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By Root 2070 0

” you’ll be greeted with enough gestures to let you understand that you need to pay first (around Rs 50) and then wait a few moments until one of the tiny tables (mostly taken by single men on their lunch break) becomes free. The whole experience is a trip back to another era, with a totally absorbing ambience, cluttered with many years of history. As a foreigner, you’ll feel like an unexpected VIP—excuse the stares and polite smiles—and staff go out of their way to feed you to the brim. The meal consists of limitless chapatti, which you use to mop up an assortment of vegetables and spicy, currylike dips (see “The Thali: A Meal Unto Itself” for more details). As you’ll see from your fellow diners, there’s no set pattern dictating how you feast—use your fingers, experiment, but don’t drink the water—and the servers will continue ladling more of whatever you desire onto your metal dish. If only they made them like this back home . . .

For an upmarket version of honest Maharashtrian cuisine, there’s no beating Mystic Masala at the Taj Blue Diamond (see below), which gets more interesting later at night when the business crowds leave and the Puneite families file in. Another hotel eatery that has the in-crowd flocking is Addah ( 020/4001-1000), the poolside brasserie on the rooftop of the spiffy new O (see “Where to Stay,” above). The main attraction is undoubtedly the setting—you feast under the stars, ordering from a variety of Indian dishes cooked on open coals in the live kitchen—so if the menu doesn’t grab you, settle in at Addah’s outrageously a la mode bar, Minus , which has been an instant hit with Pune’s chichi crowd (so it’s probably not compatible with a more meditational mood you’re likely to pick up at the Osho resort).

There’s more North Indian cuisine at The Great Punjab (5 Jewel Tower, Lane 5, Koregaon Park; 020/2614-5060), which serves good portions of authentic, rich, and delicious Punjabi favorites, as well as a few items you don’t find just anywhere—do try the mince meat and ribs (kheema champ), which you can slop up with a couple of fresh parathas. For a cheap, quick meal, hit legendary Prem’s (28/2 Koregaon Park; 020/2613-0985), which caters unashamedly to the international crowd from the Osho resort (which means there’s a selection of European dishes alongside the very good Indian options).

Throughout the day, you’ll find Oshoites gathered around the tables at Koregaon Park’s German Bakery (291 Vaswani Nagar; 020/2613-6532) which is pleasant enough (despite rather rude service) and serves incredibly good healthful breakfasts, delicious baked goods, and decent coffee. Try not to be put off by the persistent auto-rickshaw-cum-drug wallahs who hang around outside the cafe—they’re irritating, but harmless. Another all-day hangout, but where the vibe is definitely better at night, are the string of casual eateries at ABC Farm (2 Moledina Rd., Pune Camp; 020/2613-8275), where you can browse around for a menu and ambience that suites your mood; currently, the rustic-trendy Shisha Café is incredibly popular (although we’ve found the service slow enough to send us packing). Far better, and a little more grown up, though, is Kiva The Lounge (Range Hills Rd.; 020/2553-8339), which is probably more suitable as a hangout for drinking and lounging as it is a place for its casual dining; do be warned that it gets extremely noisy in here, usually a result of uproarious support for its music. Finally, the top choice in town for Pan-Asian cuisine is Malaka Spice (see below), which definitely takes the prize as the most unique of Pune’s smarter restaurants.

Malaka Spice PAN-ASIAN The look is minimalist, spiced up with good-looking art on the walls that double as a gallery for contemporary Pune artists. Adding a different kind of spice is an on-site caricaturist who hops from table to table producing quirky keepsakes by which to remember your evening here. The food, too, is quite memorable, and owners Praful and Cheeru pride themselves on using ingredients that are grown on farms around Pune especially for them; all their