On Wednesday 14 February 2024, the Travel Chat group kicked off the new ‘Year of the Dragon’ with a walking and eating experience around Paramatta’s own Little India.
We began, as always, with the compulsory Probus coffee at Sweet Patisserie, enjoying great coffee and inexpensive baklava. Our expert guides, Piyush and Poormina Bhatt, joined us and we heard about James Ruse and John Harris, two early pioneers whose land grants formed the suburb of Harris Park.
In the 1960’s, many people from the Hadchit area of Northern Lebanon made their new home in Harris Park. Sweet Patisserie and the Harris Park Food Store are the last two remaining Lebanese shops in the area. Since the 1970’s, people from the Gujarat area of north-west India have also settled, and have become the predominant ethnic group.
We browsed the produce at Patel Brothers which is the oldest and largest Indian supermarket in Harris Park. The store covers two storeys – the first abundantly stocked with Indian grocery items, spices, lentils and nuts, whilst the upper-level displayed festival and religious items, along with kitchenware. Around the corner was the Chawpatee food truck where Piyush described the various snack foods from the different regions of India.
Carrying on, down Marion St to Jaipur Sweets, we watched a demonstration of balejuti being deep fried and soaked in orange syrup, and discovered that it is best eaten while still warm and crunchy. The store’s owners offer langar (free meals) to the community on Tuesday nights, as part of their Sikh faith.
Next stop was at Chatkazz where the motto is to “make life sweeter” with a huge array of authentic Indian desserts in vibrant colours. Some are even decorated with edible silver foil. In Wigram Street, home cottages have been converted into restaurants offering an abundance of food from regions spread across India, Nepal, China and Bangladesh.
We got our bling on at Malabar Jewellery admiring the many cases of elaborate 22 carat gold and diamond jewellery. Several cases displayed the traditional antique adornments worn at weddings.
On to Vastra Designers where we could indulge our own Bollywood fantasy moment, trying out the colourful saris and men’s suits. Curly-toed shoes anyone!
Lunch was at Mad Down Under where our guides Piyush and Poormina helped order a selection of dahl, chicken, and lamb curries accompanied by pappadums, roti and rice. If you couldn’t decide what you wanted, then you could always try out a thali which includes three different curries.
When James Ruse and John Harris first started their farm years ago, they could not have imagined how the land would eventually produce a crop of exotic sub-continent cultures and cuisines. The tour was so enjoyable, that there have already been requests for a repeat visit!
Connie Fraser
Travel Chat Convenor