HotAndhra Chicken Curry
Non-vegA bold, chilli-hot Andhra chicken curry rich with red chillies, ginger-garlic and spice — best with rice or biryani.
₹180–400
Best around: Benz Circle
Eat in Vijayawada
What to Eat in Vijayawada Today?
Search Vijayawada dishes by craving — andhra chicken curry, andhra meals, bandar laddu and more.
Vijayawada is in the heart of coastal Andhra, and it eats rice, chilli and sour flavours at almost every meal. Start with a full Andhra meal at lunch, and give your mouth a rest at breakfast with a pesarattu.
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5 Vijayawada dishes found
Hot
HotAndhra Meals
VegA banana-leaf thali of rice with pappu, fiery gongura and avakaya pickles, rasam, curries and ghee — famously the spiciest meals in India.
₹120–300
Best around: Governorpet
Bandar Laddu
VegA gram-flour laddu from nearby Machilipatnam (Bandar) — a famous, slightly grainy Andhra sweet.
₹200–400 / kg
HotGongura Pachadi
VegA tangy chutney-relish of sorrel (gongura) leaves with chilli and garlic — the signature sour-hot Andhra accompaniment.
₹40–150
Best around: Benz Circle
Medium spicePesarattu
VegA crisp green-gram (moong) crepe, often with an upma filling (MLA pesarattu), served with ginger chutney — a signature Andhra breakfast.
₹40–120
Best around: Governorpet
The Andhra meal
Lunch here is a meal rather than a dish. It comes on a banana leaf or a steel plate: white rice, pappu (dal, often cooked with greens or tomato), a dry vegetable, a gravy curry, sambar, rasam, curd and a spoon of pickle. There is usually a powder, or podi, that you mix into the first handful of rice with ghee. Most places refill the rice and the curries until you stop them. Eat the hottest items in the middle and finish with curd and rice, which is how locals cool down.
Gongura
Gongura is the sour leaf of the roselle plant, and it is the flavour Andhra is proudest of. It turns up as a pachadi (a coarse relish with chilli and garlic), mixed into dal, or cooked with mutton or chicken. The taste is sharp and tangy, and it goes best with hot rice and a little ghee.
Breakfast: pesarattu and tiffin
Pesarattu is a thin crêpe made from whole green moong, crisp at the edges and green inside. The Vijayawada favourite is the MLA pesarattu, folded around a spoon of upma, and served with ginger chutney. Idli, vada and upma are the other staples. Tiffin places open early and are busiest before nine.
Non-vegetarian food
Andhra chicken curry is made with plenty of dried red chilli, ginger and garlic, and it is meant to be eaten with rice. Restaurants around Benz Circle are where most people go for it. If you cannot handle much chilli, say "karam takkuva", which means less spicy in Telugu.
Something sweet
Bandar laddu comes from Machilipatnam, the old port about 70 km east, which people still call Bandar. It is made from gram flour, sugar and ghee and has a soft, grainy texture. Sweet shops in the city sell it by weight and pack it for travel.
Where to go next
The where to eat page lists the restaurants that are known for each dish, from the old tiffin rooms to the busy meals halls near the temple.
Questions
Vijayawada — FAQ
How spicy is food in Vijayawada?
Very, by Indian standards. Andhra cooking uses a lot of red chilli, and pickles and podis add more. Ask for less spice, and keep curd rice for the end of the meal.
What is gongura?
The sour green leaf of the roselle plant. In Andhra it is made into a tangy pachadi with chilli and garlic, and it is also cooked with dal or meat.
What is an MLA pesarattu?
A green moong crêpe folded around a filling of upma, served with ginger chutney. It is a filling breakfast and a Vijayawada favourite.
Is Bandar laddu made in Vijayawada?
It comes from Machilipatnam, also called Bandar, about 70 km east of the city. Sweet shops in Vijayawada sell it, often packed in boxes for travellers.