Puri

Gourmet Feasts

Puri's favourite is the sea-food, including crabs and lobsters, which are available absolutely fresh. Orissa's prawns and Puri's pomfret fishes are particularly famous, cooked traditionally in a hint of spices and served on a large thali. For some of the Eastern Indian delicacies, head out to the beach-front Phulpatna Restaurant in Toshali Sands Resort, which is known for its superb ambience and great eastern cuisine abounding in fish. Similar to this, Green Lane Garden Restaurant is also great for seafood specialties. Traditional fish lovers must head out to Bidesi Ghara near Swargadwar for their specialties doi ilish (fish pieces in curd-based gravy) and kosha mangsho (spicy, pan-fried mutton dish). Vegetarians can head out to Nandan on Grand Road and try their thalis and local vege bhajias. Chinese food lovers can head to Lee Garden Chinese Restaurant on VIP Road and Mughlai cuisine is available at Wild Grass also on VIP Road. For breakfast, head out to Annapurna Restaurant for piping hot dosas and idlis. We also recommend the roadside shacks selling an enormously popular chudaghasa, which is flat rice blended with jaggery and curd, seasoned with a mixed vegetable boiled with lentils and served liberally with ghee! More than these, what you cannot afford to miss here is a bite of the mahaprasad or bhog at Ananda Bazaar offered to Lord Jagannath and then distributed amidst devotees. Small cakes or pithas are extremely popular as are chhenapodapitha ,a caramelized custard-like dessert. And finally, don't leave without sampling fresh green coconut water, locally known as paida.