Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Delights in Gaya, India

1st post for 2014... Vegetarian Food Delights at the Holy place~Gaya, India.

Tibet Om Café
A popular café along Tibetan Flea Market and not difficult to miss its Signboard on top of the roof of the Guesthouse.

Must Tries are their Then-Thuk (Soup Hand-made Flat pieces of noodles like our MeeHoonKuey of Ban Mian stalls found in Singapore),  Veg. Spring Roll (Hugh Wraps with vegetables), Calzone (Baked bread with stuffed vegetables), Fried rice and Pan-cakes.



Oh, simply love their Then-Thuk with good soup stock that provides warmth to our body in the cold weather and I love their Spring Roll~Well Fried. Hugh (not the small type found in S'pore) and Fulfilling.

Momo (Dumplings) are also popular among the patrons but I find their skin abit too thick for my liking.
Oh they have nice cakes too at reasonable price if you do take egg...
Love their Lemon Ginger Honey drink too, good for fighting a flu...
Oh one thing to avoid is their Spicy Belajan chilli in small metal container, that is a cause of my bad cough eruption...(but simply can't resist...)

Be Happy Café
Just in front of the Vietnamese Temple further down from Om Café is another popular café for Italian Food & coffee lovers. I like their Mushroom Pizza, well done...

Mohammed Restaurant
At 1 or 2 lanes besides Be Happy Café, going deep into the lane besides a Fujiya Green Restaurant. Their Indian cuisine such as Paneer Curry and Naan (nice authentic) and Cheese momo were nice. This is also a favourite hunt for foreigners as it has a good variety of International vegetarian options in a non-vegetarian restaurant.





Tergar Café
Located inside Tergar temple, this is a simple café that sells instant drinks and simple food such as Indian Fried noodles.
You may be interested to find Indian Fried noodles different from our Singapore Mee Goreng which again seems to be customised locally in Singapore. It is non spicy and brown sauced, more like our local Hong Kong Fried noodles. Oh, the noodles used is not yellow noodles but springy slightly thicker noodles texture than those used for Hong Kong Fried noodles. It's one of those easier to get dishes on the menu of reasonable standard. It's Fast food in consideration.


But for even better Indian Fried Noodles option, I would recommend the 2 Bhutanese restaurants (tentages) just outside the Tergar temple. The one on the left has nice spicy cream mushroom with brown rice while the one on the right serves better fried noodles.

The food found in Gaya had been dominated by Tibetan & Bhutanese culture, you can easily find them in most local eateries. In India, if you are pure vegetarians, remember to remind them not to put onion & garlic & eggs or else by default they are there...
Oh ... now I miss the morning bread, butter tea and the sweet oat drink served during tea-breaks at the Kagyu Monlam.
A glimpse of free breakfast served at Hotel Mahayana for Friends of Kagyu Monlam which I would encourage friends to join in their next visit for Kagyu Monlam as free transport and meals are provided for during the Monlam period.
I had an enjoyable time exploring Indian, Tibetan, Nepalese and Western food at Gaya this round.
The regret for this trip is not able to try their mango pudding and more local Indian dishes which I had enjoyed per last trip in 2009. 
:-P
A glimpse of Pilgrimage places at Gaya:  
http://sunny-vegetravel.blogspot.sg/search/label/O-India%20-%20Bodhgaya?m=0