___________

Thanks to Nilachakra for the pointer. The wsj blog at http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/01/11/highway-on-my-plate-and-in-a-book/ mentions this and has this to say:

Chilika Dhaba, Barkul, NH5, Orissa: This is apparently “Rocky’s favorite dhaba in the world.” It’s next to the Chilika lake and serves great seafood, the writers say. They especially recommend the chilli prawns and giant crab.

See pictures of the huge crabs at http://priyambad.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/dsc_4951.jpg and http://priyambad.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/crab.jpg.

The link http://www.travelswithsheila.com/local_orissan_food_chilka_lake_1.html has the following video.

(We welcome reviews of this restaurant.)

Vithal Kamats has opened three restaurants in Odisha in Puri, Cuttack and Dhauli (outskirts of Bhubaneswar). Several others are in the pipeline.

The one in Dhauli has the following whereabouts:

Location Address	:	Dhauli , Near Uttra Chowk
Contact No./Email Id	:	0909009351 / dhauli@vithalkamats.com
Unit Manager Name	:	Mr. Srinivas Dalai
Seating capacity	:	Non Ac-60
Meal Price	:	160 INR for 02 persons
Cuisine Served	:	North Indian, South Indian & snacks
Other Facility offered	:	Huge parking, clean toilets for ladies & gents, Open from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM

The one in Cuttack has the following details:

The 1,000 sq.ft restaurant at Buxi Bazar can seat 50-60 people and offers dosas, idlis, dahi vada, vada pav and the usual South and North Indian delicacies. 

The one in Puri is at Mahodadhi.

Besides these new ones are scheduled to come up in Konark, Bhubaneswar and Satpada (Chilika).

Hyderabad House has outlets in XIMB sqaure and Surya Nagar Bhubaneswar. New ones are coming up in Cuttack and Bapjui Nagar, Bhubaneswar.

Dalma, restaurant with Odia cuisine started from Bhubaneswar. It now has spread its wings to Bangalore and this month it is supposed to open a branch in Rourkela. The address of its locations are:

DALMA – Bhubaneswar

157, Madhusudan Nagar

Sachivalaya marg

Unit-IV

Bhubaneswar-751001



DALMA – Bhubaneswar

Maruti Mall

KIIT Square

Chandrasekharpur

Bhubaneswar-751016





DALMA – Bangalore

37, 6th Block,

100ft Road, Kormangala,

Bengaluru.

Phone- 080-41660921.





DALMA – Rourkela 

Shivani Complex 

Panposh Main Road 

Near Mayfair Hotel 

Rourkela (To open in September 2010)

Its Bangalore location is getting rave reviews from Bangaloreans. See the reviews at http://food.sify.com/articles/Dalma-235061 and http://www.bangaloresrestaurants.com/2010/07/weekend-raid-4-dalma.html. Following is an excerpt from the later:

Dalma is an Odissa cuisine restaurant and part of a chain that is quite famous in Bhuvaneshwar. Its been open a relatively short time but has become a phenomenon of sorts. Come a little after 12.45 pm and you will end up waiting for place. The food is homely.

… The meal was brilliant …

Hope Dalma succeeds further and has locations all over India. Also, hope other Odia entrepreneurs come up with other concepts and spread it across India. Any thoughts on what those concepts could be?

Following is an excerpt from an article in Bangalore Mirror:

… But few in Bangalore know of Orissa’s cuisine. The food at Dalma is very reflective of the state and its tradition of using local ingredients to cook with. The eatery brings to Bangalore a unique culinary experience with simple, tasty home food.

Genesis:
The restaurant is a famous chain in Bhubaneswar, and is co-owned by Debasish Patnaik and Sanjay Chowdary. Dalma actually is the name of a lentil dish (synonymous with dal). There’s a large enough Oriya population in Bangalore to cater to as well.
 
