Desi food restaurant instead of Indian-Chinese in lucknow | Desi food restaurant in Lucknow: Baati cooked on embers, coriander-chilli chutney ground on grinding stone makes you lick your fingers – Lucknow News

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The taste of the village inspired a restaurant owner to eat desi food instead of Indian Chinese food. The owner switched from a running business and opened a restaurant where the cooking and serving method is also desi. Moreover, the menu of the restaurant has also been prepared inspired by traditional flavors.

The restaurant has been given the look of a large courtyard like a village house. So let us introduce you to these special flavours in this episode of Lucknowi flavours…

The rural desi look is seen in Baati-Chokha restaurant.

Baati-Chokha restaurant is located in Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar, near Mithai Wala Square in Lucknow. As soon as you enter here, it feels like you have come to a village. The greenery of the trees and plants, the Tulsi plant in the courtyard and the cuckoo’s cooing coming from the mango tree, the Baatis being cooked on embers, the traditional food being prepared in earthen pots on the stove will make your mouth water. The village women grinding chutney on the grinding stone, fresh Sattu being ground in a hand mill and the aroma arising from the grinding of whole spices used in the food attracts everyone’s attention.

You can find the local taste of the village in Baati Chokha of Gomti Nagar.

Desi food instead of Indian and Chinese food

From Baati-chokha, dal-rice to khichdi, sattu-paratha, dal puri, there is no traditional food of Purvanchal that is not available here. The age-old flavours are prepared with the same recipe as it was done in the olden times. It has been started by Diwakar Pandey, a resident of Banaras.

Diwakar, who is into business, started an Indian Chinese restaurant in Banaras in 1998. But the soil of the village, the greenery of the village-farm, the aroma and simplicity of the desi food attracted him towards desi food.

Diwakar said- In 1998, I started a restaurant in Banaras city. I added Chinese fusion with Indian cuisine. But I was not very happy with it. I was not satisfied with the raw material we used in these foods. Many food colors were used in those dishes. So I started looking for something new to do, away from that.

After much thinking, I thought why not make a dish that is prepared in our homes and is also eaten in parties. Baati-chokha is a dish that is prepared and eaten with great enthusiasm in every household in Purvanchal. It is not only delicious to eat, but is also very beneficial for health.

Baati-chokha has been a dish sold on the carts in UP-Bihar for years. But it is not available in any restaurant. That is why we thought of bringing the dish sold on the cart into the restaurant concept. This is where the idea came to create a restaurant where centuries-old traditional and healthy food is available. People can enjoy the taste of that desi food with their family.

Fire is prepared for baking Bati by burning embers.

Despite the risk, a new concept was adopted by moving away from the traditional restaurant

Diwakar said, it was not so easy to start it. We had never heard or seen such a concept anywhere. It was a big risk for me. Doing something different from the traditional trend of restaurants was a big challenge in itself. I was afraid whether people would like it or not. Despite this, I started it.

Only the villagers could give the authentic taste of Baati-chokha. Hence, the entire staff was brought from the village. They were trained in different ways. People started liking this concept. The first restaurant was opened in 1998 in Banaras city. Now we have 4 branches in this city. In 2013, we started our first outlet in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. Seeing the crowd of customers, we opened its second branch in Aliganj. Today we have 10 branches all over the country.

A woman grinding gram in a hand-operated mill.

Well, lantern and mud plastered walls in the restaurant

Diwakar tells that his elder brother is a journalist and he gave the idea of ​​making the restaurant like a village. From making Baati-Chokha in a desi style to decorating the eating area, everything has been done in desi style. The restaurant has been designed like a village house. As soon as you enter, you come across a courtyard in which a Tulsi plant is planted. There is a mango tree in the courtyard itself. From the wooden pillars used in the olden times in the verandah to the doors, everything has been designed in desi style.

As soon as you enter the restaurant, you will find a cot, hookah, well and a small temple built near it. Many paintings made of clay can be seen on the walls. The menu and the way food is served are also unique.

This is how Bati is baked on the embers’ heat.

Three types of thali are most popular

Banarasi Thali: The price of one thali is 399 rupees. It has 2 Baatis cooked on embers, one with Sattu spices and the other with paneer. Along with it, you get dal cooked in a pot on the stove, rice, cold kheer kept in a kulhar, lots of ghee, green coriander and chilli powder ground on a grinding stone and tomato chutney. All this food is served on lotus leaves and in earthen pots. One person can easily eat a full meal of one thali.

Baati-Chokha Thali: The price of this thali is 300 rupees. It includes 2 plain or sattu bati along with chokha, dal, rice and chilli fry.

Khichdi Thali: Its price is Rs 280. Chilli fry is served with khichdi, chokha, curd, ghee and papad.

This is how the special Indian tasting thali is served at Baati Chokha restaurants.

This is how Baati-Chokha is prepared

Owner Diwakar Pandey says that I never trusted the material brought from the market. That is why we started preparing all the raw material here. For Sattu, we bring gram from the market. Then we clean it properly and grind it in a hand mill to prepare it. We bring pure masala from the market and grind it here.

To make Baati-Chokha, we make Baati from wheat flour and stuff it with prepared Sattu masala and then bake it on embers. Dal is also prepared in an earthen pot on embers. The female staff grinds the chutney on a stone. Then it is served on a lotus leaf.

A woman grinding coriander, green chilli and tomato chutney on a mortar and pestle.

Ashutosh Pandey, the cashier of the restaurant, says, the look of this place is like that of a village. The way people used to live in villages 10-20 years ago is being shown in the city. Baati is made by hand. It is baked on embers. The menu here is also similar to the soup used in a village house. The menu looks very good and attractive.

Customers told their experience

Jasmine Desai, who came to Lucknow from Ahmedabad, said – Its taste is good but the plate on which it is decorated is even better. Here food is served on leaves. This used to happen in village houses a long time ago. Now people use plates instead of this. The gram sattu I saw here was very good. The sattu here has a different taste. It is prepared here. It was even better to see this. Sattu contains a lot of protein. It is stuffed in bati. Which is quite healthy. Three types of bati are served here. I liked the sattu one more among them. Drinking water was mixed in a kulhar on top of it, which is also quite unique.

The ultimate look of a desi thali of Baati-Chokha.