A Gourmet in Pune...

... is a pretty happy person.

Pune is a city that takes it's food very seriously. It's food might not be as robust as Delhi's, or the variety might not be as intimidating as Bangalore's, but the sense of tradition that Pune imparts to it's food is rarely to be found elsewhere.

Be it the humble vada pav, with imli chutney and lightly fried green chillies, or the Steak Cordon Bleu at Touche's - everything that is anything to do with food is taken very, very seriously.
There is a mindnumbing list of restaurants alone that one must talk about when talking about food in Pune - off the top of my head you have The Place, Marzorin's, Mona Foods, Diamond Bar (my philosophy has beer as a form of food), Burger King, Kamling (Old Punekars will draw a reverential breath and shed a sentimental tear), Georges, Blue Nile, Budhani's, Dorabjee's, Nayab and the Kathi Rolls at Olympia.

As you may have noticed, and this is by no means a complete list, we've thus far salivated over restaurants in Camp only. All of Deccan Gymkhana (visions of Cafe Good Luck and Vaishali), all of Aundh (the Mann Dairy Lassi, Mal Tup), all of Old Pune (Nagpur and Bedekar's for starters) and all of Kothrud yet to be done. And that's restaurants only.

We still have the tapris, the bhelpuri stalls, the coffee stalls (Durga!) to go. Leave aside Kayani's and Chitale Bandhu.

And waiting patiently in the wings is the food to be had at a Puneri home. Shrikhand and basundi, aamras and puri, masale bhath and jilebis, solkadhi, pohe, upma, the many asorted vegetables, garma garam poli (with a little ghee), the many amtis (dals), the tantalisingly simple varan bhat, the pickles, the chutneys and all of the many condiments that Diwali conjures up.

Like I said, all of this is off the top my head. Honest. A well thought out list will be a little bit longer. Just a little.

We'll deal with all of this, all in unhurried Puneri Fashion. Starting with the first meal of the day, the holy act of breakfast.
Every now and then, when food gets to be a little too overwhelming, we'll return to the Puneri Spirit - noting, of course, the fact that the food in Pune is a rather critical component of the quintessential Puneri spirit.

And that is as it should be, wouldn't you agree?