GIANT Assamese THALI 20 ITEMS! + Tezpur Attractions | Tezpur, Assam, India

This is our Assamese Thali. Look how many things we got. We have like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 20, 20. What's up everyone? This is David Hoffman from David's Been Here. I just arrived in Tezpur, Assam, India in Northeast India and I'm here with my friend Camo from Tezpur Buzz and today we're going to go explore Tezpur and have some delicious authentic Assamese food. It's like an Assamese Thali. Lots of I guess fish, chicken, a mix right? And what are we going to do right now? What are we going to see? First of all, we're just heading to Radhashyam Hotel for some delicious chai. Delicious chai? So famous chai right? Famous chai in Tezpur. Awesome. Let's go. I think this is going to be easier. Or this one? The only thing I hate about jumping on this is that I don't have a helmet, but I'm good. I'm good. Don't worry. Let's explore. Tezpur by bike. Let's go. The cows are everywhere. This is not Meghalaya anymore. There's no cow. But in Tezpur and Assam and India, in fact, you find cows everywhere. I know, I know because it's the Hindi culture. I know, I know. Cows are gods, guys. Cows are gods. This is the main town of Tezpur. It's called the Chowk Bazar. Okay, so what do we have here? Just like markets and stuff? Yes, markets and stuff and the shop that I was telling you about, Radhashyam, it's in the market itself. Okay, we made it. Here, this is Radhashyam. This is the Radhashyam. Right there? Yes. This is a hotel. Right here, guys. This is called the Rasoi Ghar. We are in Radhashyam right now and all the sweets are made here. So it's quite wonderful and warm here. I mean, it smells amazing and this guy, he's just making these sweets. What is that? Oh, wow. It's called the Piyaj Kachori. Piyaj Kachori. We have to try it. Yes, obviously. Why not? Why not? The famous and special chai that I was speaking about is being made here in this wonderful kitchen. I have the Piyaj Kachori, which is basically onion kachori. It's a huge fritter. It's like freaking hot. I mean, it just came out of the fryer, as you saw. The guy, basically, what he does is he gets the dough. Then he puts the onion mash into the dough. Then he fries it. And then he lets it sit for a while so all the grease comes out, right? And here we go. So many thick layers. Dough is soft inside, crispy on the outside. The grease has all come out. Not greasy at all. Masala here. Nice and flaky, airy. The Indian onion fritter. It's great. I can eat more. And here we have their famous chai. Not too hot. They let it sit for a bit, thank God. Very nice. There's ginger in here. There's ginger, there's cardamom. Nice and frothy. Very milky. This one actually feels like a little darker version of chai. And this is just a snack. You know, the chai is not like coffee. It has almost no caffeine. So you can go on and on and on, just drink it non-stop. And it's gonna keep you awake at night. I like that because it's 6 p.m., 7 p.m. I'll have a chai, but I won't have coffee. Because coffee will kill me. I won't sleep at night. Now let's jump on the rabri. I've actually had rabri many times, but with a jalebi. As you can see, it's like a simmered milk that turns into a very thick sauce. I've had it with jalebi in Delhi. But like this, I've never had it just straight like this. It's straight up condensed milk. Condensed milk. So rich. And you have big chunks of the milk here. Big chunks. Oh wow. Dude, it's delicious. It's like I'm eating a dessert. Condensed milk soup. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Fantastic. Love the chai. Love the rabri. Love the kachori. Love it all. How much did it cost, by the way? I think it was a net amount of around 50 rupees. 50 rupees for the total. That's a good deal. It's a park and it's very famous and mythological. This is Chitralekha Udyan. Popularly known as the coal park in Tejpur. Very nice. This place is very historical. Historical in the sense it's related to our ancient mythology. It's explaining this would be insane here. But it's based on the famous Harihar war. Stones. Wow, so there's ancient stones here. The ancient stones. So these are... We don't know where it's made. Wow, and where did this come from? Just in the area? This was actually... Tejpur was the location of the Baan Asura. He was the king of Tejpur. Ancient. Baan Asura was the king of Sonitpur. It's something around... I don't know the era but it's a mythological fact. Yeah, I know but this is amazing. Look at this. These