regional specialty food items railway stations are famous for

I found this list on the internet.
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Some stations on Indian Railways are famous for the regional specialty food items available there. Below follows a list of some of them. Compiled by Sukrut Thipse.

Pune - Tea, Misal, and Patties in the canteen
Karjat - Batata vada / vada pav (Potato snack)
Lonavala - Chocolate Fudge / Cashewnut Chikki (cashewnut brittle candy)
Neral - Seasonal Jambhool fruit
Khandala - Seasonal Jamoon fruit (plums)
Solapur - Kunda (sweet barfi)
Kolhapur - Sugarcane juice
Miraj - Saar and Rice
Hubli - Hubli rice (Curd rice (yogurt rice) with onions, chile peppers, and pickles)
Mysore - Dosa
Tiruchirapalli - Bondas in several variations
Hyderabad - Chicken biryani
Calicut (Kozhikode) - Dal vada
Quilon - Rasam
Mangalore - Egg Biryani
Ernakulam - Fried yellow bananas
Nagpur - Bhujia, and oranges
Guntakal - Mango jelly
Chennai Central - Samosas, idli, dosa
Rameshwaram - Idiuppam (Rice Noodles)
Agra - Petha (candied pumpkin)
New Delhi - Aloo chat (tangy potato snack)
Indore - Farsan
Ahmedabad - Vadilal ice-cream
Surat - Undhyo (mixed vegetables)
Ranchi - Puri bhaji
Howrah - Sandesh
Amritsar - Lassi, Aloo paratha
Bangalore - Vada sambar, fresh fruit juices
Jaipur - Dal bati
Gandhidham - dabeli
Varanasi - Seasonal amrud fruit (guava)
Gorakhpur - Rabdi (a sweet made of milk and sugar)
Guwahati - Tea (Assam blend)
Madurai - Uthappam (spicy lentil/rice pancake)
Ajmer - Mewa (Mix fruit)
Vasco-da-gama - Fish curry/cutlets
Ratnagiri - Mangoes, dried jackfruit
Vijayawada - Fruit juices
Rajahmundry - Bananas
Daund - Peanuts
Tirupati - Ladoos, sevai
Londa - Jackfruit
Allahabad - Motichur ladoos
Ambala - Aloo paratha
Puri - Halwah
Bhubaneshwar - Dal and rice
Coimbatore - Sambar-rice, tamarind-rice, lemon-rice
Dehradun - Salted cucumber
Gwalior, Bhopal - Boiled chickpeas with chile peppers
Surendranagar - Tea with camel's milk
Anand - Gota (fenugreek fritters), and milk from the dairy farm there
Khambalia Junction - Potato/onion/chili fritters
Dwaraka - Milk pedhas
Viramgam - Fafda (ganthiya), Poori + Alu-bhaji
Pendra Road - Samosas
Manikpur - Cream
Thanjavur - Salted cashewnuts
Bharuch - Peanuts
Maddur - Maddur-vade
Chinna Ganjam - Cashewnuts
Gudur - Lemons
Panruti - Jackfruit
Virudunagar - Boli (a thick sweet flat bread)
Sankarankoil - Chicken biryani
Srivilliputtur - Paal kova (a soft milk-based sweet)
Manapparai - Murukku
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Abu Road - Rabri

There's also an excellent milk bar at the train station in Agra.

interesting thread ... wonder why this has been dormant..

some additions from my side ( purely from personal experience & taste )

- chennai : you get a good variety of south indian food in the food joints in chennai central . sambar rice and curd rice worth a mention.

- surat : i loved the vada pavs there. its quite popular too.

- shoranur : Biryanis - one of the best biryanis i tasted were in shoranur station ( well i dont know whether they retain the same standard, i tasted the last one 10 years back ). you get good biryanis in mangalore and cannanore too.

- secunderabad - i find this station quite disappointing from the food perspective. heard that they are planning to improve the food scene with new food joints etc.

- somewhere on the wadi -bangalore stretch you get idlis with terrific chutneys. dont remember exactly where.

Benjoe's restaurant in Margao Station does the most amazing everything!!
Excellent samosas, biryani to die for and mean channa masala.
One of the best I've come across.
I love the oldie style train station restaurants!! You know the ones, ran with military precision, where every last grain of rice has to be accounted for.
Some amazing food to be had in these places!!

bang on! how did i miss that? yes it is definitely in my list too.

Any train crossing Nagpur turn Orange I do not know how and from where they appear.....Orange vendors all of a sudden 'attack' the train with bags of garden fresh oranges the moment the train touches the orchard area.

The same thing in south parts of Andhra. But this time the attack is with mangos

Let me add. On the train ride from Bangalore to Mysore you will stop at Madhur. You have to have the famous Madhur Vadai. When we drove even we would go to the train station just to have their Vadai. Madhur Vadai is differenet from Medu Vadai, which is also excellent.

Some precautions! Do NOT eat the chutney though the chutney is heavenly! You will get sick! Trust me. I try and eat their chutney only when I am in the tail end of my trip so that I can get sick after I return. Wow! am I hungry now...

what is halwah?

sandesh at howrah..mmmmm :-))

Halwa is a pasty or soft firm dessert made with wheat flour and flavoured with clarified butter, sugar, ground cardamoms and laced with cashew nuts and dried cucumber seeds & delicately scented with saffron.

also

A sweetmeat made from lentils, dryfruits, flour or vegetables.

Here's a link to the preparation of Carrot Halwa :

http://www.punjabilok.com/rasoi/recipes_10.htm

Hubli-Dharwad are twin cities in North Karnataka.
Dharwad is famous for Pedha (a sweet item).
Delicious n yummy !

Rabri at Etawah.
Samosas at Mecheda on the Howrah Puri route.
Rice & chicken curry at Barog.
Sitabhog & Mihidana at Burdwan.
Langchas at Shaktigarh.
Omellets at Mirage.
Chicken cutlets at the cafeteria in Howrah station.
Gulabi Rewris at Lucknow.
Pethas at Agra.

Fried Yellow Bananas at cochin / ernakulam are called Pazham Puri's.