Food delicacies of Kanpur

One of the highlights of this industrial city is the sweet shop which sports the strange name'Thaggu ke Laddu' (Laddoo for the cheat).

A favorite destination for sweet lovers, the shop which is around 45-years-old came into limelight in the year 2007 when it first featured in the Bollywood movie "Bunty and Babli" starring Abhishek Bacchan.

The life story of its founder Ram Avatar Pandey seems to resemble a Bollywood film because he says he ran from his house and came to this industrial city and to earn a living started selling laddus from a plate.

"Ram Avatar ran from his house and started selling laddus on the streets on a plate. A few years later he went on to buy a small shop near Chandra Plaza. At present there are six outlets in the city," says Rajesh Kumar Pandey the present owner of 'Thaggu ke laddu'

Pandey recalls an incident when Ram Avatar went to Delhi and attended a sabha of Mahatama Gandhi where he said sugar is white poison.

• Feeling ashamed of the fact that by making laddus of sugar he was cheating people of both their health and money, he named his shop as 'Thaggu ke Laddu'.

Beside the shop, a small kulfi counter sells a range of kulfis in exotic sounding names. The Kulfi named as 'Badnaam Kulfi' is sold at the rate of 400 Rs per kg and is one of its famous delicacies.

The owners say they do not want to increase the items sold at the shop in a view to maintain the quality of the products.

"We try to maintain the quality of the products that are made here and that is the reason we have not increased the number of items being sold at the shop," says Pandey.

Famous one-liners like 'Aisa koi Saga nahi, jisko humne thaga nahi', 'Mehmaan ko Chakhana nahi, tik jayega, Chakhte hi Jubaan aur jeb ki garmi gayab' are written on the walls of the shop and have attracted celebrities from Bollywood including Rani Mukherjee and Abhishek Bacchan to TV stars such as 'Lapataganj'.

"All the one-liners that are written on the shop and around were given by Ram Avatar even though he was not well read but he read newspapers from where he got all the ideas and knowledge," says Pandey.

The catchy one-liners were used in a song in the movie "Bunty and Babli   

Close to Lucknow, the city of Nawabs, Kanpur is a foodies paradise with its food being heavily influenced by the Mughals.

Sweet shops including 'Benarasi ke Laddu' offering melt-in-mouth laddus and 'Baba Sweets' are hit famous among the localities and also drive the tourists with their taste.

Tucked in Baconganj in the city, a 50-year-old shop 'Baba Biryani' has various offerings of the Nawabi era such as the Galoati Kebabs, Seekh Kebab and Shammi Kebabs along with its famous biryani.

The recipes used are in-house or family recipes given by the grandmother of the present owner.

"The shop was started by my grandfather Haji Ishaq. My grandmother, Hazra Khatun used to make sweets Mukhti and Soan Halwa. So the recipes still continue to be used by us and that is the real reason for the taste that we give to the customers coming here," says Mahmood, owner of Baba Biryani.

Begun as small hotel in 1990, the shop now has six branches across the city and promises freshness in the products with attractions remaining the Biryani and the famous Lassi.

"We do not keep stocks and keep making fresh Biryani every hour. We try to maintain the taste and quality which my grandfather used to the provide to the customers," says Mahmood.

Made in home-made ghee, it is an open to all venue for all irrespective of religion.

'Paani ke patashe' or golgappe served with at least 5 varieties of water like imli, hing, sonth etc continue to savour the taste buds of locals every evening.

It is believed that the best paans of the country are available here where the shops selling paans are open late night.

Varieties of paan that a range of shops serve include strawberry paan, frozen paan, chocolate paan and pineapple paan to name a few.........