Sugary delights served on a platter

Authentic Touch

There is no dearth of shops on Avenue Road. But ask around for ‘Banaras Sweet House’ and people come forward to show you the right direction.

Once you reach the shop, after negotiating the pothole-ridden, dug up road, you
find that you barely have room to stand. But none of these things remain on your mind once you begin tucking into up the delicious North and South Indian sweets the shop sells.  

The eatery was started in the same location in 1952 and is a family establishment.

It is now run by two brothers — Narendra and Mahesh Chand. Assisting them in furthering the business is Vishal, who says that he picked up all the tricks of the trade from his grandfather and his father.

“We are focussed on maintaining the same quality and there have been
a couple of add ons just to spruce up the variety. We are getting better with our ideas and keeping pace with the changing tastes of our customers,” says Vishal.

The eatery sells more than 200 varieties of sweets. Among the sweets that are displayed are Mysore Pak, which is made out of ghee and maida.

Another speciality is the dry fruit barfi, which is made by mixing together dry fruits like fig, badam and kaju in a special sugar syrup. Malaigulla is a combination of basundi and rasmalai.

One must-try sweet is ghewar, which is especially made during Raksha Bandhan.

This is made from maida. Other popular sweets are kalakand, khova and kheer kadam, which comprises of small pink rasgullas wrapped in paneer.    “This is one of our fast-moving dishes. There are people who place orders for this in bulk,” he adds. There’s also malai sandwich, motichur laddu, basundi made from pure milk, rasmalia, badam halwa, cashewnut halwa, kaju katli and champakali.

If this list is not exhaustive enough, the eatery also serves pav bhaaji in the
typical North Indian taste and has the long list of chaats.

Sharing his experience, Mahesh Chand, one of the bothers who runs the eatery, says, “We have people who have been coming to us for so many years and now, their children too buy from us. We are happy that we have been able to cater to a growing
customer base rather effectively.”   
 
‘Banaras Sweet House’ is on Avenue Road. For details, call 9901655571.