DG Blog Must try local food joints in Pune

Don't forget to carry your rubber slip-ons if you're leaving for Pune. Drive through the luscious green mountains, feel the cool breeze blow through your hair and smile pointlessly. Lounge with a beer in a city where retired uncles and aunties get-together for karaoke nights, and the college 'katta' is colonized by Bengalis, Punjabis and Gujaratis, as they all bite into a vada-pav.People from around the world come here to spend months in the Osho Ashram, a world-renowned meditation center, and some just drive down for the wildest parties ever. Whatever be your reason, this historical city and now an IT hub makes you feel its spirit. Casual conversations, comfortable climate and its laid-back, what's-the-big-rush attitude are addictive. If you've been here once you will want to keep coming back again. So while you are in Pune, lounge, eat and be merry like the locals. Here is a list of 20 of the local favourites, each has its own vibe and specialty that prints in your head. Remember the time we went to.. kind of places.#1 Goodluck CaféOpens at 7.30 am, Goodluck Café, located at its namesake Goodluck chowk in the middle of all the hustle bustle in the Deccan area of Pune is not a restaurant but a history. A history of generations that have been coming to this eatery day after day, just for the Keema Pav and Bun-Maska, Chai. Being close to the Film Institute, this affordable eatery has seen celebrities like Dev Anand, David Dhavan walk through its doors since they were students and through decades for the delicious food. Goodluck used to be among the few places in Pune that offered non-vegetarian food at affordable prices at the time. If you're in Pune, you can't give this place a miss, you must try out the Keema-Pav here, it is legend (Wait-for-it)dary! It is still affordable with good quality food, what we call practical pricing, for hygienic food. Try the Chicken ra-ra with rumali rotis during the lunch hour, but before that, you must wait in a long que, only to be seated within minutes, just as your food appears on the table like magic!#2 Burger KingNot to be confused with The Burger King Chain, this is a local stand-alone. There are two Burger Kings, one around MG Road and the other near Koregaon Park (Let's call it KP like the locals). The one in KP has great ambience, and by ambience I mean it is full of trees and has three separate seating areas, each isolated from the other. The plastic chairs and tables are worn out but there is one high table with bar stools of-sorts that is right in front of the creeper adorned entrance, that is the most fun place to sit and is usually occupied. It is a cheap, self-service place that almost always has a long line to place the order and their sandwiches get over fast. I usually tell them to skip the ketchup in my sandwich, but I absolutely love their simple salami sandwich and the sausage surprise with lots of egg bhurji. The veg burger is also really big and the massive beef burger takes it away. What I like the most about this place is that it is simple, straightforward and casual, just like the people of Pune.#3 Marz O RinLike every other Puneri, I have grown up on the homely macaroni and cheese, chicken sandwich and coffee of Marz-O-Rin. Why it is named so, remains a mystery to the world even today. Right on the main street, MG Road the big red and white board of Marz-O-Rin cannot be missed. Marz-O-Rin has fed the city since the time the roads used to be empty, and bike races were organized on the main street. The mac n cheese is still the same, so is the make-at-home chicken sandwich and coffee. The people that run this place are still surprisingly quick though they seem easy-going. The sturdy, neat furniture humbly fulfills the purpose of seating you as you grab a quick, cheap bite. Lot of people come here just to sit and take a breather between shopping, but there is a rule, 'No food on the table, no seat'.#4 VaishaliThere is always a large crowd outside Vaishali on FC road waiting for a table, and for good reason. Have you tried out the 'world-famous' Sev Puri Dahi Puri (SPDP) and sabudana wadas here? No one can make sabudana wadas with coconut chutney like that, and that white butter, or loni they add on their special dosas makes them so butterly drool-worthy, it's a sin to go on eating like that. If that wasn't enough reason for you, hop in here for breakfast or for a pav bhaji and you will enjoy this hustle bustle just like the locals do.#5 Amriteshwar PoheHungry at 4am after a great party last night? Join the students after their 'study-sessions' and in the middle of a sleepover night, as Amriteshwar at Nal stop signal serves freshly made kaande Pohe, sabudana khichadi, idlis and chai. He is too busy serving to even lift his head, he opens the shop at 4am, and even earlier sometimes, as newspapers are sorted, and street lamps light up the empty road, you will find dozens of bikes parked outside amriteshwar. The mild and humble kaande pohe have a taste that lingers in your memory. Try it out once, and it will urge you to stay up every night.