Suvadip Roy
Hello Guys!!Hope you are all doing well.Time to tell the last part of our Darjeeling Safari, but in a slightly different way. As we are a big foodie, we decided to visit the famous restaurants near Mall Road this time. Requesting all of you to watch the YouTube link on 1080p HD mode by subscribing my YouTube Channel “THE BONG WAYFARER” for the best experience:-
Now coming in detailing, after finishing all the significant points like Mirik, Lepchajagat, Takdah, Triveni, Tinchule & Lamahatta; finally, we touched down the heavenly Darjeeling. I must say as the main city tour is too much familiar to all bongs, we decided to have a proper food safari by touching some of the amazing must-try food outlets near Mall Road.
By hearing the combo of Darjeeling & food safari, I am sure Keventers is the first name that will come in everyone’s mind. We were also thinking in the same way until we heard that it’s closed for 3 days owing to renovation purpose. Within a few mins of google research, we found another fabulous breakfast point named “Himalayan Java Coffee”(Google rating 4.7/5).
Upon entering the place, we found this small cafe is simply heaven for Instagram lovers due to his pretty cool paintings on the back, nice interiors with good music ambience. Here we ordered their signature dish “Himalayan Java Breakfast” priced around INR 430 which comprises of Sausages, Coffee, Omelette etc. Though the quality was pretty damn good I felt it was overpriced owing to less quantity. As juice items were not available at that point of time, so we ordered 2 different types of coffee with the delicious Choco Chips Pancake priced around INR 250. Believe me, this was the best pancake I ever had in my life. So overall this place is simply gem amidst of crowded Mall road where you sit back, relax, gossip & work also on your laptop. My rating will be 3.5/5, overall a must recommended the place.
Then upon discussing with my fellow travel mates, we decided to sneak inside the legendary Glenary’s also to have a glimpse of his famous confectionary items. So we got the opportunity to taste almost 80% of the Bakery items i.e. spongy chicken roll, red velvet cake, lemon tart, jam tart, crispy cheese roll, special cream roll etc.
For the first time visitor like me, I will say it’s simply heaven for confectionary lovers!! But to add on, the taste of Red Velvet Cake was not as same as it used to be though it was quite yummy as per one of our travel mates (He visited this place 2-3 times).
This time we got a chance to sneak into the rooftop sitting arrangement & to my utter surprise I was literally awestruck after seeing the beautiful Darjeeling city backdrop view. My honest confectionary rating will be 3.5/5 & full-on 5/5 for the spectacular ambience it offers, especially for a big foodie like us.
We were literally overloaded by this lot of bakery items, so we decided to skip our lunch & have a walk across the Mall market area. Generally, this market opens on full fledge around 10 am. You can find duplicate branded items mostly, so be aware of that while bargaining. Amidst of all these hopping, I forgot to mention the rain cloud & sun were literally playing hide & seek through out the penultimate day. This time it was following the weather prediction accurately.
But when you are accompanied by a gang of cheerful daredevil people, I just ignored it & moved further one step to visit “Himalayan Mountaineering Institute(HMI) located inside Darjeeling Zoo. While walking towards the zoo, we faced steady drizzle and decided to take a u-turn to our hotel as we were lacking buffer time to reach New Jalpaiguri Station to catch Padatik Express at 8.45 pm. But one of our mates kept on pushing us till we reached our final destination a midst of this continuous rain.
Upon entering the zoo, we saw Snow Leopard, Royal Bengal Tiger, Himalayan Wolf, Asiatic Black Bear & last but not the least the renowned Red Panda for which this Darjeeling Zoo is known for. And regarding the museum visit, you don’t need any kind of guide’s help as everything is written clearly on every stuffs to get an overview of mountaineering. You will also learn the victorious story of Great Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Hillary about the Everest conquer.
Now at the last moment, while wrapping it up for the day, we faced a lot of mess while booking our return cab to NJP. As there was some Govt. exam on that day & moreover it was Sunday afternoon, getting a car was a big deal. But kudos to our rough & tough mentality that we somehow convinced a driver for INR 2200 till NJP which was around INR 500-600 hiked the price for that day.
Getting bored by such a long story? Trust me guys I can still recapitulate our entire journey hour by hour. But these small sudden trips act as real oxygen in our daily monotonous life to break the shackle.
I hope you have equally enjoyed our entire 3 part safari of North Bengal Diaries. If yes, then subscribe my YouTube channel “THE BONG WAYFARER” to get notified about more such informative blogs by subscribing it. Till then take care, Sayonara!
The device used:- Go Pro Hero 7 Black!
