Highway Food – NH 8 Bhiwadi, Old Rao’s Dhaba

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Saturday night, somewhere between 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM, I committed to getting up early and going for a drive. I think the only reason why I said yes to the plan was that it was a drive, and involved least bit of physical activity. Also, I wasn’t aware that I would be working till 2:00 AM on a critical presentation.

Anyways, Sunday morning, 4:00 AM – the alarm went on, and I remembered Darn! We had made a plan to go for a drive towards Jaipur early morning. I don’t know why, and for what the plan was made, but I remembered committing to family and friends that I would come. So, reluctantly, I had to wake up. The troop was ready to leave at  4:45 – so – there we went. I was regretting going – because of the sheer greed of sleeping some more. But all it took was hitting the highway, that I was up – bright and cheery – cruising on the highway.

•  Despite the heat wave, it was a very pleasant drive. The weather was nice at that time, and road was clean.
• There are a lot of traffic diversion, but the quality of road was surprisingly good. Lack of traffic made the drive truly enjoyable.
•  The music – both on ipod and select radio station was a treat to ears.
• Fancy, swanky high-rise buildings at various stages of completion on the highway.

So – after driving for about an hour, we took a small diversion towards Rewari, and turned back. On the way, two of us felt hungry and decided to stop at some place called Old Rao’s Dhaba. I was like it is really not even 6. I hardly wake up at that time, and the very thought of eating at the Dhaba was not really something I was excited about. But I didn’t want to be a spoiler and went along. So, there we were, making a stop.

In true sense, the dhaba was old, seemed worn out, and had people cleaning and wiping plates. They told us that this is 24*7; pure vegetarian hotel. So, we ordered tea and some stuffed parathas.  I never like to eat at such places, so, I first settled for tea. It was ginger, cardamom team – and something to die for. And then - i slowly moved to the stuffed parathas - fresh and crisp. The spices were perfect, and the butter was dripping out – yet the taste was awesome. Food was fresh ( very fresh for a 24*7 place), plates were clean, and the staff was friendly.  And very, very reasonably priced.  In no time, I was literally pigging on the food. Highly recommended for people driving back towards Delhi from Jaipur – or for people living in Gurgaon for weekend brunch.

All in all – we were back by 7:45. On a usual Sunday morning, I wouldn’t have been up – but this is something I would definitely do again. So what – if an early start to the day does make room for a lot of other activities.