artifacts are old. It's super old. Wow, they carved that out of stone. Yes. They carved it. Crazy. That's amazing. And by the way, Tejpur was voted what? The cleanest city? Least polluted city. Least polluted city in India. Least polluted. It's amazing. You can feel it. This is like the lungs of the city right here. This park. Wow, look at these huge trees. The banyan trees, right? Yes. Huge banyan trees. Look at that. More like mythological stones. So many of them. So many. Has this been here like this the whole time? Yes. Right here? Yes. Inside this? A lot of modification has been done. Okay. This is a huge... See, there is some cement platings over there. Yeah, yeah. But this has been sitting here? This has been sitting here for ages. Ages. Wow, that is so cool. Can I get up here? Am I allowed to? Wow, so nice. It looks like a... Well, it's a big pillar. But it looks almost like a tomb in this angle. So this place was Chitralekha's house mythologically. The structure that has been standing still just after entering the gate. It's believed that this place was the house of Chitralekha. So all these stones, do they come from here? All of these stones? Yes, yes. It's basically like a ruined house. Yeah. That's what it is? Yes. From thousands of years? Thousands of years. Amazing. Dude, this is the coolest park I've ever been to, man. It's an archaeological site at the same time. Yeah. It's awesome. I'm all about history. All about history. Yeah, I love history. This was said to be the historical place of Assam. So we've explored the park. We didn't explore the whole thing. Obviously, it's a big park. But we just don't have enough time to go all over. Now we're going to go over to where? Agnigar Park. Agnigar. And what is that? It's around 500 meters away from here. It's a park, another park? It's a park and it's, you know, very beautiful. So this gate is the route through Ganesh Ghat. Ganesh Ghat is a very wonderful view of the river Brahmaputra, Maithi Brahmaputra. And in this gate, you see all the Hindu gods being placed over in the sculptures. This is the Maithi Hanuman. It's the monkey god. Perfect. But this is not our next stop. Our next stop is up in a park. Up in a hill park. In a hill park. Okay, let's go. Let's go. All right, let's go. Let's go. It's called in Hindi, chalo. Let's go. Here we go. Going through the gate. Nice. This is the Ganesh Ghat, which is obviously named after Ganesha. Ganesha. Lord Ganesha. Wow. And what do we see here? You see the mighty Koliabhamra bridge there. So it's one of the biggest in Assam bridges. Oh yeah. And they're building another one next to it, no? Yes, next to it. The river starts in Arunachal Pradesh, which is the state that borders with China. It's like a super mountainous region. And then the river flows all through Assam and then empties out in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Yes. Wow. What a great view. I'm ready. By the Ghat, it was very clean. Very peaceful out there. Now we're going up the hill? Yes, up the hill. Wow. Temperature's very nice today too. Agni Ghat. Agni means fire. Yeah, so fire park. Society or location or sometimes residential area. Fire park. Yes, you can get that. Very nice. I like it. Nice gates. The soldiers of the kingdom of Banasura. Banasura is the king of Sonipur. Was the king of Sonipur. It's a mythological fact. So here in this park, it's a big hill and we have a staircase that basically goes in a spiral fashion around it. No, I like how Taspor, the air quality is amazing here. It's like, dude, I'm breathing like super fresh air. That is why it is called the cultural capital of Assam. Cultural capital of Assam. For these scenic beauties. It's somewhat of a hike. It's not so bad, but there's a lot of steps here. Nah, that's it. That's it. Nah, it's not bad. Nah, dude, the other day, double-decker bridge. Double-decker bridge. Crazy, crazy. Too much. Wow. We made it here to the top of the hill. I'm out of breath, but I'm good. And we're going to go to the top of this platform. And that's the highest point, right? Highest point. And you'll see the entire Tejpur from that place. Nice. Oh, open-air platform. Open-air stairs. Very cool. Oh, you're looking over the river right here. And Taspor is back there. Tejpur's back there. Hey, how are you doing? And we made it here. Wow. So this place is the highest peak of Tejpur. So on one side, Tejpur is surrounded by the mighty Brahmaputra. On the other side, we see the town. And beyond that are the great Himalayas. Here we have the mighty Brahmaputra