Luncheon in the Queen of Hills

Dehradun is home for me and being here for a month means a lot of ghar ka mummy ke haath ka khaana (which I do not get in Mumbai), lots of cooking and of course trips to Mussoorie, the Queen of Hills. Getting home was not less than a herculean task this time thanks to Jet Airways- flight delayed, connecting flight missed, no flight same day, luggage lost; basically a lot of tamasha. After all this, I managed to reach home on February 2^nd, on my Dadu’s birthday and just in time for my Dad’s birthday which falls on the 3^rd of February.

And in this weather, we decided to drive up to Mussoorie for lunch to celebrate Dad’s birthday. What a fantastic idea :)

It’s a half an hour drive from my place too Mussoorie and the roads are winding (please note people who are prone to nausea on such journeys). However, once that is taken care of, the view is spectacular-add to that the chilly weather and some Maggi points where you can stop a while and devour the delicious Maggi noodles prepared by the small dhabas enroute.

Mall Road, Mussoorie

However, as we were specifically going for lunch and usually do the Maggi scene when we are just going for a drive in the evening, we gave this a miss and headed straight to the Mall Road to go to Tavern Restaurant. To our dismay, on entering the restaurant we realized that the central heating was not working and the place seemed quite stuffy. During the season this place is always buzzing with people and in fact it is difficult to manage a table here, but off season and we didn’t want to take a chance. Stepped out in the freezing cold and were wondering where to cure our growling tummies when we spotted My Shop.

My Shop, Mussoorie

My Shop is a very old (read: about 15-20 years old) restaurant situated at the Mall Road.  My Dad tells me that earlier this was a shop where woolens were sold. Very recently My Shop has acquired space from the video games parlour that was adjacent to it to increase the seating capacity. I have been here on numerous occasions earlier but it had been a while since we had tucked in some food from My Shop on any of our trips to Mussoorie as we head to Char Dukaan, Rokeby or Tavern on most of our trips. While this restaurant is open, with no central heating, from the outside the live tandoor counter looked extremely inviting. We dashed in and just about saved ourselves from the drizzle that had started.

The whiff of the tandoor was driving us crazy and we ordered for half a Tandoori Chicken right away. The menu is a decent spread of Mughlai food and while we waited for our first dish to arrive it started hailing. What a pretty sight! Too bad I couldn’t take a picture because as soon as I got up to click our Tandoori Chicken was on the table and food is more of a love than the weather; which is just an accompaniment. The Tandoori Chicken was hot, good looking and well seasoned. The chicken was cooked through and through and the flavor of the tandoor was infused well within. Don’t forget to squeeze a wedge of lemon on top and you would be licking your fingers.

Tandoori Chicken

My Shop passed the starter-test and on scanning through the variety available on the menu we decided to call for the Kali Mirch Chicken, the My Shop special Dal Makhani and tandoori rotis. 

It took about 10-15 minutes for our food to arrive and this is where I would like to add a note for the service. While the Kali Mirch Chicken and the Dal Makhani was served, along with the accompaniments- onion rings, lemon wedges and green chilies- it took them another 5 minutes to bring the rotis to us.  Because of our starving selves, it was torturous to just wait for rotis while we were staring at the beauty that was the dal and chicken. Thankfully by the time the fresh and soft Tadoori Rotis arrived, the dishes had not gotten cold else the experience would have been a disaster.

Kali Mirch Chicken

The Kali Mirch Chicken was a spicy and thick gravied affair with a very distinct flavor of black pepper. While I would give full marks to the gravy I feel that all the flavours had not entered the chicken. Nevertheless, the dish was enjoyed in the freezing cold weather. 

Dal Makhani

The Dal Makhani was topped with oodles of white butter and this made the dish rich, creamy and extremely satisfying. While at home we usually try to cook a healthy version of Dal Makhani by cutting down on the amount of butter that goes in, we also end up compromising on the taste factor. Here, however, the flavor was plentiful and going by the way this Dal Makhani tasted, I give it a rating higher than the Kali Mirch Chicken. 

For our second round of rotis we ordered a Pudina Parantha along with the rotis. This was delicious to the core, warm, soft, and yummy. Apologies for not letting you feast with your eyes on this one as really it got over within seconds. The bill for all this was a total of Rs. 710! 

The regular scene after a meal in Mussoorie is to stop at the corner Mussoorie Sweet Shop to feast on some jalebis or gulab jamuns and some badaam elaichi doodh- and that is exactly what we did. 

Gulab Jamuns

Badaam Elaichi vaala Doodh

I gave the jalebis a miss this time even though they looked quite tempting- hot and crisp- and went ahead with the badaam elaichi doodh and gulab jamun. 

Badaam Elaichi vaala Doodh in Kulhad

The hot milk infused with almonds and cardamom and a special treat of chopped almonds at the bottom served in clay kulhads is a delightful drink and was indeed a treat in this weather. I gulped down two of these. The Gulab Jamuns that they serve here are just as I like- no dry fruits, right amount of sugar, soft and hot. Your visit to Mussoorie is incomplete without paying a visit to this Mussoorie Sweet Shop and devouring on the yumminess that is served here.

Gulab Jamun

The other tried and tested eateries that I’d suggest to people who are visiting Mussoorie are- The Green (serves delicious vegetarian food), Tavern (Mughlai, Chinese and Sizzlers), Kalsung (known for its Chinese and Tibetan fair), Rokeby Manor (go there for taking a tour of the beautiful property and the breakfast), Char Dukaan-Landour (for a great open aired ambiance and food like bun omelette, pancakes, waffles, various maggi preparations, ginger lemon tea and coffee served to you on tiny tables right outside the shops), Doma’s Inn (for their veg momos which are better than any non vegetarian momos that you would have ever had), Chic Chocolate (for the various desserts they offer and their hot chocolate) and Deodar Woods (for the pizzas).