Food in Visakhapatnam, INDIA

Frankly we didn’t really get to try many variety of food during our time in Vizag.

Have you heard of the horror stories of travellers suffering from diarrhea in India?
Well, we have and we certainly heed the advice of “better safe than sorry“.

Being safe also translates to limitation.
Meals during our entire trip was confined to the many hotels owned by the APTDC (Andra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation), which coincidentally are the ones handling our tour.
There isn’t any large breakfast buffet to look forward to in the morning, though to be fair, there were more than enough food at every meal.

As you can see from the picture above, we dine at a table and food is served from food warmers.

The variety rotates daily, but for breakfast, there are always dosa, bread, idli, eggs (hard boiled and omelette) and sometimes upma, a kind of savoury porridge with suji as its main ingredient.
It is said to be nutritious & easy to make at home by mixing & cooking roasted rava (suji, semolina) and sautéed vegetables in water.
The ghee and carefully balanced spices make it tasty.

Breakfast grub daily:

Lunch is rice (biryani or plain) based with curries. We love it when there is naan and biryanis, for both are exceptionally homely and good!
The meat component is chicken, mutton or fish and sometimes we get crabs and even prawns.
There are vegetables as well, usually a plate of raw tomatoes and cucumbers in the middle of the dining table. We ignored it at every meal due in fear of contamination.
We do however, helped ourselves to the cooked ones, which is usually in dry, rich curries.

The menu is almost similar for dinner.

One of the many meals was a strictly vegetarian Thali. It barely tide us through a few hours.

If we are lucky, we get to stop for tea. Tea literally means hot beverages of tea and coffee (no, no cakes or pastries). On one occasion we had some fried snacks.

I eat every 3 hours as I have quite a hearty appetite. At times the journey is long and meals were delayed.
Thankfully my stash of granola bars and dried fruits helped to keep me going in-between meals.

The time difference was disruptive as well for me as I eat at certain times of the day.
Malaysia is 2 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Andhra Pradesh, India. That means I’m hungry 2-3 hours before each meal time!

Thus my advice to those who are planning a trip here would be to come ready with dry, packed snacks.
The attractions (temples, caves, etc) are mostly in the outskirts and since we are always a distance from the city, there isn’t many opportunities to stop and buy snacks throughout the day.
Unlike any other countries, you can’t just stop at a roadside stall and grab a local snack.

Remember the diarrhea warning? Yes, it is wise to take heed of that warning.

** This experience was made possible by the team at Air Asia. Thank you! 😀
AirAsia flies to Visakhapatnam, INDIA every Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.
Check the flights at www.AirAsia.com