Chef Saransh Goila: Lucknow is like a pilgrimage for a foodie

The chef says the city is among his top five favourite food places in India

Celebrity chef-TV host Saransh Goila, who cherished savouring winter street food during his recent visit to Lucknow, feels that street food here makes the city special, apart from other traditional delicacies.

Chef Saransh Goila enjoying biryani during his visit to Lucknow

“For any foodie, Lucknow is like a pilgrimage. You have to ticket it on your chart! When I was travelling across India to explore food, I visited 80 cities and if I make a list of the top five-seven cities, Lucknow clearly finds a place is in it,” says the host of the web-show Run to Eat (2018).

He adds, “The kind of food we get on the street is remarkable. Despite Mumbai being Mumbai, where I live, there is no chance you will get such street food! Here people spend time on their skill and art when it comes to food. The street food artists here are very skilled – it may be a tikki-matar, tamatar-ka-pakora or 6-8 types of paani-puris.”

Goila also went on a food walk. “In the morning, I went to Chowk and loved exploring water chestnut, makkhan malai and shakarkand stalls. I have never seen sweet potato so big and they looked like yam. It may be normal for locals, but people living on the west coast may have never seen all this. Besides, I enjoyed Raja ki thandai. In the evening, I went for a short food walk around the Press Club food hub and explored Kakori kebabs, biryani and chicken masala. The icing on the cake was kulfi at Chanakya sweet shop,” he says.

The chef feels youngsters are getting attracted to international cuisine instead of taking pride in their food. “The current young generation does not value authentic or classic food. On Instagram, I asked for recommendations and I was very amused at getting café and momo-type listings! Why will I come here and not try authentic Lucknowi cuisine? As a cloud kitchen, with cities like Lucknow and Hyderabad we were really scared to go as khana yahan achcha milta hai. Thankfully, we were accepted with open arms,” he says.