Amritsar India – Best Places to Eat and Dishes to Try

When we talk about [Punjab](/en/india/punjab] and Amritsar we can say they are best known for being a real paradise for gourmets! Food is above all there and believe it or not, no one can savour the delicious food in all its true taste and splendor like a Punjabi can.

What to expect

Amritsar, also known as the culinary capital of India, beautifully justifies this fact. This place, which is the home to the world-renowned Golden Temple, is also the home of India’s yummiest of dishes! Food is the central essence of this city and everything here seems to revolve around it, be it festivities, celebrations, socializing or even prayers! This place offers not just one or a few dishes, but a wide variety of eatables each with a different taste and specialty. You name it and you will find it here!

If you ever get a chance of visiting Amritsar in your life, you should not miss out some places by any means. These places seem to be a perfect package in terms of food taste, quality, service, affordability, hygiene and ambiance. A trip to Amritsar is literally incomplete unless you have been to each of the following places and savoured the flavours they have to offer.

Langar Ka Prasad

When you are in Amritsar, start out your city tour with the Golden Temple. The ideal time to visit it is in the morning hours when the Guru Granth Sahab is brought into the inner sanctum. Offer your prayers, and once done with that head straight to the Langar! It is the world’s largest free kitchen. Volunteers serve simple yet very delicious daal, roti, sabzi and kheer for free to thousands of devotees that visit each day. I do not know if it is actually the expertise of those who cook there or the Holy essence added to the food that makes these simple dishes exclusively tasty! And if you are in a hurry and cannot stay long enough for the Langar, make sure you do not miss the Prasad even if you have to jostle among a large crowd of people because that small piece of ghee-laden delicacy is absolutely worth trying out.

All India Famous Amritsari Kulcha

Amritsar is often said to be synonymous to Kulchas. Kulcha is bread made of ‘maida” and well-cooked in a tandoor. Located right beside the Golden Temple and along Wagah Border, All India Famous is a local place to savour the butter-drenched, potato and cauliflower filled kulcha. It is often said to be the foodie’s pilgrimage spot as the food it has is of heavenly nature! You will never get bored of the kulchas they cook even if you have them for all daily meals as all of them are incomparable and offer contrasting flavours, unmatched to each other. Alongside the kulcha, they also serve tamarind sauce and chana masala to add the flavour. It is best to visit the place at breakfast because by the time the clock strikes 2.00, they completely run out of kulchas.

Kulcha Land

This place is situated in Ranjit Avenue. The name might be a little confusing, but the kulchas that are served here are as delicious as they are authentic. Visiting this place, you will not have to look through the menu card because all they serve here is kulchas; though of different flavours but ONLY kulchas. They have been serving the yummiest kulchas since 1947 which have not run out of flavour. The mouth-watering kulchas swallowed with a push of fresh Lassi make the experience even more delicious.

Friends Dhaba

This is yet another kulcha place, but it offers kulcha with more meat. This place is located in Queens Road and must be tried at least once when you are in Amritsar. They serve keema kulcha with gravy and dollops of butter to add to it. The dish has a crispy exterior and a meaty interior. Eating these kulchas after slathering them with butter and dipping them in the gravy genuinely feels like some sort of spiritual experience.

Surjit Food Plaza

This is a place which holds specialty in kebabs. Surjit Food Plaza has been serving mouth-watering kebabs right here in Lawrence Road for over seventy years now. Recently it has been modified into a fancy eating place with air-conditioning and proper seating arrangements. The place is known mostly for its kebabs and mutton tikka which melts into your mouth giving off the most delicious of flavours to your taste buds. What makes it so special? It is the secret recipe! These tikkas are first cooked in a tandoor, and as soon as properly cooked, they are sautéed with ghee in the pan and “secret” masala is added to the dish. This practice has been followed for ages.

Beera Chicken House

The restaurant is located in Majitha Road, and this place can totally change your concept of tandoori chicken! It is not the typical red chicken that most of us have grown up eating, it is rather a whole, one-piece chicken which is marinated with tandoori flavours and then roasted to perfection! The recipe they follow today is the same which was followed back in 1972. Just a little distance from this place is another taste bud-satisfying place, the Makhan Fish and Chicken Corner. It is best known for its fish which is loaded with flavours you will not find elsewhere.

Pal Da Dhaba

Once a small shop that could have easily been missed has now been turned into one of the local favourites. It is best known for its “kharode ka shorba” (lamb trotter soup). This dish is garnished with garam masala, chili, and lentil leaves which add to its flavour. This shop is located near the Haathi gate and is a must-visit for every person who comes to Amritsar.

Kesar Da Dhaba

Good news for all the vegetarians out there! Kesar Da Dhaba which is located in Chowk Passian and is hardly a 10-minute walk from the Golden Temple is nothing less than an epicure’s paradise. They are known to serve the best maa ki daal, lacha paratha, palak paneer and smoky baingan bhartha in the city. Moreover, the creamy delicacy, phirni, that they have over there is so delicious that it is something I personally recommend to everyone.

Hall Bazaar

This place has fruit cream, kulfa and falooda on the menu, but all the dishes are such that they cannot be compared to any other you have tasted before! Head off to this place and savour each flavour. The prices here are reasonable and the portions are so huge that you can hardly have the whole of it! This kulfa with falooda noodles is something you should not miss by any means!

These are some of the best food places that Amritsar has to offer to all the people visiting it from around the world. And you should taste them all as it is going to be an incredible food experience. If you do not weigh more when you leave compared to when you came to Amritsar, believe me, you did not do it right!