Patrons endorse regular hotels

CHANDIGARH: If waiting for your turn at the Night Food Street is not your thing, you might want to head to almost half-a-dozen eating joints serving food well past midnight. The delectable offerings at these eateries include pizzas, burgers, pav bhaaji, grilled sandwiches, dosas, noodles, croissants and many other mouth-watering and sumptuous savouries.The customers are not limited to teeny-boppers as middle-aged people, families with children in tow are also regular patrons.
The favorite hang-out places after dusk are the recently-renovated food court at Aroma Hotel in Sector 22, the Coffee Shop at Hotel Mountview in Sector 10 and Cafi at Taj Hotel in Sector 17.
A regular at the Coffee Shop, Sector 9-resident Subodh Pawar, said he would rather enjoy a meal in peace at the hotel than wait for his turn at the Night Food Street. “Even though it may be expensive, the food served here is top quality and there is a lot of choice,” he added.
Even women feel much safer in the environs of a reputed hotel rather than being out on the street. Panchkula resident Ashima Bhasin visits food courtfor a late-night snack rather than the Night Food Street, where arguments and clashes are commonplace.
She said, “Most of the time we end up at Aroma for a bite. The ambience is great and we bump into most friends there. There are also a large number of families at the place, so everybody feels safe. We hardly encounter any rowdy elements there.”
Meanwhile, giving thumbs-up to roadside parantha stalls, much before the night food street came into existence. These parantha stalls are favourite haunts of students staying in paying guest accommodations and others out to grab a bite.
These budget stalls are almost everywhere in the city, with popular ones located near Government Multispecialty Hospital in Sector 16, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Sector 12 and Inter State Bus Terminus Sector 43 and opposite Inter State Bus Terminus Sector 17. Those frequenting such roadside stalls swear by the food on offer as well as by the nominal rates charged.
Kanwar Singh, a Sector 11 resident, said, “I would rather go to Sector 16 for gorging on paranthas than to the night food street, where I cannot even get a place to sit. Everyday, we hear about girls getting harassed and youngsters engaging in drunken brawls, but things are different at the parantha stall.”