A promenade along Thandi Sadak

LUCKNOW: Soon, Lucknowites will be able to promenade the Thandi Sadak, the road along river Gomti that connects Chhatar Manzil to Rumi Darwaza, savouring Awadhi delicacies.

The twin delights will be available courtesy the urban development department, which is going to start a guided tour called ‘Awadhi Walk’.

With this, the total number of guided tours in the city will rise to three.

Officials said the tour would be a blend of both famous Awadhi cuisine and the city’s rich heritage. “The tour will be no less than a treat for food lovers, enabling them to savour delicacies once part of the royal ‘dastarkhwan’ (platter),” a senior official said.

Some officials also called it a ‘culinary walk’, saying the name was apt for this one-of-its-kind tour.

It will highlight the city’s street food and traditional cuisines, an intrinsic part of Lucknow’s tradition and culture. “It’s the most important part of the city’s history but somehow it remained untouched so far. In this tour, we will be exploring the city’s rich food and Royal Awadh cuisine,” an official said .

The city’s famous food joints serving traditional cuisine would be provided small modular kiosks on the Thandi Sadak. People on tour would be able to stop at the kiosks to relish the dishes and at the same time enjoy the beautiful skyline.

The department is also going to rope in some families who are keeping traditional recipes alive and traders who deal in spices and herbs. People can also gather information related to food and particular dishes from the audio -visual centres which the department is going to establish on the road, giving an altogether different experience to tourists.

Presently, there are two guided tours: Heritage Walk and Qaiser Bagh Heritage Walk, run by the UP tourism department. Both tours cover historical establishments in the Old City and gardens and monuments established during the regime of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

The Awadhi Walk tour, which will be the third, is a part of the smart city project.

District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, who recently chaired the meeting to review the progress of the smart city project, said, “Awadhi Walk would be a major attraction for tourists as well as locals. It’s the part of the smart city mission that will take off in a month or two”.

He said the department was ready with the blueprint and had signed an MoU with INTACH to make the dream project a reality.