More venerable local institutions

Indian Coffee House

It is not confirmed whether Shimla's Coffee house has for its siblings the august chain of the same name, located in Kochi, Bangalore and, most famously, Calcutta. Be that as it may, this is the home for many a gossip session, the place where people congregate for a quick tea or coffee sold at nominal rates, where waiters still wear livery (turbans & all!). The coffee is piping hot and so are the debates. Lately, the Indian coffee house seems to have become a great favourite of the lawyers - I found this out by counting the sheer number of black coats & white collars, that's all.

The food is predominantly South Indian, but the quality has gone downhill over the years.

Krishna Sweets

Krishna Sweets is a gem of a place, tucked away in Boileauganj. The owner, in typical laid-back Himachali fashion, is delightfully vague about the age of the shop. He says it is probably 30 years old. A helpful gentleman, awaiting his turn to buy some Krishna's legendary samosas, says he's been visiting the shop for 50 years, so it has to be a lot older than that. As the debate rages, patient customers waiting for their plate of jalebies watch on with interest, but without complaint. Its worth the while to do so! This tiny shop doubles up as a snack-shop & a sweet shop. Its samosas & jalebies are crisp, its barfi tender & melt-in-the-mouth. Their tea is simply superb, freshly brewed with the best quality of milk & with just a hint of cardamom. There are other mithais too, besan barfi, balooshahi, gulabjamuns. Fie on those who claim that Mehru or Natthoo make them better. Krishna's gulabjamun's are works of art!

You pause in your greedy consumption for a minute when you spot a photograph of the owner's son, Anuj, who was martyred in the Kargil War.