[airguitar]

Originally Posted by lazy

Totally agree with the OP.

Absence of decent hygienic facilities along our highways is single biggest mind block while planning a road trip.

For me, if a highway has a CCD every 3 hours, I am comfortable.

The regular dhabas/eateries, may have decent food, but usually the hygiene levels are abysmal and toilets for only the desperate.

BLR-Mysore - Good. CCD - yes.
BLR-HYD - Bad. Has no half decent place to eat or relieve yourself.
BLR-Chennai - Average. Food ok, No clean toilets. (is there a CCD?)
BLR-Ooty - Average. CCD - yes.
BLR-Pondy - Bad. No clean food, no clean toilets.
BLR-Wayanad - Bad. No clean food, no clean toilets.
BLR-Coorg - _?_. I think there was a CCD, don’t remember.
BLR-Yercaud - Bad. No clean food, no clean toilets.
BLR-Kodai - Bad. No clean food, no clean toilets.
BLR-Tirupati - Bad. No clean food, no clean toilets.
BLR-Kolar - Average. CCD - yes.

(my observations are from my trips over past 3-4 years. Some of above highways may have got new facilities in past year)

CCD between Bangalore chennai : one at shoolagiri, one at sethuvalai ( a few kms after pallikonda toll ) and another between kancheepuram and sriperambudur
CCD between Bangalore coorg : many between chennapatna and Mysore, one between hunsur and periyapatna at kampalapura,one near kushalnagar
CCD between bangalore tirupathi : isn't there one between palamaner and chittoor?

[esteem_lover]

A very important topic and thanks to the OP for starting this one. I for one personally do not mind going to these dhabas where the truckers go. I have had no problems even while eating food from even road side stalls. But when it comes to feeding my kids, I would like to see them sitting and eating in a hygienic place, maybe you can argue the kitchen is the same, but at least a better presented food in a more hygienic environment is good. No, I am not talking 3 star or any star, the basic bhavan or sagar experience. There are no such basic eateries on the highways these days. Yes, you might have some near the towns, but if you are making time and somehow miss these few, there is none for 100s of KMs. I experienced this when we drove back from Ooty a month back. I roamed around the Salem bypass for a decent NV hotel and there was none, even the Veg hotels there were very very ordinary to say the least and have only MEALS at that time true to our tradition. No one wants to have a light meal like a dosai or idli.

[honeybee]

Drinking water is the biggest problem at the wayside eateries. Apart from that I think we could still find good places to eat if not along the highways then a little farther into any towns encountered en route. I remember when travelling from Kolhapur to Pune we made a detour at Karad, and entered the city instead of taking the flyover out of it, and there are so many eateries and hotels at the main road below the flyover. Once at Satara I remember turning off the highway into the town and at about a few hundred metres we could locate a decent hotel for a meal. Twice while going to Satara and beyond I remember stopping at the same joint which offered steaming hot idlis and that made a wonderful breakfast. It wasn't bigger than a small shack.

[anujmishra]

Many people vouch for CCD but I'm not at all fond of CCD. Well, it is personal choice. But something is better than nothing. Last, when I was returning from Tirupati, we started around afternoon 12:30PM. We thought we will take lunch around 2 PM or so. We stopped at very good looking restaurant. There was only one choice available, it was meal. We moved on.

Next we found one CCD to our side and I went and packed spinach sandwiches, chicken tikka sandwiches etc. We all were tired and it was very hot outside. This is first time I stopped at some CCD.

But the thing is proper tasty meal is what satisfy us. Sandwiches and all can be life saver but we could not have it regularly.

During old time people were doing business with passion to serve others. Now a days it is only business. Today only I was reading one story of "Maddur Vade" and how it was invented in 1909. Still, this is very popular in Maddur town (Between Bangalore - Mysore). But, if you see it was invented in 1909 and now it is only business.

No one wants to have a light meal like a dosai or idli.

Exactly, esteem lover. We cannot eat sandwiches, idli, dosa as three time meal on highway.

We do not want very rich foods. But proper food with taste and hygiene on highway.

[Sheel]

I very much prefer the charpoy ones offering roti - dal tadka - omelet - seasonal/paneer vegetable.

Trick is to order what is fast moving and this combo rules. Though sometimes dhabas do surprise you with awesome lassi/kheer as well. If you see others consuming, you may do so.

Though in scorching heat over 40c+ one tends to start looking for an air conditioned place, but evenings/monsoon or winter, these dhabas do it for me. I prefer this food as well over sandwich & other fancy looking food preparations

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I very much prefer the charpoy ones offering roti - dal tadka - omelet - seasonal/paneer vegetable.

Trick is to order what is fast moving and this combo rules. Though sometimes dhabas do surprise you with awesome lassi/kheer as well. If you see others consuming, you may do so.

Though in scorching heat over 40c+ one tends to start looking for an air conditioned place, but evenings/monsoon or winter, these dhabas do it for me. I prefer this food as well over sandwich & other fancy looking food preparations

Same here. Nothing like getting the proper highway feel, especially when one is alone or traveling with guys. Though I prefer chicken or egg.
During my MP roadtrip, I ate in the highway dhabas. Apart from the food being diesel flavoured (generator), and the temperature being over 40 degrees, there was not much to complain about. No stomach upsets.

If truckers or locals are stopping, it means food is decent. However, I do avoid regular water or cut fruits/salads in these places. If something is boiled/cooked, I reckon it is safe to eat.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by airguitar

CCD between bangalore tirupathi : isn't there one between palamaner and chittoor?

- One at Kolar, one at Chitoor bypass and one at Chandragiri.

