Amritsar had been on my travel list for a very long time, and this year I finally decided to take a birthday trip there. The visit had two main agendas: trying the local cuisine and witnessing the famous Golden Temple.
Amritsar is a fairly easy city to navigate and doesn’t require much planning beforehand. We simply shortlisted a few places we wanted to visit to try different dishes. Most of them are located in the same area, so one can walk and cover multiple spots in one go. However, be careful of bikes and cars. People tend to drive rashly in Amritsar and won’t slow down for pedestrians.
Ola and Uber work well in Amritsar, and getting a cab is quite easy. One interesting thing we noticed was that you rarely see the usual WagonR or Indica, almost all the cabs we came across were sedans or XUVs.
Hotels in Amritsar are quite affordable compared to many other cities, and you can find good quality stays at reasonable prices. We decided to stay at Stirling Borderland, mainly because of its proximity to the places we had planned to visit.
Day 1 at Amritsar
After checking into our hotel, we decided to explore the places we had shortlisted around Lawrence Road.
Our first stop was the famous Kanha Sweets. This place has two sections, an outer shop facing the road and an indoor seating area. The sitting section serves only three items: chole puri, lassi, and halwa. Since Kanha Sweets is best known for its chole puri, we ordered a plate of chole puri along with a glass of lassi.
The puri was served with chole and a sweet & tangy aloo sabzi. The puri was fluffy and visually appealing but very oily. The chole was fairly average and tasted better with achar. The sweet and tangy aloo sabzi was essentially regular aloo sabzi with added sugar, nothing special, and tasted average.
The lassi too was decent but fell short of what I was expecting from Amritsar. Honestly, I’ve had much better chole puri in Mumbai.
Our first stop turned out to be a bit disappointing. The food was totally overrated. But, we were very surprised to see that despite it being just 9:30 in the morning, the shop was packed with locals.
After a disappointing experience at our first stop, we headed to Ramesh Sharma Sweet Shop. We tried their Imarti, Gulab Jamun, and Rabdi. This shop is known for preparing its sweets in desi ghee and possibly famous for the same reason.
The Imarti was good and carried the richness of desi ghee. The Gulab Jamun was also well made, though slightly on the sweeter side. The Rabdi was good too, but I wouldn’t call it the best Rabdi I’ve had.
After a slightly better experience with desserts, we headed to Lubhaya Ram Aampapad Wala. The place is quite popular with a 4.2 rating from over 1,700 reviews on google maps. While I did come across several comments mentioning bad quality of the aam papad, but I decided to trust the majority and ordered their famous Aam papad chaat.
If I could go back in time and change just one thing about my visit to Amritsar, I would strongly tell myself to skip this place altogether. The experience was genuinely unpleasant. Even now, thinking about that first bite makes me feel nauseous.
The Aam papad had lots of sand in it and tasted completely off, almost rotten. Despite this, I forced myself to take a couple more bites, hoping it might improve, especially since I had seen so many positive reviews and praises on YouTube and Instagram. Unfortunately, after barely two or three bites, I threw it away and walked back to hotel feeling sick.
In the evening, we decided to visit Bade Bhai Ka Brothers Dhaba for dinner, and this was the first place that lived up to the hype. We tried sarson da saag with makke ki roti, and dal makhani with garlic mirchi paratha.
Sarson da saag with makke di roti was good and felt fulfilling. Again, I wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve ever had, but it was nice.
Garlic mirchi paratha and dal makhani paired quite well. The garlic mirchi paratha was a new dish for us and was pretty much exactly what its name suggests.
Overall, the experience was good. After a mixed experience in the morning, this was the first place where I genuinely felt the food was good.
After dinner, it was time to try the famous Gian di Lassi. Almost all videos and reels about Amritsar seem to talk about this place.
Hygiene at Gian di Lassi felt subpar. We ordered their classic lassi and peda lassi. Both had a lot of makhan added, which completely ruined the experience for us. The makhan didn’t mix in at all and made the texture feel like you were just eating makhan. The peda lassi was slightly sweeter than the classic one, not much difference.
Honestly I had so much exceptions from Amritsar for the lassi, but I feel lassi in Amritsar is far inferior to the other places in India.
Next, it was time to fulfil another agenda of the trip: visiting the Golden Temple. The moment we entered the complex, we were completely awestruck by its beauty, especially under the night lights.
The Golden Temple is astonishingly beautiful. It looks magnificent, especially with the golden light reflecting and scattering across the surrounding water.
We later realised that entry inside the Golden Temple stops after 10:00 PM. Unfortunately, we reached just a few minutes past 10 and couldn’t go inside the main temple.
One thing that slightly affected our experience at the Golden Temple was the behaviour of a few people inside the complex. There seem to be certain unsaid rules around photography. Apparently, photos are expected to be taken only in a namaste pose. We clicked a few pictures without folding our hands, and two random individuals (not the Sikh guards) abruptly snatched our phone and deleted the photos. The whole incident felt unpleasant and unnecessary.
Day 2
The next morning, we planned to visit the Golden Temple, since we couldn’t go inside the previous night. We booked a cab, and on the way, the driver mentioned that the Golden Temple would be extremely crowded because it was a Sunday. He suggested visiting a few other places instead.
We trusted his advice. We had no time and energy to stand in long queue and hence we decided to change our itinerary for the day.
We already had Sadda Pind planned for the next day, so we decided to switch the plans. Visit Sadda Pind that day and keep the Golden Temple for later.
Sadda Pind is kind of a living museum of a traditional Punjabi village, with dining and cultural activities. The food and activities are included in the ticket.
Upon entering, we first thought of trying the makke di roti and sarson da saag that were being prepared live. The sarson ka saag wasn’t as good as what we had at Brothers Dhaba, but the makke di roti was very fresh and tasted better.
