Nagori Shikanji is one of the most famous beverages of Indore Picture this: You are out at a workplace, the temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius, you are sweating out of your mind and your throat has gone dry. In that moment, you spot a Shikanji stand in the corner of a street. Imagine the kind of relief that will wash over you, by the mere sight of it!
Shikanji is a common drink in every Indian home and a summertime favourite for many! You may also offer this delectable beverage to your visitors at events like as cat parties, buffets, and birthdays, and it will undoubtedly amaze everyone with its exquisite tastes. It’s also a good after-school drink for kids or an afternoon refresher for grownups.
Like a lot of other food dishes, Shikanji is also one of the many food attractions of Indore. It is made and served at a lot of different places in Indore too, but a different version and the tastiest glass can be found at Nagori Sweets. Established in 1930, by the head of the family Durga Devi Nagori, Nagori Sweets was started and still exists only in the Sarafa Bazaar of Indore. Like a lot of other businesses here, Nagori is also a family run business. They have a long running tradition of preparing the Shikanjis by themselves. Being such an old and long running business, they do not, under any circumstances compromise with the quality of their product. For the same reason, they don’t hire new people to prepare the Shikanji; because they do not want to hinder the quality of the drink. Being a summer cooler, Shikanji sells the most during the summer. And being the most famous Shikanji spot in the whole city of Indore, they get the greatest number of daily customers. They prepare and sell as much as 500 glasses of Shikanji every day, during the summer. The Shikanji sells itself, to say the least. Even during monsoon, Nagori sells up to 200-300 glasses of Shikanji daily.
Sarafa is the biggest street food market in Indore, that only runs during the night. Even so, Nagori Shikanji cannot be found in the variety of food that is available throughout the night, at the market. According to the owner, after having to prepare and sell so many glasses of Shikanji during the day, the staff does not find time to prepare and put Shikanji as one of the food/drink items at Sarafa in the night.
The speciality of Nagori Shikanji is, contrary to popular methods of preparing Shikanji, the one available at Nagori, is prepared in milk instead of soda or water. Not just that, along with the rest of the ingredients used to make the drink, Nagori Shikanji also has nuts in it. The Shikanji made at Nagori, is just sweet instead of the added sourness since it does not contain any lemon. Being a big part of the city’s culture, Nagori Shikanji is one of the many food attractions in Indore. If you ever find yourself in Indore, be sure to check out this one of a kind, absolutely beautiful and the tastiest Shikanji you will ever find.