Sahi River View Guest House and Ayyars Cafe (Two Varanasi Gems)

genesis

Varanasi was the last stop on my trip from Delhi to Kolkata and back on the GT Road. We stayed at the Sahi River View Guest House at Assi Ghat which had a sudden vacancy...(we are not the advance booking types and had called from the car)...It is a very well run place and Mr Sahi is a pleasure to talk to. There are some rooms with private balconies overlooking the Ganges and regular rooms also. Also, since it has been brought up in past threads, Assi Ghat is much more relaxing than the din on the main ghats which are a easy 20 to 25 mins walk away. The food is cooked fresh to order. (The lady cook who is Bengali even made khichdi on request since i was longing for comfort food after many days on the road!) I would highly reccomend the guest house (would have stayed longer but he was sold out). The much more expensive Palace on the Ganges in essentially the same building and views with nicer interior decor also at triple to four times the price!. Sahi river is still family run with care and old world Varanasi culture.

Another serendipitous find was Ayyars Cafe on the main Dasashwamedh Ghat road (on the other side of the road from Kesari)...Amazing south indian food, great filter coffee and decent prices and in operation since 1953! It was so good, i felt compelled to do a post on it on my blog

http://www.soumya.org/genesis/2008/0...s-cafe-in.html

Regards
Soumya

http://soumya.org