Dhimsa dancers thumping their feet in slow rhythm, the moon-lit ambience served to be perfect for those who congregated on the Beach Road to witness the concluding day of the World Tourism Day celebrations organised jointly by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism and Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation here on Sunday. The food stalls spread at the venue became an instant hit as entrepreneurs said that they did a brisk business.

“Yesterday, the sales touched Rs.40,000,” said Satya Narayana, a vendor at Godavari Vantakalu counter. Apart from bamboo chicken, ‘Araku Ruchulu’ also offered ‘sangati with katta’.

“We may not be visiting Araku frequently and the stall served to be a better option to relish the region’s delicacies in the port city,” said Ramesh, a visitor.

After going through the counters, Ganti Venkat Rao, a retired superintendent of Customs and Central Excise Department, said: “I liked the pure coffee powder and dark chocolate from Araku stacked at one of the stalls. These are not only a rare collection but also taste good,”

‘Tapeswaram kaja’, steaming hot nethi bobbatlu , Madugula halwa and hot jalebis were among other dessert varieties flying off the shelves like hot cakes.