We continue our cultural food tour of Harris Park guided by Waji. Taste food tours is a social enterprise bringing cultures together through food. Taste Tours also helps to support refugees through training and running tours and by helping with tuition. The first part of the tour introduced us to western Indian street food breakfasts and sweets at Chatkazz, we were shown key cooking ingredients at an Indian Supermarket and Introduced to souther Indian homestlye cooking at Versha’s.
To break up the tour and give our belly a rest we headed to a shop called Parramatta India Fashion. This also provided a cultural element, with the shop selling traditional Indian outfits and jewellery. They have some intricate outfits for special occasions and traditional outfits to be worn everyday.
Moving on, Taj Bhavan vegetarian restaurant is a big bright restaurant, set in a renovated cottage. This location served up a favourite bombay street food snack called pani puri, which is a crisp hollow pocket that you fill with raita(mint yogurt) and chutney. Bang this little pocket in your mouth then be hit by the flavour explosion. We also shared the raj kachori, pretty much a super sized Pani puri, nicely presented too.
The tour then moved to a bargain gem called The Spice of Life. This North Indian restaurant impressed us even before stepping foot inside, this was due to the free food on offer to the needy and their incredibly cheap lunch buffet advertisement. Once inside, we do a walk by of the buffet and check out all of the cricket memorabilia adorning the walls. Once seated the much anticipated naan arrives at the table, as does a goat curry a dish that will always appear on our order if it is available. This version is very nice, the meat is tender with good flavour. We were also introduced to another dish that many of us had not come across, the Malai Kofta. Bobbing in a thick and creamy korma style sauce were these flavoursome cottage cheese and cashew nut dumplings. This is a dish we will be looking for in the future.
To fininsh we return to the vicinity of the ChatKazz cafe, a couple of doors up they have a dessert shop selling all kinds of Kulfi(Indian Icecream) some hit and miss. Feeling adventurous a few of us went with the betel nut flavour, which smelt and tasted like insence and channeled the smell of a massage. Others who chose safe seemed to enjoyed their kulfi. A great spot to start and finish, not far from Harris Park train station
Another great experience put together by Taste tours. Be prepared for a good range of food from many regions of India, with a little bit of history and culture thrown in. This will allow you to settle and prepare for the next bite to eat. A great taste of Harris park and good preparation for a return visit. Check out the below link for all of the great tours offered by Taste tours. There are also links to other taste tours we have attended.
https://aroundtheclockfoodie.com/2017/09/22/cultural-delights-tour-of-cabramatta-taste-tours/
I had Malai Kofta tonight – its my favourite Indian dish ever….and how lovely there is food there for those who need it….generous and lovely!!