Dining and food at Annapoorna Farm Karjat

On our trips to other farm stays, while booking we would ask if special food arrangements could be made as per the special nutrition requirements of our group. We were told yes, but nobody really followed up with our requests when we reached there. Since large number of guests were being catered to, it was not possible to cook food with no chillies or tomatoes or cabbage or whatever just for one person – this is what we were told. We understand the practicality of it, but if somebody truly wants to make guests comfortable, the extra mile can be taken surely. To our total astonishment & delight, this extra mile was taken by Mrs. Smita Kalamkar at Annapoorna Farm, Karjat. This lady is truly somebody extraordinary. It is true that there was only one family on day 1 of our stay and another family for half a day on day 2 of our stay, with us being the sole guests after that. Yet, she could have easily said, as was done at the other farm stays, that the menu was a fixed one and food for one person could not be cooked separately. Instead she went out of her way….

On the first day of our lunch meal, there was bhindi, masoor, jeera rice, dal fry, beans with green chillies, dudhi halwa and chaas. 2 pickles and dry chutneys (one til and one peanut) were the daily accompaniments along with saunf and salt. There was chicken too, though we were totally unaware that non-veg food was also offered at Annapoorna Farm. During the meal, Mrs. Kalamkar came to ask us if we enjoyed the meal. My sister mentioned that she could not eat tomatoes and had to eat food with no spice whatsoever. Mrs. Kalamkar immediately told her that she could inform her what she could eat. My sister asked her if sprouts could be cooked and she said yes.

So, at dinner time, when we went to the dining area, there was not only spicy capsicum for us along with sprouts, but a separate bowl of sprouts without chillies and the dal too was devoid of chillies and tomato. The non-veg dish was fish, which Mrs. Kalamkar said had no spice. She had not known that 3 of us are vegetarians, but when I told her our nieces ate non-veg, she right away asked them if they would like fish with spice & when the confirmed this, she whisked away the bowl and brought back 2 on a plate marinated with fish masala. 

It got even better…when I mentioned that my nieces wanted to try out traditional Maharashtrian food and did not want to see a single idli or dosa during their stay with us (they are based in Chennai), Mrs. Kalamkar said she would make special things for them. So we requested for missal pav for the next day’s breakfast.

On arriving for breakfast, we were once again flabbergasted to see separate gravy without tomatoes or spice just for my sister! All the missal ingredients – tomatoes, onion, peas, farsan and gravy – were kept in individual bowls so that everyone could take according to their choice. We had also asked for masala tea so this came with elaichi. When my sister asked for jiggery with a glass of milk, that too was brought. 

At lunch, the delights continued. There was tandlachi bhakri (instead of plain rotis) and stuffed spicy brinjal. Again, just for my sister, Mrs. Kalamkar had made jeera-aloo vegetable and in the cucumber raita the chillies were few and visible and could be removed. The sweet was sheera. Roasted papad too was served with all our meals.

At dinner, once again at our request for a light meal at night, there was pulao (with beans and carrots & no tomatoes) and sol kadhi with vermicelli kheer being the sweet dish.

On all the days, Mrs. Kalamkar would confirm what we would like to have – and we got it! The best surprise was the sweet chiroti at dinner time on the last night of our stay. We simply devoured the entire plate of 9-10 pieces!!

The one and only thing we did not like was the kokum sherbet served to us on the first day at our request (we ordered it instead of tea as we had disliked the tepid tea given on our arrival) as it seemed to be something artificial from a bottle and not the natural one.

Note that for tea generally nothing is served but vada pav was specially made on our request on one day and the gul poli served for lunch on another day we had later with our tea on that day. 

So all in all, a big hug to Mrs.Kalamkar for going out of her way to make us well and truly comfortable. We will never forget her hospitality. 

More useful resources:
1. Travelling to Annapoorna Farm

2. Arriving at Annapoorna Farm 

3. Review

4. General Tips

5. Activities 

6. Accommodation

7. Tariff & Contact details