Raipur Bhajiya House – The Oldest and The Best Bhajiyawala in Ahmedabad Town

• • Ahmedabad, Gujarat •

Recently I toured the old city of Ahmedabad and stayed at Heritage House in the Khadia locality. Jagdip Mehta is the owner of the Heritage House. We chatted and discussed famous food places in Ahmedabad. I was suggested by Jagdip Ji to visit Raipur Bhajiya House situated at Raipur Darwaja approx. 1 km from his heritage house.

Immediately I searched for the location on Google navigation map but was unable to find it. So I decided to hire an auto and visit Raipur Darwaja. Rs. 20 I paid the auto fare and reached Raipur Darwaja within minutes. Before leaving auto I asked auto wala where is Raipur Bhajiya House?

He smiled and said you want to eat Bhajiya? There is the shop – he showed. Raipur Bhajiya House is situated almost at Raipur Darwaja. They have two shops – one that prepares bhajiya and another shop that sells bhajiya.

There was a queue to purchase bhajiya. I joined the queue but before joining I clicked bhajiyas photo.

After 10 minutes I was in front of the man selling bhajiya. How much for bhajiya – I question. Rs. 20 for 100 grams and Rs. 200 for a kilogram. I paid him 20 rupees to have 100 grams of bhajiya.

He gave me three types of bhajiyas – batata Vada, methi bhajiya and bhajiya with a slice of batata.

I question him – how old is the shop?

He said – 70 to 80 years old.

And what are the timings for shop opening and closing?

He said – 9 am is the opening time and late night at 1 am is the closing time.

Thank you – said I and start eating bhajiyas.

Delicious, fresh, and hot served. They don’t serve any chutney or sauce but without chutney or sauce still, it is mouth-watering. Worth with money and quantity and taste. It is said – they serve the same taste since many years.

After finishing hot bhajiyas I clicked one more photo of the shop.

Now I started walking towards Heritage House. After 10 or 15 minutes I reached Heritage House. Everybody in the house asks me – how were the bhajiyas?

I said – very good.

Jagdip’s Ji father further enhanced my knowledge by saying – Earlier there were 100 mills in Ahmedabad and was called Manchester of India. There were different working shifts for workers. Workers used to visit Raipur Bhajiya House during the day and late at night to have bhajiyas. That makes the shop more famous.

Upon reaching the Mumbai house I searched the internet to know more about Raipur Bhajiya House. I got the following information:

Raipur Bhajiya House was established in 1933 i.e., 87 years old shop. Gujarat’s first chief minister, Jivraj Mehta, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are some of its most famous clientele. No onion-garlic in bhajiyas. Raipur Bhajiya still doesn’t have any branches, home delivery facilities, or online sales.

24x7x365 open.

So, go and try the mouth-watering bhajiya and take those with you who don’t know about it. You will also find KHAMAN (Dhokla) there. Enjoy!

Aaswad – One of The Cheapest and The Best Marathi Restaurants in Mumbai

• • Maharashtra, Mumbai •

I was searching Google to find “Best Marathi Restaurant in Mumbai” and Aaswad restaurant was one of the Google results. More than seven thousand reviews were enough to convince me to visit Aaswad restaurant. But this time I thought why not invite a few of my Marathi friends to join too so that the menu order is selected by them only.

We were five friends at Prabhadevi West. Two were Marathi. We didn’t know the exact location of the restaurant. We hired two taxis. Luckily, Taxi Wala was aware of the restaurant’s location. He enhanced our knowledge by saying that Aaswad was earlier near to ShivSena Bhavan in Dadar.

We reached the restaurant within 10 minutes. 30 rupees was each taxi bill. Paid, and we crossed the road to reach Aaswad.

There was a crowd outside the restaurant. People were waiting for their number to enter the restaurant to have their seats. We too approached the man who was writing the queue number. For half an hour we had to wait, and finally, we entered.

The first order was Modak by our Marathi friends. Modak was served with pure ghee. It was awesome.

Pithale Bhaji Bhakari, Bhakari, Masala Rice, Dalimbi Usal – The menu was requested again by our Marathi friends. The taste of the food was too good. Very less spicy with added spices. The aroma of spices was great. It tastes good. I like Marathi food especially because of the spices.

After lunch, I requested gajar halwa, and one of Marathi’s friends requested for gulab jamun.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the lunch. It was time to pay the bill. I requested the bill and was surprised by the total amount when the bill was presented. Only Rs. 916. We were five people, which means Rs. 183.20 per head. Nothing I can say about the total amount. To be honest, I can say the restaurant is one of the cheapest and best in Mumbai. Will visit again for sure to try a different menu, but in short what surprised me was the total bill amount. Very cheap and the best.

You can also visit Aaswad restaurant from Dadar West local train station. It’s 10 minutes walking distance. Reach Dadar West, then walk towards Kabutarkhana and then towards the Our Lady of Salvation Church. It’s 2 minutes walking distance from the church.