Agra is known as the city of love. Located in Uttar Pradesh; it is the home of the magnificent Taj Mahal, the ultimate epitome of love. Taj Mahal happens to attract a mammoth crowd of tourists and emboldens its standing among the seven wonders of the world. Agra is filled with historical monuments, but this fact alone doesn’t make it a place to be. The delicacies served by the city over a hundred years make it a hub for foodies. The place is also best known for its delicious Mughal influenced food and sweets, which once tasted would certainly leave you wanting for more.
1- Petha
Agra, an iconic city, is a world-famous place known for “Agra Ka Petha”. It’s a delicacy made with white pumpkin and sugar syrup. Cut in cubical shape; the sweet appears as shiny translucent stones. On the contrary to its stony appearance, one bite of Petha will make you indulge in a chewy and syrupy experience which is mesmerizing in itself. Available in wide varieties with nuts and other fruit flavors like mango and pineapple, it is a delightful dessert to satisfy your taste buds. A trip to Agra will remain incomplete for you without tasting this pleasurable sweet. After you taste, don’t forget to pack some!
Locations: Panchi Petha at Sadar Bazaar and Gopaldas Pethewale at Johari Bazaar
2- Mughlai Food
Be it a festival or a regular meal, the influence of the Mughal cuisine is evidently seen everywhere in every corner of the city. The streets are swarmed with the royal inspired, flavor-packed food that will give you the leisure of eating like the kings of the Mughal Era. The food is extremely rich in flavors, as every Mughal influenced recipe enhances the perfect distinctive blend of spices in a dish.
Locations: Mama Chicken Mama Franky at Sadar Bazaar
3- Bhalla with Chutney
Served on a single plate, Bhalla is one of the popular street food of Agra. The dish is served as a mixture of fried items, tangy chutney, and chickpea curry. The spiced, pan-roasted potato cutlets make the base of the meal, with a big spoon of relishing chickpea curry, to go on top. With a drizzle of sweet and tangy chutney, wondrously makes it a scrumptious dish. Bhalla is simply a delicious snack to munch on. And hey! you can always ask for more tangy chutney.
Locations: Agra Chat House located, Sadar Bazar & Agra Cantt.
4- Shawarma
If you stop by to have shawarma on the streets of Agra, you will be having the best time of your trip in the city. Shawarma is a dish which is served as a roll, stuffed with slow-cooked marinated meat. As scrummy as this dish is this food item tastes, you will be intrigued to watch it, being prepared for the customers. It’s an exciting sight to watch, as a person from the staff works, to brings together a delish food item. Slicing the stacked meat heated against a vertical oven to mincing those slices on a wide flat heated pan. Folding everything together, which a special flavored sauce, ready to be stuffed inside the roll. The best shawarma roll is slightly juicy, which makes it a lip-smacking, finger-licking dish. Extras tissue will always be at your rescue.
Locations: Outlets at Fatehabad Road and Taj Ganj
5- Bedai Kachori & Sabzi
A dish that is craved every morning, Bedai Kachori with Sabzi is the best breakfast dish in the city. Agra is a haven of street food, and Bedai happens to be its gem. The dish has a deep-fried puffy bread traditionally served with chilly sparked potato mash, and a blob of curd mixed with herbs, which adds freshness to it, also making it easy to digest. It is also a very enjoyable evening snack to pair with a cup of soothing ginger tea. The combination of puffy deep-fried bread, potato mash, and curd of Bedai Kachori with Sabzi served as a snack in a gathering will light up the atmosphere and make the conversation go longer.
Locations: Ram Babu Paratha Bhandar, Civil Lines
6- Heavenly Parathas
Parathas in Agra is a complete celebration of vegetables stuffed in flat slices of bread. Another breakfast favorite dish which is not limited to just morning but can be eaten at any time of the day. The Parathas in Agra are available in a wide variety of vegetables and other spiced mixes like cauliflower, potato, or cottage cheese. The crunchy Parathas are topped with a generous slice of butter and served with a bowl of curd to go as a dip. The other two elements, butter, and curd make it a wholesome dish to savor. Prepared in various options of stuffings, you will be tempted to order more than one.
Locations: Ram Babu Paratha Bhandar, Civil Lines
7- Piping Hot Jalebis with Rabri
Mystical in its appearance, the spiral looking Jalebi is a complete delight. Agra is a city where street food culture is appreciated the most. Jalebi with Rabri is one of the best desserts that is honored on the streets in every way. Jalebi is prepared in the most fascinating method, where the batter is directly piped into the hot oil making spiral shapes with the steady skillful hands of the Halwai. It is a sight of amusing art in the making. The deep-fried Jalebi is then taken and dipped in sugar syrup. Sizzled in hot oil until it’s cooked, the bunch of Jalebi is put to rest in a container of sugar syrup. As it soaks the sugar syrup, it turns into an indulging juicy sweet. To balance the nectarous Jalebi, it is served with Rabri, which is prepared by reducing the milk on simmer until it becomes dense. With nuts added to it, Rabri balance the sweetness of the Jalebi which makes it a heavenly Combination. The magic of this Dessert will leave you spellbound.
Locations: Deviram sweets, Mahatma Gandhi Road
8- Tandoori Desi Chicken
Tandoori chicken is an appetizing dish. A unique luscious mix of spices with yogurt is used in the marination to coat the chicken. The dish is typically roasted in an Indian oven called Tandoor. It is slow-cooked until the meat is tenderly cooked from inside and crispy from outside. The Aroma of spices and the smoky flavor infused in the meat during the roasting stage, and few drops of lemon squeezed on top of the dish will only make you lick your fingers and order more plates of this appetizer.
Locations: Several outlets at Gopi Chand Shivhare Road, Sadar Bazaar, and Agra Cantt
Diversified in delicacies, Agra is definitely a destination to sight historical monuments, explore the culture with a long list of lip-smacking food, which you should keep in your food bucket list.