It is impossible to bind the cuisine in Varanasi into set patterns. Food in the city, much like the city itself, does not follow rules. So, you can get khichdi at 8.00 am at a temple and find a kachauri at 2.00 pm for lunch. And in between, you have everything from paan to bhaang, mithai to chaat, chai-bread to dahi-jalebi. Varanasi has been a melting pot of cultures, cuisines and humanity at large since the beginning of time, and the food here reflects this diversity in all its glory.
Here are some of the city’s most loved things to eat, and a guide to help you navigate the streets, lanes and bazaars while at it.
While no city in north India wakes up without tea, in Varanasi, tea is more than just a beverage. Long before the sun rises from behind the gentle waves of the Ganges, the city’s countless tea stalls spring into action. By day, every corner has a small gathering of locals hustling around the stove with a kulhad of chai in their hands.
While every corner here offers great tea, Lakshmi Chai Wale, a humble stall in Chowk Bazaar, is where you get some wholesome toast and butter to go along with the tea. And it is the toast, roasted slowly on coal inside a traditional hand-held iron grill, slathered with homemade butter or fresh malai, and sprinkled with sugar, that sets the place apart. In winter, especially, the piping hot toast with malai, and the sweet tea served in tiny earthen cups, is pure bliss.
By the time you are done with tea and toast, the nearby shops begin to set up: a stall with tiny kachoris, another with piping hot jalebis, yet another with Kolkata-style bhaja. A walk on the main street in the Chowk market will bring you to this nameless cart with small aloo-kachoris and kale chane ki ghugni (a local way of making black gram).
The gentleman will serve them to you in a pattal, a leaf bowl, by first crushing the kachori, then pouring the ghugni, and then topping it with asafoetida and chutney. In winter mornings, with fog rising from the river and steam from your pattal, this humble plate is guaranteed to warm you from deep within.
A few steps ahead, at Balaji Jalpan, you’d find a round and fat snack, dunked in sugar syrup and locally called khoya jalebi. We recommend you start with one, since its sweetness far exceeds that of the people of Varanasi, and have more if you can!
In Uttar Pradesh, no day is complete without eating poori, and in Varanasi, you find all sorts of them. There are pooris with dal filled inside, which in UP we call kachori; there are plain pooris eaten with a rich potato curry, and there is also luchi, given the age-old connection of Bengal with Varanasi.
A short walk from Chowk, inside a tight lane, you will find the city’s most loved poori shop, 125-year-old Ram Bhandar. While there are many Ram Bhandars in the vicinity, you will be able to recognise the real one from afar, thanks to its serpentine queues. The place, like most others in Varanasi, is small, but the food – they make only a few dishes – stands out. The pooris and kachoris are fried in ghee, and the potatoes are spiced (not hot) and have a beautiful earthiness to the gravy. The shop also makes lavang latika, a sweet pastry dunked in sugar syrup and held together by a lavang, or clove. The samosas are great too – but we recommend you save those calories (and space) for the evening session of chai-samosa at the ghat.
While by now you will be too full to eat anything else, malaiyyo is a must try. Made only in the cooler months, malaiyyo is a nod to the great culinary techniques of the city. Made by hand churning full-fat milk all night, separating, sweetening and flavouring the resultant foam, and serving it in small clay cups, locally called kulhads, malaiyyo is a work of art and one that must be eaten at any given opportunity.
Shreeji Sweets, just a short walk from Ram Bhandar, is known for its cloudy soft malaiyyo, apart from many others like Markandey Sardar, Pahalwan Lassi, and Gulab Lassi, also in the old city.
Varanasi is among the few places in the country where bhaang, or cannabis, is legal. Not just consumed by locals but also offered in temples, bhaang is often sold mixed in thandai, and there are specific government-approved shops for it. You could visit Badal Thandai on Gowdolia Chowk, where locals go for their share of bhaang. If you have not tried bhaang before, we suggest you steer clear of it or have a milder version mixed with thandai and have a trusted companion with you for the rest of the day. Thandai, on its own, is quite potent too. Made with many spices, nuts, milk, and sugar, it is a quintessentially spring drink that cools your body, but now you often find it in winter too.
Lassi in Varanasi can give a stiff competition to that in Punjab. Thick, sweet, flavoured and garnished, it comes in many, many forms. Blue Lassi and Pahalwan Lassi are more popular joints. In our opinion, though, the smaller shops like Shiv Prasad Lassi Bhandar and Dwarikapuri Milk Bahar are often better since they have less crowds and have less sweet versions of the lassi.
Chaat is the quintessential evening snack in Uttar Pradesh, and Varanasi is especially known for its tamatar ki chaat. Aloo-tikki, palak patta, pani ke batashe and dahi ke batashe are the other popular chaats, but a winter evening is best initiated with the mild and homely chura-matar. A dish that looks like poha but is much lighter, made with lots of ghee, chura matar is sold across the city on small carts and in chaat shops. In Godowlia market, you can find it at popular stalls like Kashi and Deena Chat Bhandar. And while they are popular and overcrowded, the lesser-known Baba Chaat Bhandar does a good variant.
Tamatar ki chaat, made by cooking fresh local tomatoes in ghee, adding boiled and mashed potato and many chutneys, is unique both in taste and presentation. The little namakpara added on top adds texture and familiarity to the otherwise new taste, while the peculiar combination of sugar syrup and asafoetida shines through the humble bowl.
It is blasphemous to be in Varanasi and not have paan! Every local has their favourite paan wala, but some are universal. Banarasi paan is GI-tagged and known for its melt-in-the-mouth texture, which it owes to the leaf. Keshav Paan Bhandar and Gama Paan Bhandar are popular, but every paan shop here makes delicious paan.
First-timers can opt for meetha paan, but the real joy of the local paan lies in the classic edition with kattha, chuna, and supari, which is also an excellent digestive and the best way to close your day in the city of Shiva!