#6 Tiranga Non VegLooking for delicious gawti chicken curry and jowar bhakris in the city? Tiranga non-veg is the place to be. With nearly half dozen branches in different parts of the city, Tiranga is where you will find home-style Maharashtrian curry with the perfect blend of hot spices and soft, hot millet (jowar) bhakris straight from the tava. This too, like many other favourite eateries in Pune, prepares fresh food everyday, which is likely to get over if you reach late. Vegetarians don't step back, I had the freshest, softest, bestest ever palak paneer here, which was equally good, if not better than the non-vegetarian food. They use desi chicken in their curry, which means less meat but more flavour in every bite. I'm not a mutton lover, but even so, the mutton sukha and the mutton biryani here is a out of this world, finger lickingly yummy. It is the best, softest and the tastiest mutton there can be, simply because their maharashtrian spice blend makes it so good. This place is by food lovers, of food lovers and from food lovers. I'm still day dreaming about the food as I speak.#7 Sinhagad TrekIf you're in Pune for a weekend and in the mood for a meal on the mountains in a local's hut, then go for an early morning trek to Sinhagad Fort and work up an appetite. You will be rewarded with a rustic meal of Zunka-Bhakar and Gawti Kombdi (Rustic, desi Chicken curry), and the adventurous picnic will be worth every ounce of effort you put in to climb up that mountain. This place becomes lush green, and 3 times more beautiful during the monsoon, and the roasted bhutta (corn) and chai make it all the more romantic. You will find a lot of couples coming up to the historical site for lovely view and a different, yet wonderfully economical desi meal. The trek may tire you, but the experience is priceless.Sinhagad Fort#8 ShabreeThalipeeth, is a local delicacy made with a variety of grains and eaten with chutney, this and many other authentic Maharashtrian delicacies like sabudana khichadi, bhareleli vangi (stuffed brinjal), batatchi bhaji (potato preparation), amti (Maharashtrian pulses), varan-bhaat (Dal-Rice) can be tried and enjoyed at Shabree. Shabree also serves a Maharashtrian thali. Pohe and sabudana wadas are also served, it is very crowded during meal times, but of you're a vegetarian and want to try the local food, then this is the place to be.#9 Bedekar MissalMissal, is a spicy preparation made with sprouted lentils, topped with farsan (fried munchies) and served with pav. Puneri Missal is considered to be the best missal in Maharashtra, and the most famous missal-pav in Pune is served in Bedekar Missal. This humble shop with steel plates and crowded benches has no branches, and known for selling lip-smacking Puneri missal.#10 Sujata MastaniEver tried a mastani loaded with dried fruits, flavoured with kesar or in your favourite fruit flavour? Skip a meal if you want to try this creamy, desi handmade ice-cream, it is no regular ice-cream, you will not be able to finish your glass full right after a meal. Yes, I said glass full, this hybrid ice-cream milkshake is served in a glass and topped with nuts and dried fruits, kesar and in some cases cherry. It is unimaginably creamy, and was whipped by hand over an ice block when it first started almost 50 years ago. Sujata Mastani is very famous and has several branches, you must find the nearest one and try it out.Sujata Mastani (Photo Foodmantra.in)# 11 Kalyan BhelThey have a number of branches in the city only because no one else makes bhel like they do. I can try to explain what is so great about it, but you will only be able to appreciate the awesomeness of this bhel once you have it yourself. The mélange of sweet, spicy and sour flavours is oh-so-perfect and the flavour of the chutneys they add is a signature that can't be replaced.# 12 Vohuman's OmletteNear Ruby Hall Clinic, go to Vohuman's when you're in the mood for breakfast all day, he serves the best bun-omlette, and his cheese omlette gives you both, satiation and hunger-for-more at the same time, what a feeling that is! Just sit back and relax, and enjoy your omlette. And yes, of course it is a cheap and fulfilling meal at any time of the day.#13 JJ Garden Vada PavWant to try the best vada-pav in town? Go for JJ Garden vada-pav in Camp area, near MG road.#14 Arthur's ThemeArthur's Theme has served continental food from the time when people didn't really know what continental food was, it catered to the world citizens that lived in this area, yet the locals have always loved this place. If you love classic French sauces, gorgeous vegetables with potatoes on the side then Arthur's Theme with that 'cosy Pune-feel' will win you over. It is casual fine-dining, cosy with food that makes you feel cosy. Solomon prawns are yummiliciously popular, and the creamy sauces and fresh herbs with names