How far would you go for your favourite bite? Sid, Sameer and Aakash would, of course, go “anywhere”.

“Hum cake khane ke liye kahin bhi ja sakte hain,” they had declared in Dil Chahta Hai.

A couple of weekends back, New Ballygunge resident Suvro Das admitted as much. His gastronomic weakness, though, is the aloo paratha.

The young businessman had driven over 40km down National Highway 6 (Bombay Road to most of us) on his pursuit of paratha. The stop was the Azad Hind Dhaba in Uluberia. Time 11am. “I am here only for the aloo paratha,” Das smiled as he waited for his sumptuous brunch to arrive in the open-air area of the 11-year-old outlet.

There’s also an air-conditioned area with 100 covers, where Satyaki Bhattacharya, who owns an IT company in Calcutta, was busy tucking into — you guessed right — aloo paratha. There was also butter chicken and more he was sharing with a bunch of employees. They were all on their way to Digha for a weekend.

Located near Dankuni on the Kona Expressway, this sprawling eatery is a branch of the Azad Hind Dhaba (often known as M.F. Husain’s dhaba, because of the late artist’s patronage) on Calcutta’s Ballygunge Circular Road. The first dhaba was set up by Chaman Lal Sharma in 1947 and named after “azadi”, given the patriotic fervour of the times.

Today, the dhaba has eight branches in and around Calcutta, including one on NH 2 or the Delhi Road.

The one on Delhi Road is located in Gopalpur, about 65km from Calcutta. It was set up in November 2009. Both dhabas are a stopover spot for long-distance travellers.

The one in Uluberia caters to travellers to and from Kharagpur, Mandarmani, Digha, Haldia and Kolaghat, the other one is visited by people going to or coming from Burdwan, Santiniketan, Tarapith, Durgapur, Asansol. Both premises are leased from Bharat Petroleum Corporation, stay open 24 hours and follow a strict no-alcohol policy.

The two are, however, a study in contrasts.

N.R. Sharma, a relative of owners Satish K. Sharma and Dharam Bir Sharma (sons of Chaman Lal), is the manager at the Bombay Road branch. More popular as “Tauji”, the mild-mannered gentleman took Metro for a stroll on the premises, pointing out the facilities.

The dhaba has green lawns where visitors can have their meals when the weather is good. There is a children’s park with swings, a slide and a jungle gym. Two guards keep an eye on the little ones, allowing the parents to dine in peace. “Safety is very important for us. We have CCTV surveillance too,” Sharma said.

Many famous faces have visited his dhaba, from M.F. Husain to Kareena Kapoor. Asked about the most popular dish at his dhaba, Tauji picked Tandoori Chicken and Daal Tarka. Kebabs, bhartas and other gravies also do very well, along with parathas and kulchas. “We use kaju-pista (cashew and pistachio nuts) to make our white gravies,” he said.

The dhaba serves up 25-30kg chicken as curries and another 20-25kg chicken at the tandoori counter a day on weekends. A large amount of paneer is consumed too. The dhaba also serves south Indian items, which move fast during breakfast, and Chinese dishes.

There is a separate area where truck and lorry drivers eat. They are given a 50 per cent discount on the bill and not charged service tax. There are washrooms and toilets for the truckers too. For visitors, there are two sets of “his” and “hers” toilets — clean and dry.

Some are just happy to stretch their legs in the middle of a long journey and use the toilet. Like the Mukherjees from Siliguri. Their Volvo bus to Tezpur had stopped at the dhaba for a break. While the family didn’t want to grab a bite, they got off the bus and enjoyed the peaceful ambience. The kids immediately ran to the play area. According to Tauji, the weekend sees 2,500-3,000 visitors a day. On holidays and extended weekends, the count rises to 4,000.

On Delhi Road, manager Sanjay Kumar Patra does not see this kind of a crowd. “Our footfall is quite erratic. On some weekdays, there is a trickle but suddenly we see some 700 people. On a weekend, we get about 150 to 200 customers,” he said.

This dhaba too, has an air-conditioned section to seat 40 people and a regular section of similar size. The front lawn is pretty and there is a place for kids to play football and cricket. But the kids’ play area is unkempt, with a broken see-saw and litter on the grass. The toilets were unusable because of a malfunctioning water pump the day Metro visited. There was no running water for four days.

Inside the circular AC restaurant, Nivedita Mitra, a Calcutta resident travelling to Asansol, was having a Punjabi lunch with her husband and twin boys. The tandoori chicken was disappointing — a shocking orange. “Customers want it red,” insisted manager Patra. The daal tadka and “oil-free” lachha paratha were, however, quite good.

Patra admitted that the dhaba on Bombay Road was more popular. “Who will drive out to this place? It’s over 60km from Calcutta and some 47km from Burdwan town. Even then, we get diners. Also, many travellers prefer to stop at Kolaghat while others want alcohol, so they go to the nearby Hindustan Hotel, which serves simple Bengali food.”

This place used to be abuzz when the Tata plant was coming up at Singur, just 17km away, said a dhaba employee.

Patra is bullish about his dhaba, though. “The Jindal plant will come up, Pailan too. Give us another eight years, and we will be the better dhaba,” he grinned.

May be then Suvro will drive down Delhi Road for his aloo paratha.