Signature dish: Pakhal.
Cost: Rs. 200 – 300 for two.
Dalma, #37, 100 Feet Road, 6th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore. Phone: 41660921

… Lead role: Jubin says the pakhal thali is a must to get a real feel of the cuisine. A huge bowl, nay, cauldron, of rice mixed with curd and water that was allowed to rest for a while, greeted me. In some cases, fermentation is allowed to take place. Served with a tomato khatta (like a chutney), potato bharata, bhendi bhaja (ladies finger or okra), and badi chura (fried and dried mixture of onions and garlic), this is the perfect summer dish to beat the heat and stay cool. A note of caution — one person, in my opinion, would not be able to finish all that rice in the bowl — a challenge for all you foodies out there.

Bangalore has a Oriya restaurant called Kalinga.

• Their web page is http://www.kalingas.co.in/ .
• Review 1: http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1504-oakleaf-kalingas-btm-2nd-stage-food-review
• Review 2: http://bangalore.hungryzone.com/index.php/restaurant/Kalingas/5202/Oriya-Cusine/btm
• Home delivery Menu: http://bangalore.hungryzone.com/index.php/home-delivery-or-takeaway-food-menu/5202/Kalingas/BTM/Oriya-Cusine

Pune has a restaurant that serves Oriya Cusine. Following is an excerpt from a review in Expressindia.com.

Hotel Sunrise
USP: The Oriya sea food

With hardly any places to eat out at Hinjewadi, the hub of Pune’s IT development, Hotel Sunrise that threw its doors open on January 17 this year, seems to have found just the niche it was looking for. Located in Phase II, the restaurant has yet another USP that should make food lovers seek it out-Oriya food. ‘‘There is no place in Pune that offers Oriya seafood the way we do-with complete authenticity,’’ says Manoj Patil, an FCI graduate, who put together the place that is already catering to a steady stream of IT professionals trooping into its ample premises.

So for those who’d like to have a taste of something different, try this out – Dalma served in an earthern pot, Mach Jhol, Potal Bhaja, Chinguro Bhaja, Tawa Roll, Muttom Kasa, Kebabs and Matka Dum Biryani.

Simple, uncluttered interiors, with 80 covers including a large garden area and a family room, make the place an ideal one for both a cosy meal or a large party. And despite the lip-smacking cuisine the prices are most reasonable too. So check it out.

• Chungri Masala
• Baripada Mudhi
• Mansa Machchar Besar
• Dahi Machha
• Poi-Kosala Saag
• Dhenkanal Ghuguni
• Santula
• Janhi Masala
• Katak Dahibara
• Manik Raita
• Pitha
• Salepuri Rasagola
• Kendrapara Rasabali
• Chenapoda
• Chhena Payesh

The above Oriya delicacies are being  currently offered at the Hotel Kalinga Ashok Bhubaneswar in their family restaurant ‘Phulbani’. Non- vegetarian thali meal is Rs 120 and vegetarian thali meal is Rs 100.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Thaiindian.

Around 850 families in Orissa’s Keonjhar District alone earn their livelihood from Badi making. Traditionally, the Badis have been prepared by grinding the Udad pulse (split black gram Dal) on a sil-stone. But to produce it for commercial purposes, today machines are used to grind the pulse for the Badi paste.

Today, the Badis prepared in Keonjhar District gaining popularity all over the country and in different parts of the world.

“We are supplying Badis to foreign countries too. The women in the old town of Keonjhar prepare these Badis. These Badis are made of Udad Dal (split black gram Dal) and various types of spices are mixed in it,” says shopkeeper Pradumna Patnaik.

Most of the Badis are marketed by Orissa Rural Marketing Services (ORMS) which also facilitates getting advance from banks to the women entreprenuers.

“Every house of Keonjhar district is preparing Badis. It is a part of their culture. For a few years, the people of Keonjhar are commercially preparing the Badis and they are also making it and it helps in their livelihood and promotional activities,” said Anant Charan Sahoo, the Chief Executive of, ORMAS in Keonjhar.

