Pahala (Bhubaneshwar Cuttack highway, Odisha)

Pahala is the name of a place. There are a large number of un named stalls here. This is a review of one of them

In a nutshell :
One of the best roadside cluster of shops selling sweets We have come across so far

the shop we ate at
the shop we ate at

Google map:  Pahala

Meal for 2: 30 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

This place was recommended to us by our friend Dipti ranjan Behera. A big thanks , coz we wud hv missed it otherwise

The place is situated on the bhubaneshwar cuttack highway. On a clearing near the road there are a line of temporary shops selling freshly made ( at times piping hot) sweets made from chhena ( cottage cheese/ curdled milk / similar to paneer).

roshogollas
roshogollas

This place reminded us of shaktigarh in Bengal that sells a fried sweet called langcha. However after several attempts to find great sweets, I have failed to identify even one shop that sells high quality langcha.

The story was different here. We asked our driver to take us to a shop that he thinks is the best. He took us to one towards the end ( on the cuttack side).

roshogollas
roshogollas

We saw that they had large drums of roshogollas of different sizes and Colors. We also saw that they were selling chhena poda, chhena goja etc.

Behind the sweet showcases we saw they were making the sweets from huge chunks of chhena.

peep inside roshogollas
peep inside roshogollas

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading

We tried all the 3 varieties of roshogollas. They were served hot.

3 varieties of roshogollas
3 varieties of roshogollas

I wud say those were the best I have ever had anywhere. The Roshogolla ( rasgulla) of Odisha is similar to the ones that are available in the country side of Bengal. KolkatA sponge rasgullas and haldiram’s rasgullas are very different. I loved this variety. It’s density was higher than the fluffy Kolkata variety and hence it was not over sweet. There was no hole in the center too.
Rate roshogollas here 4.95/5

roshogollas
roshogollas

We tried chhena poda as well. The mistake we made was to have it after eating the roshogollas. Chhena poda was displayed in a huge round block and the guy was cutting it and serving us.

chhena poda
chhena poda

After a few bites we started enjoying it as the sweetness of roshogollas in the mouth reduced. Loved the smokey flavor and the daanedaar texture. Rate it 4/5

the big chunk of chhena poda - they were slicing this & servng
the big chunk of chhena poda – they were slicing this & serving

Chhena goja was deep fried chhena dunked in sugar syrup. Very very nice – I wud say one of the best I have had in years. Rate it 4.75/5

Chhena goja  on top row
Chhena goja on top row

Overall rating of food at our stall in Pahala averages out to 4.6/5

chhena goja
chhena goja

Wud surely never miss a chance to go there.

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