Q: What do you get when you cross a Chicken with a Centipede? A; About a hundred drumsticks! :P
Lame jokes and food go a long way, don’t they? And isn’t food the best thing that has happened to mankind? And what is the best form of food you can turn to when you find yourself broke/ clueless/ bored/ hungry as a wolf/in a mood to explore flavours or you know, simply when your jaws need some exercise? That’s right – street food! There’s something about it that cannot be found even in the classiest of all restaurants – maybe it’s the tangy taste of adventure, maybe it’s the crisp bite of freedom..or perhaps the enticing smell of simplicity...whatever it is, we are thankful to the carts and stalls lining the busy streets and quiet alleys for existing and giving us what we call street food.
In Kalimpong, the street food scenario, without a doubt, is very much loved by everyone – especially the youngsters. ‘Puchka’ and ‘jhal muri’ are common favourites, but I’d like to delve deeper than that and bring to you the authentic and exotic flavours of the town.
It is very tough to pick a favourite, but I've always found myself salivating the most on a plate of 'aloo thukpa'.
K'pong has its own noodle factories so the locally made noodles are sold for comparatively cheaper rates here. Therefore, while Darjeeling has 'aloo bhujia' and Gangtok has 'aloo chiwra', we have 'aloo thukpa'. It is simply prepared by boiling the thukpa (noodles), cooking spicy Nepali style 'aloo dum', and mixing the two together. The result is truly delicious! Ten rupees per plate and very filling- no school canteen here is complete without this mouth-watering treat in its menu. I don't think it is quite possible to explain how noodles and potatoes unite to taste so amazing because it actually does sound like a mis-match; but only when one takes a serving of it will he realise what he had been missing all his life! "I'll never forget the day I added a lot of chilli paste to my plate of aloo thukpa despite being warned that it was very spicy on its own. By the time I finished it, I had a burning stomach and a burning mouth. It felt like I had just feasted on the sun. Took me a lot of time and a lot of techniques to soothe the fiery feeling (including sticking my tongue out like a dog) but even then, I still like my aloo thukpa very spicy." - Tenzing Choden. More often than not, wherever there is aloo thukpa, there is 'fambi' (or phumbi).
Phambi is a light snack made of dried mung beans. Its liquid or powdery form is then made into steamed cakes, cut into bite size pieces and fried lightly.
This too, is preferred to be eaten spicy and is also available only in Kalimpong. It is jelly like in consistency and its piquant flavour lingers in the mouth for a long time. " My friends from Kalimpong always talked about how delicious phambi is. I had never tried it so when I had my winter vacation, I made a trip there. I was taken to 'haat bazar' on a busy saturday morning. Some women were sitting at their stalls with big steel bowls selling momos, aloo thukpa and phambi. I had three plates that day! Even now, whenever I visit Kalimpong, I never miss out of phambi." - Pranisha Shrestha, Gangtok. Phambi has a cousin. It is called 'la phing'.
La Phing is a Tibetan pronunciation of the Chinese name for this snack which is'liang fen'. The basic way of preparing this snack is the same as phambi, but instead of cutting the steamed cake in squares, this is scraped into noodle-like shape and served with a little bit of soya, a little bit of MSG, and a lot of SonLabu (Tibetan pickeled radish) extract.
La phing is prepared in only one place here by a lady who we know as 'acha', which means sister in the Tibetan language. "I love la phing! I go to acha's place very often with my friends and she knows us very well by now. Once, I had bunked tuition and was hanging out at acha's, eating la phing after every 30 minutes. When I was about to leave, I saw that my tuition teacher's bike was parked right outside and he was chatting with acha for a long time. I stayed inside, scared; but as it turned out, she didn't tell him that I was inside. After he left, she came inside and hit me real hard on my back. Evrybody else burst into laughter." - Tashi Tshering Sherpa. Another yum-yum loved by all is 'sha-phaley' or 'shabalay'.
It is a delicacy of Tibetan origin and is made by stuffing minced meat (sha=meat)into rolled unleavened dough and deep frying it (yes, like a pie). The vegetarian variation can be stuffed with mashed potatoes or chopped veggies. Eitherway, phalays are very tempting any time of the day. "I've been married for six years in Delhi and have a five year old son. I packed him some phaleys for school lunch one day and he came home saying that he shared it with his friends and they loved it. Last week when we had those kids over for his birthday party, they enthusiastically requested me to make some shaphaley for them." - Sarah Basnet.
Strings of Chinese pork sausages hung outside small shops near the motor stand are scrumptious treats for any time of the day. The frequent chilly weather here means that the small shops like these are usually stocked up with liquor which goes well with these appetizing sausages.
Almost all the stores in Kalimpong close down by 8:00 pm; then begins the advent of the vendors with their food cart stocked with boiled eggs, momos, phalays, aloo dum, chowmein, rolls, meatballs and more. They are like magic hats that produce innumerable items. Every food cart has a speciality and writing about each of those would take up a whole new post, but I cannot miss out on mentioning the exceptional plate of 'chhola' I've had here.
Manoj took over the humble business after his father passed away some years ago; he puts his stall at Main Road (opposite Lotus Garment Store).
This place is my ultimate food stop when my dad and I go on long evening drives. I'm a regular here and can never get enough of its tasty, mouth-watering chhola amongst other things.
And of course, there are momos.... there are momos everywhere!You cannot walk continuously for more than three minutes in this town without coming across atleast one shop that serves momos. Who doesn't like the juicy, flavourful dumplings that should be renamed 'dumplings of happiness'? If you know somebody who doesn't like momos, you are probably hallucinating.
A plate of hot steaming momos with spicy chilly paste and hot bowl of soup on a cold day- heavenly!
Kalimpong may not have KFCs, or CCDs, or Park Hotels, but it never fails us when it comes to feeding delicious food to the hungry and greedy souls. A visit here would surely be incomplete without a taste of acha's la phing, or haat bazar's phambi and aloo thukpa. As long as it exists, the charm and authenticity of the place lives on. So hail to the street food in Kalimpong and to the street food around the world!
Recommendation: Aloo thukpa - 8th mile Phambi- Haat bazar/ 11th mile La phing - Acha's place, 10th mile Phaley- Topkhana, 11th mile/ food carts at main road (for the best beef phaley : the food cart adjacent to the SnoWhite store) Momos : anywhere :D
