Exploring the flavours of Andhra #28States28Plates

Our NH16 saga continues! Today we left from Keys Select Vishram fairly leisurely after a good breakfast and headed out toward Vijayawada. Before we’d even left the city we stopped at one of the many Tea Time outlets on the highway — a good clean place to stop for tea or coffee in this part.

We encountered some traffic as we left the city, and the initial couple of hours on the highway too since it passes through a lot of small towns, but as we crossed the district of Kapavaram, it all changed. The tarmac was inky black and silky smooth. This part of the highway feels newly made, so new in fact that the speed traps weren’t working yet. We might or might not have taken advantage of that in our Renault Kigers…

This bit of the NH16 was also fairly empty, which meant that we were making really good progress toward our lunch stop — Appalaraju Gari Bhojana Hotel. We’d heard lots of good stuff about this place, especially its non-veg meals and even though the entrance is very unassuming, the place was packed! Frankly it was a bit too crowded for the team to be comfortable eating there, so we left and found a small dhaba on the highway serving traditional South Indian meals. The meal was homely, with a simple dal, aloo sabzi and (lots of) rice. With our stomachs full, we made our way toward Vijayawada which was just over an hour away at that point.

Before we arrived, we asked you guys what we should eat in Vijayawada and pretty much all of you suggested street food with the most common suggestion being Punuglu. So, we headed to ‘Ravi Punugu Baji Stall’ and sampled some! It tastes brilliant honestly — light, crispy and the combo of coconut chutney and peanut powder work wonders with it. We topped it all off with some delicious Ulavacharu Biryani from RR Darbar. Tomorrow, the #28States28Plates drive heads to Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.