Mastani is a very popular ice-cream shake from Pune. I was not aware of this till the time i met my husband who used to rave about this drink. ( yes, i want to hide my face below a pillow that i didn't knew about Mastani, though being a Maharashtrian). But guess, i never really explored food much before my marriage. The cooking, the love for food, the blog everything happened just after that and for good :)
So, i definitely wanted to try Mastani the first time i visited Pune after my marriage. I was surprised to see Mastani corners almost everywhere on the streets of Pune, the famous and oldest being Sujata. They claim to have started the drink in Pune. But the one i tried that time was at Khatri Bandhu. Gulkand being my favourite ( Gulkand is basically rose petals in sugar syrup ), i ordered for Gulkand Mastani and since then has been my favourite.
One sip/bite of the Mastani and you are in some trance. So during my recent visit to Pune, i again went to the Khatri Bandhu outlet and had a chance to talk with the owner's friend ( who looks after the outlet in evenings after which the owner himself comes and stays back till late). Khatri Bandhu was started by Girish Khatri 25 years ago and since then has been successfully running all throughout Pune . They serve over 8 different varieties of Mastani and have around 6 branches in Pune. Their specialty is they use full cream milk and make the ice-cream with the authentic pot-method. No artificial flavours added, they concentrate on keeping the flavours traditional.
This is one heavy drink ( I mean, what can you expect with a glass full of ice cream milkshake topped with scoop of the same ice cream??? ). Pure sin, isn't it? So weight watchers, keep your diet plans to rest when u go try this one divine drink.
No one knows the history behind the name of the drink, but the link to Bajirao Mastani is quite popular. She was the wife (or some say lover) of Peshwa Bajirao who was the prime minister to the fourth Maratha Emperor Shahuji. She was known to be a brave beautiful woman with skills of horse riding and swordsmanship. Also a talented singer and dancer, some say she was a dancer in the court where Bajirao fell in love with her. Their love story is one of it's kind wherein he was a Brahmin and she a Muslim, thereby facing lots of rejections and intolerance from Bajirao's family. But their love was so eternal that she died in the same year, soon after Bajirao did.
During this trip, we tried Mastani at both Khatri Bandhu and Sujata. Sujata i felt was over priced, and the only one i loved was the Mango and the Kesar-Mango there. Their ice cream flavours are good too. But the rest of the mastani's we had were average.
Khatri won our hearts with the Gulkand Mastani (Of course!). Hubby's favourite Pista Mastani was absolutely melt-in-the-mouth too. Their Mawa flavor is fast selling, but we liked it's ice-cream better than the mastani ( Maybe the mawa milkshake didn't suit our taste buds).
So next time you are in Pune, you can't leave the city without tasting the Mastani! It's absolutely straw-licking and spoon-licking!!! :)
So, i definitely wanted to try Mastani the first time i visited Pune after my marriage. I was surprised to see Mastani corners almost everywhere on the streets of Pune, the famous and oldest being Sujata. They claim to have started the drink in Pune. But the one i tried that time was at Khatri Bandhu. Gulkand being my favourite ( Gulkand is basically rose petals in sugar syrup ), i ordered for Gulkand Mastani and since then has been my favourite.
One sip/bite of the Mastani and you are in some trance. So during my recent visit to Pune, i again went to the Khatri Bandhu outlet and had a chance to talk with the owner's friend ( who looks after the outlet in evenings after which the owner himself comes and stays back till late). Khatri Bandhu was started by Girish Khatri 25 years ago and since then has been successfully running all throughout Pune . They serve over 8 different varieties of Mastani and have around 6 branches in Pune. Their specialty is they use full cream milk and make the ice-cream with the authentic pot-method. No artificial flavours added, they concentrate on keeping the flavours traditional.
This is one heavy drink ( I mean, what can you expect with a glass full of ice cream milkshake topped with scoop of the same ice cream??? ). Pure sin, isn't it? So weight watchers, keep your diet plans to rest when u go try this one divine drink.
No one knows the history behind the name of the drink, but the link to Bajirao Mastani is quite popular. She was the wife (or some say lover) of Peshwa Bajirao who was the prime minister to the fourth Maratha Emperor Shahuji. She was known to be a brave beautiful woman with skills of horse riding and swordsmanship. Also a talented singer and dancer, some say she was a dancer in the court where Bajirao fell in love with her. Their love story is one of it's kind wherein he was a Brahmin and she a Muslim, thereby facing lots of rejections and intolerance from Bajirao's family. But their love was so eternal that she died in the same year, soon after Bajirao did.
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| A painting showing Bajirao and Mastani. ( Source: Google Images ) |
During this trip, we tried Mastani at both Khatri Bandhu and Sujata. Sujata i felt was over priced, and the only one i loved was the Mango and the Kesar-Mango there. Their ice cream flavours are good too. But the rest of the mastani's we had were average.
Khatri won our hearts with the Gulkand Mastani (Of course!). Hubby's favourite Pista Mastani was absolutely melt-in-the-mouth too. Their Mawa flavor is fast selling, but we liked it's ice-cream better than the mastani ( Maybe the mawa milkshake didn't suit our taste buds).
So next time you are in Pune, you can't leave the city without tasting the Mastani! It's absolutely straw-licking and spoon-licking!!! :)
The colors make it look pretty tasty. And exotic.
ReplyDeleteYes Sharon :) Colourful and tasty :)
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