Sarafa Bazaar

Indore's legendary night food market — a jewellery district by day, the city's best street food by night

Sarafa Bazaar is a narrow lane in the old city near the Rajwada that operates as a jewellery market by day and India's most celebrated street food market by night. From around 9pm, vendors set up carts and stalls selling an extraordinary range of Indori specialties: garadu (a fried yam snack seasoned with spices), bhutte ka kees (grated corn cooked with milk and spices), jalebi served with fafda, shikhanji (a spiced lemon drink), and various types of chaat and mithai.

The market runs until 2am or later and the lanes fill with locals of all ages. This is not a sanitised tourist experience — it is how Indore actually eats on a weekend night. Come hungry and with an adventurous stomach; point at what looks good and eat standing up. The garadu and the sabudana khichdi in particular are things you will not find as well-made anywhere else.

eating out market restaurant
A story
Sarafa Bazaar is a jewellery market during the day. At around 9pm, the jewellers close, the street vendors appear with their carts and stalls, and the whole lane transforms into one of India's great street food destinations, operating until 2 or 3 in the morning. The combination was deliberate: the jewellery traders, nervous about thieves, had lobbied the city to keep the street active at night, and the food vendors were the solution.