Lunch hour

During our day of factory visits, my co-worker informed me that we would have lunch at the McDonalds near the factories we were visiting in Haryana. She thought she was being a good hostess, treating me to foods that would alleviate any homesickness I might be feeling.

When I realized the McDonalds option was simply for my benefit, I insisted she take me to wherever she would normally eat lunch during her factory visits. So, we ended up at this chain restaurant called Haldiram's, which was basically a cafeteria-style family restaurant. We toured the options that ranged from ice cream to dosas to other vegetarian options.

My co-worker encouraged me to get two items: the raj kachori and the choley bhature. The raj kachori was basically a chaat stuffed with all sorts of spices and smothered in a yogurt sauce. It was pretty but kind of too yogurty for my taste and I wasn't really fond of it.

However, the choley bhature was pretty yummy. It was a little cup of spicey stew-type stuff accompanied by two pieces of fried dough. The dough was puffed up like two big balloons and you use the dough to scoop up the other stuff. It was quite yummy and much more interesting than a big mac.