Mussoorie. I just came back from this lovely place. It's off season time at the moment, perfect time for travellers like us, who want to avoid touristy times and places.
This little hill station is probably one of the most unusual hill stations I have been to. And definitely the coldest yet. What's unusual about the place is, unlike most hill stations that are situated on a plateau nestling between mountains, this quaint little town is situated directly on the slopes of the mountains. No terraces cut out, no plateau.
Roughly an hour and a half by bus from Dehradun, Mussoorie is more popular with tourists and travellers who prefer hiking their way through their holiday and want to specifically avoid the city. Doon is a city. With decent weather. Mussoorie, on the other hand, has very few vehicle friendly roads. The few vehicular roads are crowded here. Usually shopping areas. A majority of the roads, however, do not allow anything more than Premier Padminis, scooties, bikes and Ambassadors. One at a time, that is. So walking is something we did a lot. 22kms in 3 days is a lot for city people, methinks.
We also ate quite a bit. We stuck to the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner route because trust me, when most of your walking is uphill, you hardly want a full tummy. That said, places like Mussoorie where the night temperature drops to 2-3C, the cold burns up calories much faster than you can predict. So you get hungrier faster and eat more than you normally do.
We stayed at Sterling Resorts, Pine Hill in Mussoorie. It's a lovely little place and the staff was friendly and warm. I have come to associate hospitable behaviour with the people of Uttarakhand in general so that could be it too. They have a restaurant called Woodstock restaurant. While I usually judge resort food to be very boring and one track, this restaurant was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Not hotel like at all in taste, I would classify it more and homey. This also means that service was usually a bit slow but well. Not complaining that much about it.
The first thing we had was a simple veg Minestrone Soup. Which disappointed the reviewer part of my brain while the "I am hungry and cold, I want soup NOW" homey me was quite happy. In all honesty, it was just tomato soup with veggies and some macaroni, cheese and butter, pepper but it did it's job.
The man was not too keen on paneer although I gushed about dairy in the mountains for a while. And I was not excited about dal. So we settled for a Vegetable Kofta. I wasn't too excited about it. Then I ate some. And it blew me away. Lovely tangy gravy, floating in butter, with soft, melt-in-the-mouth veg koftas that has peas, carrots, potatoes and paneer minced. It did not taste like sad balls of dough. These would have passed off as yummy patties if served on their own too.
With a plate of butter naans unlike any I have ever encountered in Mumbai. Sorry Mumbai, you suck at North Indian khana. Go to the hills, perfect your art. The naans were succulent, soft and not chewy at all. I'd travel all the way back just for these.
We also had a few breakfasts at Woodstock. There's the Coleslaw Club Sandwich below. The coleslaw was fresh, veggies chopped fine, crunchy and well seasoned. The French Fries were perfectly done and not too oily. And I could tell they were not the crappy packaged thing. I'd have liked a tangy salsa or pickled veggies perhaps to cut through all the creaminess. Tomato ketchup does not impress me on most occasions.
I also tried a salted masala Lassi. I am a bit dairy mad and this lassi made me very happy although the cold did not warrant any kind of lassi drinking. It was creamy and smooth, perfect to wash down a steaming hot paratha breakfast.
Which brings me to parathas. Please eat parathas in the North. If you don't, you are a blasphemer of the highest kind. This was a simple Aloo Paratha with thick rich creamy yogurt to go with. I was very sad that I just had one of these. Should have ordered several more at the cost of looking like a total pig.
Finally, the last thing we ate at the Woodstock restaurant was this simple dinner. I usually never order Mutter Paneer. I don't quite know why. Probably because I make this at home and when we eat out, I tend to try other things, things I have not yet made at home. But we tried this out. Because we really wanted to eat smething simple, non-fancy after a day of walking our legs off our torsos. It delivered. Fresh, soft, life-altering paneer, in-season fresh green peas, tangy and simple tomato sauce just perfectly spiced for a night when the temperatures dropped to 2C. HIGHLY recommended. With butter tandoori roti.
This little hill station is probably one of the most unusual hill stations I have been to. And definitely the coldest yet. What's unusual about the place is, unlike most hill stations that are situated on a plateau nestling between mountains, this quaint little town is situated directly on the slopes of the mountains. No terraces cut out, no plateau.
Roughly an hour and a half by bus from Dehradun, Mussoorie is more popular with tourists and travellers who prefer hiking their way through their holiday and want to specifically avoid the city. Doon is a city. With decent weather. Mussoorie, on the other hand, has very few vehicle friendly roads. The few vehicular roads are crowded here. Usually shopping areas. A majority of the roads, however, do not allow anything more than Premier Padminis, scooties, bikes and Ambassadors. One at a time, that is. So walking is something we did a lot. 22kms in 3 days is a lot for city people, methinks.
