What to Eat in Varanasi Today?

Breakfast: kachori sabzi

The day starts early in the old city, with small fried kachoris served with a spicy potato sabzi and, on the side, hot jalebi. The lanes behind the ghats smell of it from dawn. Go early: the best batches are gone by mid-morning, and the stalls get quieter after that.

Evening: tamatar chaat

Tamatar chaat is the dish people from Varanasi miss when they leave. Tomatoes are cooked down with spices and ginger, topped with crushed crisp puri and a sweet syrup, and served in a small leaf bowl. It is sour, sweet and hot at once. Godowlia is the place for it, especially Kashi Chaat Bhandar, in the early evening before the aarti.

Lassi

Banarasi lassi is thick enough to eat with a spoon, topped with a layer of malai and served in a kulhad, a clay cup you throw away after. Shops in the old city do fruit versions too. It is a good way to cool down after the temple queue.

Lunch: litti chokha

Litti are baked wheat balls filled with spiced sattu, a roasted gram flour. They come with chokha, a mash of roasted aubergine, tomato and potato, and a spoon of ghee. It is the food of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and a filling lunch before you cross to Ramnagar.

After dinner: Banarasi paan

A betel leaf folded around sweet gulkand, spices and areca nut. The sweet version has no tobacco; if you want to be sure, say so when you order. Chew it slowly and do not swallow the whole thing in one go.

Eating safely

Eat where food is cooked in front of you and turned over quickly. Drink bottled or filtered water. The whole menu here is vegetarian, and many places near the temples cook without onion or garlic.