“We are also giving them training to value addition of making Badis in Keonjhar District. More than 200 groups are now engaged in Badi activities. Some parts of Keonjhar like Ghatna, Harichandanpur and Sadar block, the groups are engaged in this activity and they are even getting more money out of that Badi activity,” he added.

Many varieties Badis that are prepared by mixing Udad dal, pumpkin, almond, cauliflower and various other items and condiments. Badi added to enhance the taste of dishes.

“The Badis are very famous in Keonjhar. Badi is such a food item that tastes very good when it is fried with onion and garlic and being eaten with even overnight cooked rice. It also tastes good if it is made with vegetables. The Badis are also used in the marriages and fasts. The food doesn’t taste well without Badis. It is such a food item which can be eaten with rice even by roasting it in fire,” said Harekrishna Patnaik, a buyer.

Following up on our earlier post on Orissa cuisine here are some more links to Orissa cuisine courtesey a posting by Deba Nayak in calnet.

1. Healthy Orissa Cuisine: Book by Bijoylaxmi Hota, Kabita Pattanaik 107 Pages (Year: 2007) Rupa ~ ISBN: 8129111187 http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=22387
2. A great Blog entry on Orissa Cuisine: http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2007/08/oriya-cuisine.html
3. Another great blog entry on Orissa cuisine based temple food. http://neivedyam.blogspot.com/2007/08/oriya-thali.htm (Thanks to Divyajeevan Sahoo for this link.)

While South Indian food types and Punjabi food types are commonly associated with Indian cuisine, various states of India have their own specialties. Orissa has its own cuisine, besides the world famous roshgollas. Following are some links.

• Cookbooks:
  • Purba: Feasts from the East: Oriya Cuisine from Eastern India, Laxmi Parida. [Barnes-n-Noble]; [Amazon]
• Recipes in the web
  • Oriya Kitchen
  • Surf India
• Newspaper articles on Oriya Cuisine
  • Hindu, July 28, 2004
  • Hindu, June 18, 2005
• Locations of some Oriya cuisine restaurants
  • Dalema (3 locations in Bhubaneswar: Unit IV, Master Canteen, near KIIT)
  • Dalma (old Bhubaneswar)
  • Odisha Hotel (Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar)
• Restaurants with Oriya Cusine in their menu
  • Restaurant in Swosti hotel
  • Restaurant in Swosti Plaza
  • Phulpatna Restaurant, Hotel Toshali Sands, Puri.
  • Orissa Bhavan, 4, Bordoloi Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110 021.
  • Utkal Bhawan, Kolkata

Following are pictures of the menu of the Dalema restaurant near Master Canteen.

Following is a picture of a vegetarian plate of Oriya cuisine. Its very different from a similar plate of south Indian thali (plate) or north Indian thali.

Following is the exact address (with phone number of the two Dalema locations). The third one from where the above pictures were taken, is the one near KIIT.

(Postscript: I have no relation with Dalema, except that I am a satisfied customer,and next time I am in Bhubaneswar I will definitely visit one of their locations. I have also eaten at Odissa hotel in Saheed Nagar. They use copper utensils.)

Pioneer reports on this. Following are some excerpts:

Club City, a leading food court chain known for its unique food fusion concept, opened its 19th outlet at Swagat Palace at Bhouma Nagar on Sunday.

… he food chain successfully mixes Indian delicacies with that of American European, Chinese and Mexican food flavours. Initially, her outlet could manage to bring four food concept brands out of the total 15 — Dosa Plaza, Sanghai Post, Chillzzzz and Club Thai. Dosa Plaza is India’s largest menu of Dosa making and would cater to nearly 27 varieties of Dosas, while Shanghai Post would deal with delicate Chinese items. Chillzzz and Club Thai would offer varieties of Mocktails and shakes along with delicacies of Thailand .

Deepikaglobal has another report which talks about Club city’s further plans.

… about seven more outlets would be opened in Orissa to cater to the customers growing demand of ‘fun dining’ experience. The new outlets would be opened in Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar, he added. … The CEO also added that the traditional Oriya cuisine would soon be included in the menu.