River, as you can see. It is super wide, very long. I mean, it covers the entire state. Lots of boats right here. These are fishermen, right? Yes. And over there, we have the infamous bridge. Or the famous bridge. Sorry, not infamous. Alia Bhamara Bridge. In India, there's the whole Tejpur. You can see the view of Tejpur. And one more thing. In India, there are only two mental hospitals. The one that you see over there is in Tejpur. And as you can see, Taspor has a lot of trees. What is that? Is that just hay? It's like a fog. It's a fog. It's fog, yeah. It's very nice. I mean, I love it. The trees are beautiful. It feels like we're in the middle of the jungle. I love it. So as the name suggests, Tejpur. Tejpur means... Tej in Assamese means blood. And pur means society or the place that people live in. So in the great war, in the ancient war between Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna, the entire Tejpur was full of blood. It was just riddled with blood. So it's the name Tejpur comes into being. Thank you. Hey, thanks. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Selfies all day. So he is Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna. And she is Usha. Fun fact, the reason why Tejpur is called the city of romance is because this love story was based here. Yes. Amazing. Definitely. All right, guys, let's go eat some food. Assamese thali? Assamese thali. Assamese thali? Yes. Fish, fish? Fish, chicken, mutton, and everything. Oh, everything. Upper Assam. Is this Upper Assam? No, this is Middle Assam. This is Middle Assam, okay, yeah. So upper starts a little farther up. Yes. Jorhar, Jorhar. From Jorhar. All right, let's go. We're going to a restaurant called Kodika, which means ethnic food. And they're going to have an Assamese thali. And how is the Assamese thali? Filled up with fish, chicken, mutton, and everything, and more some kind of ethnic dishes from Assam. Okay, it's not like the thali that I've had like in Mumbai, where it's just a huge plate. It's like, they're all like small, like it is, like a thali. Fish on the table, right? Yes. So different. Yes. Oh, it's good. I can't wait. I'm so hungry. And I love Assamese food. It's so delicious. It's very different from the rest of India. And the fish aspect. Oh, and the mutton, man. The mutton. Give me mutton, man. Up for Assamese. Here we are. We have a non-veg thali, and we have a veg thali. Excited, dude. Excited. I love thalis. So good. Okay, guys. So this is our Assamese thali. Look how many things we got. We have like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Twenty. Okay, so how do we start our thali? So first of all, you start with the dal. So take some dal. Okay, so some dal, mix it in here. Mix it properly. Okay. Take it, that portion out, and just taste it. Okay. No, no, no. You're not supposed to take that. You don't like chili? I like the chilies, though. It's a fried chili. Bhinja. Bhinja is eggplant. Eggplant. Oh, I love it. Nice? Super nice. A little spicy, a little hot. Oh, that is amazing. Oh. Guys, I'm a big fan of eggplant. Okay. All day, eggplant. Okay. Rajma. So rajma is like a dal? It's a vegetable. It's a vegetable? But it has like chickpeas, or am I wrong? No? No, it's not chickpeas, actually. You can also mix it with the rice. Very nice. It's like a light curry. Yes. Like a very light curry. So this is the khaag. I actually like it a lot. Yeah, I know. I've eaten it before. Very green and healthy. You know, what's this? Like a spinach? Spinach. Oh, wow. Nice. Aloo tadpuri. Okay. It's made of potatoes and some other vegetables. Mixed vegetables you can call it. It's another light curry. I'm gonna have some, so it's potatoes, carrots, onions. One more thing, David. This is the aloo pitika. Yeah, I've had aloo pitika. Boiled aloo. Yeah, so it's basically mashed potatoes. And now, starting with the mains. I like that a lot. A little hot, too. A little chili. There's chilies in here? Little bit. Oh, yeah. Oh, so hot. This is the mutton. Right there. I love mutton. So the mutton here is goat, right? Yes. Is there bones in this one? What's this? How is it? Sorry. I'm in awe. It's so delicious. The mutton is so tender. It really is like butter. It's like my teeth are a knife. Nice spices. Not too spicy. What's in the curry? Do you know? Any idea? Cardamom, maybe. There is. And there are some other masalas as well. Other masalas. Yeah, yeah. Always masalas. It's not too spicy. It's perfect. Chicken? This is duck. All right. This is the duck. Oh, my God. This stuff looks