Sadda Pind also had several fun activities and shows. We watched magic show, puppetry, bicycle show, well of death, and Sikh martial arts. We also got to try our hands at carpet making and phulkari.
After spending a good 3–4 hours at Sadda Pind, we decided to have a late lunch there, which was already included in the ticket. The buffet was a regular spread with fairly standard options, after which we returned to the hotel.
Dinner on day two was supposed to be the fanciest meal of our Amritsar trip. We decided to visit Haveli, which is located on the city outskirts, around 18 km from our hotel. The best way to get there is by booking a round-trip cab, as finding a cab from Haveli can be difficult. So we booked a round trip with a stop at Haveli.
Haveli is a massive theme restaurant, with a large area outside the main dining space designed to showcase a typical Punjabi village setup. When we arrived, we were put on a waiting list and informed that our turn would come in about 20 minutes. There was plenty to see and do, so waiting didn’t feel like a problem at all.
We got busy clicking pictures and soaking in the aesthetics, and in the process missed our number. By the time we checked again, the display had already moved on to the next set of numbers. Once we finally entered, we were genuinely surprised by the sheer size of the restaurant. Area wise, it’s probably one of the biggest restaurants I’ve ever been to, with hundreds of tables inside.
However, the menu was a letdown and fell short of all expectations. One important thing everyone should know before planning a trip to Amritsar is that food options are quite limited. Most dishes revolve around chana or chole. For example: chole kulcha, chole puri, and similar variations are everywhere. By the time we reached Haveli, we had absolutely no appetite left for chole.
I didn’t mention earlier but we had also eaten chole at breakfast in the hotel and again at lunch in Sadda Pind. We had also eaten sarson da saag and makke di roti twice by then and didn’t feel like having that again either. Once chole and sarson da saag were off the table, the remaining menu options were mostly bhindi, gobhi, aloo, and similar everyday vegetables.
When we sat down, we had huge appetite with expectations, but looking at the menu slowly killed our appetite. Eventually, we ordered dahi papdi chaat, kadhi pakora, Haveli special bharwa karela, and ajwain wala lachha paratha.
The chaat arrived, and once again, it was served with chole. The kadhi pakora and ajwain paratha were decent, nothing great and nothing terrible. The bharwa karela had an onion based filling with some masala; we mostly ended up eating the karela itself, as the filling tasted like lightly cooked onions.
After dinner, we ordered lassi, and once again, it failed to meet the expectations I had from Amritsar.
What was supposed to be the highlight of the trip turned into just a decent dinner and left us questioning why Amritsar is so famous for its food. It’s not that we didn’t try enough. We tried almost everything authentic that we could. We also had bajre ki khichdi at Sadda Pind, which I didn’t mention earlier because it was just average khichdi loaded with ghee.
I can’t find a single food picture in my gallery since Haveli. The experience was disappointing enough that clicking photos was the last thing on our minds.
Day 3
After changing plans on Day 2, Day 3 was reserved for visiting the Golden Temple. After breakfast at the hotel, we left for the temple. Again the cab driver tried to discourage us, saying the Golden Temple would be extremely crowded and suggesting alternatives like Sadda Pind or Wagah Border. This time it clearly felt like a pattern, likely a way to push tourists into full day cab bookings. While the crowd argument made some sense on Sunday, hearing the same on a Monday felt totally suspicious. We had only this day left, and it was strictly reserved for the Golden Temple, so we ignored the suggestion and continued.
On the way, we stopped to try kulchas from Bhai Kulwant Singh Kulchian Wale. We ordered a paneer kulcha and a four-mix kulcha (which had mixture of aloo, gobhi, paneer, and pithi for filling). Both were served with chole and achar. The kulchas were flavourful and good.
Next we tried jalebi from Gurdass Ram Jalebian Wala. Their jalebis are made in desi ghee, possibly which is what makes them famous. While the jalebis were decent, they were overly sweet for our liking and like regular jalebis at any other place.
After this early mini lunch, we finally reached the Golden Temple. There was a queue, which took roughly an hour. Once inside, people were rushed through quickly to keep the line moving. The sanctum where the Guru Granth Sahib is placed is located right at the entrance. From there, you can take the stairs up to the terrace, which offers a beautiful panoramic view of the entire temple complex.
After darshan, we collected kada prasad, which is made from wheat flour, sugar, and ghee, and is available within the premises for ₹ 10 per scoop. While taking one last round before leaving, we noticed a pathway leading to the langar hall. Since this was our only chance to experience it, we decided to go in.
The langar area is massive and can accommodate a huge number of people at once. You collect your plate and bowl from a designated counter and sit on floor mats. The meal included chole, roti, dal, and the bowl is meant for serving water. One aspect that made me uncomfortable was the way rotis were served, people were forced to fold their hands and rotis were thrown into their palms. If someone tried to take it with one hand, they were shouted at. In many cases, the roti missed the hand and fell on the floor, which felt like a complete disrespect to food itself.
I mean no disrespect to the langar. It isn’t meant to be judged for taste or presentation. However, I do feel it’s important to mention that the food made us sick and resulted in food poisoning. The flight journey afterward was extremely uncomfortable because of how unwell we felt.
After leaving the Golden Temple, we went to see Jallianwala Bagh, which can honestly be skipped if you’re not particularly interested in Indian history.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for kulfa at A-One Kulfa, which was our final food stop in the city. Unfortunately, the kulfa was subpar, and I couldn’t understand the hype around it.
After checking out, we headed to the airport, bringing our Amritsar trip to an end. Overall, the experience wasn’t what I had expected. The food felt average, people were often rude, and drivers showed little regard for pedestrians. In my opinion, the only reason Amritsar is worth coming to is if you are interested in seeing the Golden Temple, nothing else.
