Food-on-wheels gathers pace in Amaravati

Street food with multi-cuisines on offer, appears to have become famous in the city after it has acquired capital status. An array of food trucks lining up the busy thorough fares such as benz circle, Siddhartha Arts College and the service road leading to NTR heath University bear the signs of this emerging food culture, presenting a picture contrary to the high-end star hotels. Hordes of people from divergent social groups keep flooding the trucks, devouring mouth-watering food items, mainly a range of dosa items much before the sunset.

Dosa Palace is the first food truck with a mouth watering 99+ varieties of dosas at Siddartha Nagar. Ponnuri Sai Krishna, a Commerce graduate from the local SRR and CVR College got into street food business after his abortive attempts to clear the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) exams in 2016 January. He graduated in the multi-culinary art in Bangalore and started the business literally believing in self-help.

“Attracting customers with different socio and economic backgrounds is the secret of my business. We offer a wide range of delicious items to tickle their taste buds,” asserts Saikrishna. The price of each item ranges between Rs 50 – 100 which is quite affordable when compared to swanky hotels, he adds. The range of dosas include Teenmaar Dosa, Panneer Tikka Dosa, Kaju Panneer Dosa, Chocolate Dosa, Ulavacharu Dosa, Mushroom Dosa and Pizza Dosa.

Adorning the menu list is even Ice-cream Dosa which is served chilled. The chefs for food truck business are in great demand. They are hired from Bangalore with fatty salaries accompanied by advances plus free accommodation. “Chefs hold the key to the success of any food business, more so in street food business,” says another vendor. Pavan, a city lad, says that quality and taste drive him to food trucks almost daily. Savouring dosas at the food trucks forms a part of Roopa’s week-end plans.

“We observe all kinds of customers everyday from a high class people to middle income group groups,” Sai Krishna added. Dora Cake Addict is another food truck in the city that draws foodies in large numbers at Siddartha Nagar. Chef Aruna said that the cakes in the particular food truck are made using a Japanese recipe.

Martabak, Dora and Wheel Cakes are the types of cakes that are listed on the menu. “Martabak cake is the very special item on the truck, red velvet, pizza cake and brownie are also most sought after items,” said Aruna. The price of these items range from Rs 40 to 600 per piece.

By Pranay Godavari