Dharamshala, Himachal

I always wanted to travel to Dharamshala to witness the small Tibetan world and to get the taste of the local cuisine. I got the opportunity this year and that too during His Holiness The Dalai Lama's visit.

I gave Ganpati Visarjan a miss in Mumbai and started my journey on the 28th September late evening by the Rajdhani bound train to Delhi. My 2 friends (Dola Samanta and Punita Parikh) travelling along were just as excited as me. My food marathon had begun. But it started off on a bad note with some disappointing food served on the train. I spent the next 16 hours without good food. After reaching Delhi, we freshened up at my cousin's place and headed straight to Karims at old delhi's jama masjid. I ordered for mutton bhurra and mutton stew. It was a feast. I could not have left this place without having the firni.

From the busy jama masjid lanes we headed to a quieter colony called majnu ka tilla. The colony was Delhi's mini Tibet. Here we got a bus for Dharamshala. The 12 hours journey had 2 halts. The first halt was for dinner at a dhaba at karnal. I was not looking forward to it as it was a veg dhaba. But, i must confess, the food was really tasty. We tried the paneer masala and the dal makhani dipped in butter and only butter.

The second halt was at dhaliara in himachal for a tapri chai at 4am. I was just 2 hours away from Dharamshala and the excitement took away my sleep. I reached lower Dharamshala at 6am but the bus kept moving upwards towards McLeodganj (Mcleod), the last stop. We got down and headed to Dharamkot, a small village 2kms from Mcleod. It was a scenic beauty and we decided to stay here for the next 6 days. We stayed at Moon Light Cafe for a tariff of just Rs.300 a room per night. The view from my room was so peaceful.

From here, the actual food trip started. The breakfast was at the moon light cafe itself. It was a simple yet tasty spanish breakfast.

Heading down to Mcleoad was a task. But i soon realized the best way to explore the place and the food is to walk and eat. We used to take a shortcut via Tushita Meditation Centre to reach the main market at Mcleod. We then visited Tsuglagkhang Complex - the residence, monastery, tibet museum and temple of His Holiness The Dalai Lama to register and book our place for his teachings the next day. We spent few hours in the complex and were speechless looking at the temple and the monastery.

We then met our local friend Jigme for lunch. He took us to the Tibet kitchen in the market. The chicken momos, chilly chicken and mutton noodles were totally irresistible.

The walk back to dharamkot was never ending. We took the longer route to explore the place better. We ventured into the dharamkot village and witnessed the purity and beauty of it. Staying on the mountains seemed to be the only thing in life.

The dinner was at Treck&Dine in the village where i had the sizzling chicken sizzler and honeylicious banana honey pancake.

The second morning at the mountains was spiritual and enlightening. I was fortunate and overwhelmed to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His teachings on the path to enlightenment was like experiencing a sea of love and compassion. People from all over the world who attended the teachings got a bread and butter-tea for breakfast.

Back to food and lunch was at Jimmy's Italian Kitchen. The grilled chicken florentine - chicken breast stuffed with mushroom, cheese and spinach along with pasta in white sauce and jacket potato was italian food at its best.

Thereafter it was time to explore the Mcleod market. The first found was the Commonground Cafe. At the first glance itself, this cafe became one of my favorites. I was in love with this place. This is the place where i discovered my love for ginger lemon honey tea. Also, the sweet rum ball was to die for.

The second cafe was the Moonpeak Cafe overlooking the street market. I had a relaxing time with a pot of hibiscus herbal tea and a chicken mozzarella cream-cheese spinach sandwich.

Later in the evening, we all started to head towards bhagsu falls. The trek from bhagsu to shiva's cafe was really adventurous. On our way, we had an omelette and a maggi at a small cafe. Just when it was getting dark, we reached shiva's cafe. A quick rest and trek back but enroute dharamkot. Yes, we came to know that one can trek directly to dharamkot from shiva's cafe. It was a difficult decision to take as it was getting darker. While we managed to reach half way, we got lost in the dark. A villager came to our rescue and guided us appropriately. The trek from bhagsu to shiva's cafe and back to dharamkot was a lifetime experience. I was damn tired and needed a great meal to energize myself.

Dinner was at the Friendly Planet Cafe at the village. Chicken Schnitzel and hummus with fried onions & mushrooms was on my menu.

The third morning started on a great note with breakfast at the Four Season's Cafe at Mcleod. A small place with cozy interiors. Double stack pancakes with fried eggs and chicken sausages.

A long day awaited me. We hired a car and headed to lower Dharamshala to visit Karmapa's Palace, Dolma Ling Nunnery and Norbulingka Institute. 

At Karmapa's Palace we saw how monks stayed together and lived a disciplined life. We even met young monks who have in their childhood itself started studying the inner world of mind.

We were not able to meet any of the nuns as they were attending the teachings but we saw the interiors of the Nunnery. It was a beautiful blend of modern design and tibetan art.

Norbulingka is a place where one can witness Tibet's art, culture and architecture preserved all under one roof. 

