Simla Restaurants

I have to say that there aren't a great deal of good restaurants in Shimla. This small place near the lift on The Mall was OK but certainly nothing special. I ate an Aloo Gobhi, rice and naan and a drink.

You'll see these places all over India but they are mostly located in Kerala. The India Coffee Houses were started by the Coffee Board in the early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid 1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. The thrown-out workers then took over the branches, under the leadership of legendary communist leader A.K. Gopalan and renamed the network as Indian Coffee House.

Inside has seen better days as its rather dark and dour with a cream coloured ceiling, lime green walls and dark brown chairs but its very popular with the locals who were all drinking either tea or coffee. I ordered scrambled eggs on toast (as they also serve good cheap food as well) and a coffee (which was one of the best I had in India). The waiters all wear bright white clean uniforms with sailor type paper hats. 2 guys were wearing whats called Cummerbunds - white uniforms with red and yellow belts and a hat with a small white plume on top with a small red and yellow matching band. All the waiters have red numbers on. The guy wearing the plume was wearing number 2 whilst the others had on 13 and such like.

Favorite Dish: along Ram Bazaar, i found many many delicious dessert like another 'version' of gulab jamun [fried flour and milk powder balls in heavy syrup]. addressed it as ras gulla. the differences are; in ras gulla, the colors of the milk balls are not golden but white and the syrup more lighter than gulab jamun.

Favorite Dish: Do not forget to try delicious Indian snacks during your stay at Himachal Pradesh. My fave are Samosa and Jalebi. Samosa is deep fried pastry triangles --much much bigger compared with samosa in my country :) -- filled with spiced peas and potatoes. And I add my own chilli sauce [bring from Jakarta, hahahaha] ... so yummy!!! Meanwhile Jalebi is crisp golden coils of flour batter dipped in a rose-flavoured syrup [remind me with another Indian dessert so called Gulab Jamun]. Hmmmmmmmmm, nice to company unsweetened elaichi chai [cardamom tea].

Ashiana is run by the HPTDC (Himachal Pradesh Tourist Development Corporation) and is the glass-sided rotunda building on your right if you are looking across the mall towards Christ Church. It has a balcony out the back which catches the morning sun and has nice views down towards Cart Rd, the main vehicular entry point for the town. The interior is very opulent and the prices of the dishes match!

Kulchas were about Rs.20, Pizzas Rs. 40-60 and spaghetti dishes were about Rs.100. The menu is quite obviously the usual Indian/Continental Mix and is about 50% veg/non-veg.

Justa word of warning - there are monkeys about, not sure what they would be like if you had a full meal all laid out on your table (I suspect that the waiters will lioter around if that is the case) but they seemed pretty brazen, strolling across the railing but didn't bother me...just keep your wits about you!

Favorite Dish: Indian tea or known as chai .... hmmmm, hot, sweet and added fresh milk [yak milk at Himachal area, hahahaha :)]. a real great tea in the morning when I reached Shimla.

Favorite Dish: several diced fruits with sugar-lemon-salt topping. the fruits can be vary, from papaya, tomato, cucumber and banana. remind me with rujak [in my lingo] or rojak [in malaysia and singapore].

Favorite Dish: after ras gulla and gulab jamun which have syrup as topping, in other days i tried several Indian cakes. the topping can be vary, like pistacchio, almond, etc. also hmmmmmmmmm .....