In a nutshell:
One of the best rustic, authentic, lipsmacking Dhaba food that I have come across in a while.
Cuisine Type: Vegetarian
Meal For 2: Rs. 80 onwards
Detailed Description & the story:
We had read about this place in a book called ‘Highway on my plate’ by Rocky & Mayur. The book says ‘wander here no faint of heart’. It’s a true blue Punjabi dhaba that is meant only for truck drivers & not for city dwellers like us.
On our way back from Jaipur, we requested the driver of our Innova to stop by & he was frightened to take us there as the place is hardly visible from the road & forever covered by almost thirty plus trucks. We managed to persuade him & there we reached. There is no signboard & u have to use Indian GPS – asking people – to get to Bajwa – else u might end up at the Dhaba besides Bajwa – There are 3 Dhabas side by side.
The place is a huge open space with no walls in which trucks r parked. On one side is a water tank where Khatias r the only places to sit / lie down. There is a wooden plank that is placed on top of the khatia that becomes a table on which food is served.
I went in & tried to look for the shy Mr. Minta (Bajwa). He was pleasantly surprised that we were visiting him after reading a book. I showed him the book & he called all to see it. The way people jumped up from all around. I remembered the poem ‘pied piper of Hamlyn’………He kept on asking me where I bought the book from & I said ‘it is available everywhere’. He ordered his men to lay out the best arrangements for us to b comfortable…..& so they did.
Food was awesome, mindblowing, out of the world……and so on –
We ordered for 3 subzis & a daal – each & every subzi that we had were spicy, robust, rustic, lipsmacking, with a character of its own. Special mention needed for the daal & the soft & the fluffy freshly baked tandoori roti…..with a generous dollop of butter.
Highway King is a disaster as compared to this.
…… ………….. Post the lunch Mr Bajwa came up to us & sadi ‘ Can u pls give me ur book’. I said but ‘u can buy it at any bookstore’. He said ‘ but I have never been to a book store in my life’……………… So I happily gave him my copy. Read out the text & translated that in Hindi again lots of people surrounding me. He bookmarked the page by folding the corner – coz I guess he will never be able to find it otherwise.
As we started walking to our car, we saw him coming towards us – ‘Sirji, ur Rs. 300 …..for the book’ – Needless to say I did not accept that, shook hands with him & thanked him for a very warm treatment to us.
The second time we went there he reciprocated by not charging for the food inspite of my many attempts!!!!