It was lunch time and after such a visit i wanted to have the authentic tibetan cuisine. We went back to Mcleod at Tennor Cafe. It was the best lunch i had in ages. Mutton Shabhalay and Mutton Shaptak with Tingmo. It was delicious.

After the mutton feast, it was time to visit the remaining places - TCV School, Dal Lake and St. John Church. But this time we left the car and went walking.

Tibetan Children's Village School is a community where orphans and refugee children are taken care of and provided with education. We met few of the children who showed us their school, hostel rooms and the playground. 

Dal lake is a small lake just below the TVC school and its surrounded by the deodar trees.

St. John Church was a again a walking distance from the lake towards Mcleod.

After reaching the main market, we relaxed ourselves with a pot of jasmine herbal tea at TCV Village Cafe.

After the sunset, we headed back to our room in dharamkot village. We had a chilled moonlight dinner at Buddha Delight Cafe at dharamkot with hot chicken thukpa and chicken momos.

The fourth morning i gave my breakfast a miss and only had a lemon honey ginger tea from the Himalaya Tea Stall in the dharamkot village. 

My mom had asked me to visit Jwaladevi Temple, one of the shaktipeeths. I got into a local bus from Dharamshala to reach the temple which was 50kms away. It was quite an experience. 

Once back to Mcleod in the afternoon, i went to my favorite place, the Commonground Cafe to have lunch. The lady at the cafe asked me to try the tibetan's favorite dish - chicken sha tag with steam rice. I simply loved it.

After my lunch, i spent the time shopping for my sister and mom. An authentic full body massage at Men-Tsee-Khang was waiting for me in the evening. The 45min massage was bliss. 

Our local friend Jigme and Lobsange had invited us to their home for an authentic tibetan home-made dinner. I was really looking forward to it. Both of them lived in a small apartment at Mcleod. They cooked 2 dishes for us. One was ginger garlic chicken cooked in secret red sauce and other the was the mutton phingsa aaloo. It was finger licking good. The taste of local food can only be at one's home.

The most awaited day, the fifth day was our trek to triund. It was a 4 hours trek from Dharamkot to Triund. We were all set to be up in the Dhauladhar ranges of the mighty Himalayas.We started early and it was the coldest morning. We packed up a few bottles of water, chocolates, warm clothes and basic travel gears for our trek. The first hour of the trek was the toughest. Breathlessness and cold winds were making it difficult for us to move up. After an hour we took our first halt at Rest-a-While stall for a much needed tea and omelette. 

A few minutes of rest and food intake, we started to move up. The cold winds had settled down and we were moving up smoothly. The view from the second halt was really magical. Its called the Magic View stall. We rested for a few minutes for tea and biscuits. 

We were surrounded by the mountains from all sides. It felt as if the Himalayas are the only ones with us. The third and the last halt was an interesting one. The stall was not named. The young man who managed the stall said that he would name the stall once it is featured on Lonely Planet. 

There was a sense of curiosity as we were about to reach the top. As we reached, the mighty Himalayas were standing tall in front of us clad with snow. We were at 2875 meters.above sea level. It was a breath-taking view. We were submerged into the beauty of the Himalayas. It was simply a majestic view. It was tranquility. We took a tent for few minutes to rest and to enjoy the view in front of us. We had our lunch at Sunil's Chai Shop with hot plate of dal-rice, egg bhurji and pickle. 

After a few hours, we left for Dharamkot, a 4 hour trek down. We reached Dharamkot late evening and celebrated the climb with a bottle of wine. It was simple a life-time experience.

We needed a feast to fill our empty stomachs. For dinner, we headed to Drumstick at Mcleod market. An as desired it was a meat feat with mutton mokthuk, mutton thenthuk, pork chilly and chicken chilly garlic rice and noodles.

The sixth and the last day was dedicated to only food. And what better way to start the day with double breakfast. The first one was at Milkyway Cafe at Dharamkot with mushroom cheese toast with omelette and lemon honey ginger tea and the second one was a surprise one. Never thought i would find a pancake cafe on the mountains. But i found one called Crepe Pancake at Mcleod. I ordered for a whole wheat pancake filled with egg and mushroom sauce. It was mouth watering. I could not get over my love for pancakes and ordered one more whole wheat pancake but this time filled with apricot sauce. 

After the heavy double breakfast, it was time for some food shopping from the Mcleod street market - egg noodles, chilly garlic powder & paste and tibetan herbal tea. 

A super lunch was waiting for us at Commonground Cafe. I never repeat any cafes/restaurants when on vacation. But i broke my own rule as this cafe had some classic dish on its menu. To start off we ordered for spicy potato pork fry and cantonese chicken wok fried noodles. Both the dishes were amazing. We were full but were still drooling when we saw the menu again. The finale dish was the highlight of the trip. It was the most awesome dish i have ever had in my life. The finale dish was hakka drunken chicken with chinese shiitake black mushrooms braised in rice wine. 

After the food marathon, we packed our bags and headed to the Dharamshala bus stop for our bus to Delhi. But we wanted to leave with sweet memories and we ran to grab a rum ball from Commonground Cafe and a banana muffin from the Tibet Hotel.