We also ate quite a bit. We stuck to the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner route because trust me, when most of your walking is uphill, you hardly want a full tummy. That said, places like Mussoorie where the night temperature drops to 2-3C, the cold burns up calories much faster than you can predict. So you get hungrier faster and eat more than you normally do.
We stayed at Sterling Resorts, Pine Hill in Mussoorie. It's a lovely little place and the staff was friendly and warm. I have come to associate hospitable behaviour with the people of Uttarakhand in general so that could be it too. They have a restaurant called Woodstock restaurant. While I usually judge resort food to be very boring and one track, this restaurant was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Not hotel like at all in taste, I would classify it more and homey. This also means that service was usually a bit slow but well. Not complaining that much about it.
The first thing we had was a simple veg Minestrone Soup. Which disappointed the reviewer part of my brain while the "I am hungry and cold, I want soup NOW" homey me was quite happy. In all honesty, it was just tomato soup with veggies and some macaroni, cheese and butter, pepper but it did it's job.
The man was not too keen on paneer although I gushed about dairy in the mountains for a while. And I was not excited about dal. So we settled for a Vegetable Kofta. I wasn't too excited about it. Then I ate some. And it blew me away. Lovely tangy gravy, floating in butter, with soft, melt-in-the-mouth veg koftas that has peas, carrots, potatoes and paneer minced. It did not taste like sad balls of dough. These would have passed off as yummy patties if served on their own too.
With a plate of butter naans unlike any I have ever encountered in Mumbai. Sorry Mumbai, you suck at North Indian khana. Go to the hills, perfect your art. The naans were succulent, soft and not chewy at all. I'd travel all the way back just for these.
We also had a few breakfasts at Woodstock. There's the Coleslaw Club Sandwich below. The coleslaw was fresh, veggies chopped fine, crunchy and well seasoned. The French Fries were perfectly done and not too oily. And I could tell they were not the crappy packaged thing. I'd have liked a tangy salsa or pickled veggies perhaps to cut through all the creaminess. Tomato ketchup does not impress me on most occasions.
I also tried a salted masala Lassi. I am a bit dairy mad and this lassi made me very happy although the cold did not warrant any kind of lassi drinking. It was creamy and smooth, perfect to wash down a steaming hot paratha breakfast.
Which brings me to parathas. Please eat parathas in the North. If you don't, you are a blasphemer of the highest kind. This was a simple Aloo Paratha with thick rich creamy yogurt to go with. I was very sad that I just had one of these. Should have ordered several more at the cost of looking like a total pig.
The man decided to test the restaurant's South Indian skills. Well, no. Actually, he just said he feels so cold, he'd like food his DNA recognises. So he ordered a South Indian Breakfast, that consists of a masala dosa, medu vada, idlis, chutneys and sambar. The sambar was an average dal - I will not insult sambar by calling this stuffsambar. SO let's just call it plain old dal with veggies and some tamarind. The Idlis were soft, definitely above average. Decent texture, not crumbly and doughy at all. Medu vada was okay - crisp on the outside, soft on the inside but okay taste. At home, we usually add shallots and green chillies to our medu vada dough so expectations were a bit high. But the masala dosa? Beyond amazing! Mumbai, learn another lesson. Dosas are crisp and ghee-blessed shiny on the outside And soft and steamy on the inside. Unlike papad-esque dosas that you overcharge us poor souls for. Lovely, well-spiced and well-seasoned masala too.
While the chutney that came with the dosa was average, the red chutney with tomato and garlic was seriously awesome. We gobbled up a bowl full of it just like that.
Finally, the last thing we ate at the Woodstock restaurant was this simple dinner. I usually never order Mutter Paneer. I don't quite know why. Probably because I make this at home and when we eat out, I tend to try other things, things I have not yet made at home. But we tried this out. Because we really wanted to eat smething simple, non-fancy after a day of walking our legs off our torsos. It delivered. Fresh, soft, life-altering paneer, in-season fresh green peas, tangy and simple tomato sauce just perfectly spiced for a night when the temperatures dropped to 2C. HIGHLY recommended. With butter tandoori roti.
That concluded our resort eating. But there were other foods too. Other foods that I will cover in Part 2 and 3. Because there is such a thing as scroll-bar-terror :)
I am so looking forward to my trip to Mussoorie and Dehradun this October! I am taking notes! :D
ReplyDeleteaisi jagaho pe na paratha kabhi dhoka nahi deta :)
ReplyDelete