"William Black" wrote in message
...

"NY Traveler" wrote in message
...

Are you a veggie fare fan at all? I love dosas, and tried it at various
places which I guess people would normally avoid. But I figured as long
as I drank bottled water, I should be okay, and I was.

My experience of India is that you use the places the respectable Indians
are using and you won't go far wrong. The street places vary hugely from
the lethal to the clean and excellent and I can't spot which is which,
but my wife, who is Indian, can spot a dud selling instant 'Bombay bum'
without any difficulty at all...

Dosa places tend to be reasonably clean because the dosa batter is
fermented and any contamination means it doesn't work properly.

But I have yet to work out how to eat a 'paper dosa' in an elegant
manner...


I am not vegetarian but India has some of the best veg. food I've ever
tasted. And, at least in South India, if you're in an unfamiliar city and
it's better to ask your driver to take you to a veg. restaurant. Asking him
to find a non-veg. place will often produce confusion and you could end up
anywhere, most likely a mutton gristle specialist. Living in the south makes
you realise how bad Punjabi food is.

In Bangalore at least I don't bother with bottled water. We have a filter at
home and we order filtered water from at least half-decent restaurants - no
problems so far. After 13 years in developing Asia I probably have some
interesting gut flora.

I like dosas but they're often huge and sometimes rather oily.

Cheers,
George W Russell
Bangalore