good. Oh, this one has bone. That's a bone. That's a bone, for sure. So let's go with the duck. Very different. It's yummy. It's a lot of fat. There's bones. Big bone. I'll put it aside. I'm going to get some of the potato. Oh, the duck is very juicy. Very tender. I haven't had duck in Assam yet. This is your first time? That one's straight bone. That's why I stick to the mutton. Okay. No bones. Less bones. There's a chicken right here. Okay. So the chicken has a little bit of bones as well. But it looks really good. It's not boneless, actually. I like that all these curries are very dark. You know, very dark. And that's basically, you know, for this one, I just gotta grab it, right? You have to use your hand. Oh, wow. Yummy? The masala is so different. That one's so good. And I like always going for the bone, you know? Like ripping everything off the bone. So that is the fish. In Assamese, the fish is called maas. Okay. And this is the burali maas. I don't know what it is called in English. I'm gonna grab some of this stuff. Yes. Put it here. So I'm just gonna break off a piece of the fish here. Okay. Okay, like that. Very nice. I'm sure there's bones. It's river fish. Always bones. Always be careful with the fish, right? Yes. Just small bones. Fish bones. No bones there. No bones. Nice. How's the taste? Very light curry. Like the masala. No chili. Do you find it more salty taste? Yeah, a little salty. Salty? I mean, it shouldn't really be that. So, you know, in Assam, this is called maas tenga. That was very nice. The fish is very good. Luckily, I got no bones. But be careful. I'm always careful. I'm really careful. I get nervous. And what do we do with the papad? Just... Oh, is that oily? It's a little bit. It's very tasty. Just like that? Dal, rice, and then papad. I'll do it like that. So here we have the pork. As you can see, nice fat piece right there. I'm gonna get this piece. And it comes with some vegetables, right? Nice vegetables. Tender, juicy. It's made up of some vegetables that I have. Yummy. I mean, I just had straight fat right there. It was only fat. It was good. So just mix up with the rice a little bit. No, vegetables are amazing. Very amazing. And over here, we have some more vegetables. And these are like stir-fry vegetables, basically. Wow, super healthy. Also, taste this bhaji. This bhaji? It's like pumpkin. So here we go. It's like sweet potato. Fried sweet potato. Pumpkin fried. Fried pumpkin. Oh, it's pumpkin. Pumpkin, sorry. That sweet potato thing, it's very sweet. That's so good. This is the kheer, the bhaji. The kheer? You know, you take this after your lunch. Can I try right now like this? Definitely. Okay. Rice pudding. Milk rice. And what's the next one? This is the omita khar. Omita khar. Khar is an Assamese traditional food. Yeah, got it. I had it in Guwahati. Yes, it's made up of papaya. Omita. Yeah, it's not really sweet. Not too sweet. This is really sweet. This is more like a little bitter, you know. It's good though. Next one? So this is a chutney. This chutney? Made of, I think, pudding. It feels like a lentil mash. Like dal mash? Like mashed dal? It's nice. It's like, I think this is my favorite though. So it's like you love sweets. I don't love sweets. I rather have this stuff. This is really good stuff. I didn't try this one. What was this one? Okay. This is a kind of dal. Another dal? Another dal. So it's a green dal. I'm just gonna get some of the rice. Right there. Right. Nice? It's lighter. No spice. You know, here in Assam, it's not really spice culture. It's not like too spicy. They usually do have like a pepper here and there. But it's not like, oh my god, oh my god, I like it. There was no pepper. There was no spice. They just have a chili. Like a straight chili. But I had Naga food. Naga food killed me. I mean, I love it. Every single thing here. Favorite thing was that for sure. Yes. Wow. Well, guys, we had such an incredible day. We started off with some delicious chai and a kachori. Then we went, we saw a park. We saw the ghats. Then we went to another park. We saw an incredible view overlooking the river and the city of Testport. And then we came here and had this delicious Assamese thali. I mean, wow. What an incredible meal. We're gonna finish this up. Don't you guys worry. Without the camera. Well, guys, if you love this video, please give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. Also, follow them on Instagram. Testport Buzz. And we'll see you on the next travel food adventure in Testport, Assam, India. Peace.