PRASAD NASHTA CENTRE

If you are near Bapat Baal school in Sangli and a pleasant aroma of Udupi cuisine hits you, stop looking here and there....head straight to Prasad Nashta Centre.... undoubtedly the best eating joint I have ever come across....

Now, sitting miles away from Sangli, when I think of the same aroma, it takes me back to my school days, and to all the golden moments of my childhood attached to this Nashta Centre located in the busiest part of the Sangli city.

I don't need to mention the directions to this place... if you are in Gaonbhaag, anybody will be glad to tell you where it is.

It's a very small South Indian eatery, which is extremely crowded in the morning time, and you often need to adjust your plates as the crowd keeps increasing.

And this place has no air about itself.....no chair-table system here....no place for sitting down to eat.... you have to stand and eat... maybe that's why girls don't go there... I hope I'm making no bones about how the place looks like...

Still this place attracts hundreads of Sanglikars everyday.... only because of the unique taste it offers.... which you will hardly find in any other Udupi place...

Starting off with Pohe and Uppit.... they are served in small plates with shev on the top of them. The eatery owner, Swami, will be more than happy to add some sambar on Pohe if asked. And people who don't like the dryness of pohe prefer to eat it like this. You can ask for some chutney to eat with uppit, and it depends upon Swami's mood whether there is an extra charge for it for you.

And now my most favourite..... Idli sambaar.... !

Prasad serves different sambars for idli and batata vada.... and both are equally wonderful !
You can find every vegatable possible in the sambar made for idli. It's a very mildly spiced thick preparation,flavoured with jaggery and tamarind, and can be called a speciality of this place. The appropriate method of eating idli sambar is taking two idlis in a plate, pouring the sambaar on them, mixing it with spoons, and eating them with chutney.

Previously they used to serve two types of chutneys, ghatta {thick} chutney, and the normal one. I used to love the ghatta chutney, which they have stopped making now. I hope Swami reads this blog and starts making it again !

Vada sambaar is something Prasad Nashta Centre is actually famous for.

Vada is batata vada, and the sambar for this is extremely spicy, which doesn't have many vegetables in it, and is not half as thick as the sambaar made for idlis. This sambaar is covered with a thick layer of red coloured spicy kat {tadka} which is liked by spicy food lovers like me. The vada is crushed flat in a plate, then sambar and the kat are poured on it. Mixed with the spoons and eaten with chutney and pav, this breakfast is enjoyed more than any misal pav by the Sanglikars.

* I prefer to eat Idlis mixed with both the sambaars, which creates an awesome combination. The taste is heavenly which can never be expressed in words.

You get sheera and puri bhaji as well, but they are not that famous.

Despite the consistent best quality and the taste,surprisingly, the rates at Prasad are cheaper than most of the other breakfast joints.

Shev Pohe - Rs.5/-

Shev Uppit- Rs.5/-

Sheera - Rs.6/-

Idli Sambar - Rs.8/-

Vada Sambar Pav {Single} - 7/-
{Double} - 14/-

Puri bhaaji -Rs. 10/-{not sure}

I've been eating at Prasad since last ten years now.... and the taste is still the same. Rates for Idli and Vada have increased by only Rs.1 . The other rates haven't changed.

I've eaten at numerous South Indian restaurants across Pune and Mumbai.... but not a single one offers the taste like Prasad.

I don't get to go to Sangli that frequently now, but whenever I go there, I don't miss the chance to eat at this great place.

Wanna ask a question? Shoot a mail at : sameerkulkarni87@gmail.com

Happy eating.... !