Rangla Punjab Haveli: A traditional Punjabi village themed resort. Haveli, a traditional Punjabi restaurant on the G.T. Road, Jalandhar-Phagwara Highway, a wayside eating resort off Jalandhar.The resort that came up a few years ago, close to the popular Lucky Dhaba, has clicked like anything. It offers the ambience of a lost Punjabi village with a truck interior very much a part of the interior and waiters togged in tehmat-kurtas and phulkari jackets. Now it has grown to add a marriage palace and an enlosure called Rangla Punjab, which has a cultural programme every evening. Many wayside resorts are trying to go the Haveli way but this place, run by Jains of Jalandhar, remains unparalleled in success. The only thing that is not to be found here is non-vegetarian fare but people still come out in large numbers to Haveli. It's a new-age dhaba with a heady flavour of bygone Punjab. Haveli, a traditional Punjabi restaurant on the Grand Trunk Road near Jalandhar, has redefined roadside eating by a delectable blend of Punjabi cuisine and culture. Making it a clean break from the dust-and-flies fixture of the highway dhabas, this 23-acre food plaza offers ethnic food in a folk-laced ambience imbued with neatness and nostalgia. Haveli spawned a couple of copycats with "Haveli" suffix in Punjab and Haryana. On average, this 24x7 eatery attracts 5,000 to 8,000 customers every day per one of their employee.

 

The high turnover makes Haveli's gastronomical delights easy on the pocket. Haveli's USP is its ethnic look. From an exterior of "Nanakshahi" bricks to a bevy of antique artifacts, the place evokes the old world charm. Even the music is distinctly folk. Not surprisingly, it has become a must-stop eatery for the NRIs heading to or from Punjab in winters. While Haveli has expanded into a one-stop food plaza, Rangla Punjab, its entry-on-coupon eatery, takes the cake.

Haveli has an all-vegetarian menu of Punjabi food cooked in desi ghee (clarified butter). Dal Tadka, Karahi Paneer and Kheer are its top-selling all-season delicacies. In winters, Saron Da Saag and Makki Di Roti (Punjabi village winter speciality) is the most favourite dish. Saron Da Saag & other eateries offered in Haveli are specially mentioned in one of the famous Punjabi/Bollowood Singer Gurdas Mann's song (Apna Punjab Hove...Ghar Di Sharaab Hove... Mooli Naal Gandha Hove...Baan Wala Manja Hove... Ho Manje Ute Baitha JAT Oye Banea Nawaab Hove... Apna Punjab Hove...Ghar Di Sharaab Hove... Apna Punjab..........Apna Punjab..... Saron De Saag Vich Main Gheo Hi Gheo Pai Jaavan.. Makki Diyan Rotiaan Nu Bina Gine Khai Jaavan.. Khoo Te Jaa K Ganne Choopan.... Apna Punjab Hove...Ghar Di Sharaab Hove... Apna Punjab..........Apna Punjab.....). One finds many of the items listed in Gurdas Mann's song in Haveli restaurant except Sharaab (so far I know).

Every evening, the place reverberates with folk songs and dances, keeping Haveli's cash registers ringing. Somone in our family who works for an exporter in India, accompanied their foreign clients more than 50 times to this place though I visited it once only.