Food Trail Part 2/3: Eating Out In Mussoorie & Dehradun

Last post, I spoke about all the unexpected wow things we ate in Mussoorie at Woodstock Restaurant, Pine Hill, Sterling Resorts. This post is a quick round up of the things we ate outside of the resort restaurant. It's also got some amount of venting but you know that about me already.

There are many touristy things to do at Mussorie. Lonely Planet lists them out for you. It also says you must visit Company Garden. Don't. You will probably cry after you go there. Unless you like lame adventure rides that make creaky sounds like they are about to fall apart. It is just not worth it. But well, they do have some pretty daisy plantations so if you care for those, go right ahead.

Lonely Planet also recommends you eat at The Rice Bowl, a friendly Tibetan food place run by a Tibetan family. Closed in Dec, Jan, Feb. How epic. I do respect the fact that people need their holiday but Lonely Planet should have mentioned this, eh?

Lonely Planet also recommends eating at Casa Mia, a "heaven of pastries and apple pies and whatnot" which was also, "closed for winter".

As it recommended Clark's, a multi cuisine restaurant. I am deeply suspicious of multi cuisine restaurants because they have no niche and everything tastes like everything else. This was closed too.

After cursing this whole "closed for winter" fiasco, we asked a local for some recommendations. He recommended Tavern, for its food and ambiance. We missed going there. We were also told to try out a place called Chick Chocolate, which is "just like Casa Mia" according to a local. So we went there. We were greeted by this firang-friendly sight.

And the promise of free wifi too. Along with post-modern poster art all over the place. But they say, never judge a book by it's cover.

But we are naive. The man ordered a chocolate brownie, his biggest dessert weak point. Turned out to be a below average chocolate cake.

And I ordered an apple pie because I love judging pie crusts. I have never eaten anything more revolting in my entire life. At least in the category of desserts. We paid 115 for the two things. They were not even worth 20 bucks. Really bad non-existent pie crust, definitely stuffed with vanaspati and doughy pie filling, some raw apples inside. It's still curdling my brains to think of this thing. If Casa Mia is even one eighth as bad as this place, I hope it never opens.

After which, a local also pointed us back to Kalsang, for Tibetan, Chinese and Thai food. Primarily non vegetarian so we did not go in there. But it looked like a happy, colourful place so you might want to check it out. All the places I am talking about today are situated ahead on Mall Road, up to Kulri Bazaar and on the route that eventually leads you up to Lal Tibba, Mussoorie's highest point.

Ahead on Mall Road is a slightly sorry Aquarium too. Which Lonely Planet recommends too. They have an interesting but limited collection of fish, which include cat fish and piranhas that have had their teeth removed so they don't eat each other up. The same aquarium houses a natural, fully vegetarian restaurant called Sagar Ratna.

 Smallish place, easy to miss but PLEASE go. We had a simple lunch of Dal Makhni, Onion Parathas and Paneer-Aloo Parathas. Mind blowing, and reasonably priced. Everything is slathered with white butter, which is probably the Holy Grail of dairy.

After being deeply disappointed with Lonely Planet and discovering sagar Ratna on our own, we decided to screw LP and went with whatever seemed to appeal to us. Which is how we discovered Clock Tower Cafe. Uphill from Kulri Bazaar, almost half way to Lal Tibba, this little cafe-restaurant is where Doon students and their families seem to go to grab a meal. The area is called Landhour, near the clock tower.

This place has poster art too. And a mag rack, a book corner. And comfy seating, clean loos, friendly staff that recommend the right thing to order on the menu and a live see-through kitchen.

Grab seats near the windows. Breathtaking view. And a bit more privacy with your food too.

Did you know Momos are sort of the Vada Pav of Mussoorie? So try some, please. We tried the steamed vegetable momos here and loved them. Served with a fiery ginger, garlic, chilli sauce, they really warm you up.

We got some Burnt Ginger Garlic Rice with Cottage Cheese in a Black Bean Sauce. Impeccable. Not too fiery like the Mumbai Indo-Chinese though. The garlic in the rice was subtle too, not the kind that makes you smell like a giant that hasn't come anywhere close to a mouthwash in a zillion years. Which is, polite and nice, but well, I love my garlic :) Nevertheless, this was pretty darn awesome.

For a place that serves primarily Chinese, they also have pastas, pizzas, sandwiches, burgers etc. on the menu. Mostly fusion (capers and olives in puttanesca? No.) so we stuck to the Indo-Chinese recommended by the server. But he did mention that their desserts were pretty nice. So we went with this: NY Chocolate Cake. Let me just say this: gooey, dark chocolate ganache over a layered, warm centred, layered classic chocolate cake. This is my heaven. And I am not even a chocolate lover. I don't think I will ever eat dessert anywhere else in Mussoorie. This is my chocolate Mecca in Mussoorie. They also have cheesecakes and mousses, which I did not try but they did recommend the Key Lime Pie too. Try and tell.

The last part of this series is going to give you a quick round up on food and ranting in Dehradun So, more later.