I spotted these three.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Same here. Nothing like getting the proper highway feel, especially when one is alone or traveling with guys. Though I prefer chicken or egg.
During my MP roadtrip, I ate in the highway dhabas. Apart from the food being diesel flavoured (generator), and the temperature being over 40 degrees, there was not much to complain about. No stomach upsets.

If truckers or locals are stopping, it means food is decent. However, I do avoid regular water or cut fruits/salads in these places. If something is boiled/cooked, I reckon it is safe to eat.

Absolutely with you on this. Follow the lorries for your grub, you cannot go wrong. But this applies more in Northern India than in Southern India for some reason.
What I am really missing these days is the old 'Trunk Road' , 'National Highway' or 'State Highway' feel, with all the new Golden Quad Motorways being the preferred roads to takefrom point to point. There was a certain indefinable charm to those old 'Trunk Roads', which I am suddenly nostalgic about.

[pamishra]

I'll be making Pune-Bangalore trip very soon. Can you guys please suggest good eateries between Belgaum and Bangalore?

Thanks in advance!

[atnyia]

Reviving an old thread.

I am from a small town which is very near to Murthal Dhabas.

I remember very old days when we would either go to Aahuja, Pehalwan, Hari Dhaba or Sukhdev Dhaba in late ninties/early 2000s when Prakash (the actual Sardarji owner of the place ) was still used to sit on the 'Galla' (counter). He was large in size, the setup was minimal with 'khats' and plastic chairs maybe. The tandoori paranthas were yummy with almost a full bowl of desi butter thrown in. It was yearly once or twice and I still have some faint but awesome memories. Disproportionate number of vehicles stopping at Sukhdev were from Punjab (as it is still today). It was authentic Punjabi.

The USP of Murthal dhabas was quality food with a personal touch and very reasonable pricing compared to city restaurants. Now, the authenticity is gone and the dhabas only resemble any other city restaurants with similar prices and maybe worse hygiene/quality of service. You can always spot some really hip youngsters making weird spouts to camera and checking in to "Amrik Sukhdev" as some sort of achievement. Sometimes you would also hear news about people getting killed in mishaps who typically drive to these dhabas during late nights (most likely after boozing).

I remember the place where I had arguable best dhaba food is the The Great Himalayan Dhaba at Narkanda. You can always find the owner/his son at the counter all the time. Another place is hotel Paradise on Ambala-Chandigarh Highway near Lalru. The owner on the counter. (We stop at Paradise because it is a natural stop after ~ 3 hours of drive whenever we start our trip from native.)

At the heart of of this quality deterioration (atleast on NH-1) is the lack of the skin in the game - of people who work at these dhabas. The owners are almost never there. That is just my opinion.

Disclaimer: It's just a rant. While a lot of people would think what is fuss is about because few things beat a drive on NH1 and Murthal dhaba food, for me, the place has almost no charm.

[ssambyal1980]

Its an irony of sorts that the road side eateries on the highways are depleting both in number and quality at a time when the number of travellers using private vehicles for long distance trips has increased manifold over the years. The decrease in number of quality eateries has resulted in over crowding in the existing ones resulting in wasting of time, which one can hardly afford in case of long distance travels. There are number of factors leading to the current scenario which can be summed up as follows:

1. The widening/four/six laning of highways over the years has uprooted the business of many famous eating joints, who have shown reluctance to restart the business at the same spot after the completion of work.

2. With the coming up of multinational eating joints along the highways of the likes of Dominos, KFC, McDonalds, Subway etc has also caused substantial losses to small time eatry businesses thus forcing them to wrap up the operations.

3. Lack of good cooks (who are at the core of food joint business) has been another cause of worry for many eating joints, which has effected the quality of food served. Hence many have wrapped up their businesses or have curtailed their operations.

4. There are many eateries who due to their links with the higher authorities receive undue patronage wherein all the state road tranport corporation buses make mandatory halts at such eateries thus providing them with substantial business at the cost of the non privileged ones who subsequently are thrown out of the business.

5. With an ever increasing food inflation over the years coupled with rise in labour cost it has become difficult to run food joints on highways as such many have closed down. The rising cost of inputs and lesser returns has effected both sustainability and profitability.

6. Needless to mention the new generation of owners of the famous highway eateries are not that much zealous about their businesses as their fathers and forefathers used to be. As such they mostly outsource their work to incompetent persons having casual approach which ultimately shows upon the quality of services being provided.

[itwasntme]

Welcome to the 'corporate' chains which will slowly but surely take over our highways. Neither will they offer any originality nor will they provide the facilities in line with their SLAs.

I hope MoRTH monitors and tweaks the contracts.

[smukherjee]

Reviving this thread again Highway trips for me has always been about great dhaba food, so much so that I've spent hours on Google maps and otherwise searching for highly rated local places. The chains like CCD and KFC, while hygienic, don't cut it in terms of road trip foodie excitement.

Unfortunately, drives around Bangalore have very few good dhabas - or I am yet to discover them. My current favorite (last 3 years actually) has been New UP Punjabi Dhaba on the Blr-Hyd highway - after the airport toll booth and clustered around the set of other sophisticated looking dhabas (like Gagan Dhaba).

On the Blr-Mys side, always look for Thatte Idli (esp Renukambha) around Bidadi or Poojari's Fish Land (on the way back to Blr) - though this is technically not a dhaba.

Another favorite on NH 275, that I try out on Yercaud drives is Kumar Punjabi dhaba, just outside Salem - again on way back to Blr.

Please try these out if you get a chance and do suggest new places! Happy motoring foodies