Monday, April 2, 2007

Never try Gujarati thali in Bangalore

Yesterday I went to ‘Zaika’ restaurant in Raheja Arcade in Koramangala in hope of eating Gujarati thali. There was a mention of this restaurant and that it serves Gujarati thali, in Bangalore Times on Friday.
And as you know, I have been praising Gujarati food; I thought we can try it out. But now, after eating it, I can understand why people wouldn't like Gujarati thali.
It was bad. They tried but the result was far from the real Gujarati food. Yes, they made it sweet. People should understand that sugar is an ingredient in Gujarati food, but it is not the only ingredient. There has to be a good proportion of spicy taste in it and sweet is just to offset the spices. Anyway, what made it worse was the price. Priced at 125 per thali, and limited food, it made matters worse. The katoris in which they provided the vegetables were so small, they could be meant for infants. Me being used to the unlimited Gujarati thali with lots of dishes, it was a major disappointment.
I guess everybody read the Friday article and came to eat the thali. So there was a waiting time of 20 mins outside the restaurant. Then once we were seated at the table,
10 mins later a waiter comes to clean it and put fresh table mats (paper ones) and get us glasses of water. After another long wait come something which could pass of as cold milk and some papads which we thought came to our table instead of the neighboring table. But the papads were good. Another long long wait for the thali and when it came, it was like a needle to prick my excitement. They tried to make undhiyo which was ok.
They tried the potato curry (gujju style). Major disappointment. Didn't finish even the infant size portion of it. Then there was kadhi which was the only thing which was close to the real taste. Also a piece of khaman/dhokla with sweet chutney (sweet being the key word :) ) They give 3 chapattis and a bowl of jeera rice. It is quite enough to fill your stomach but does not leave you satisfied.
The owners have an idea but they haven't planned the execution well (in fact not at all planned). Nothing compared to the execution style of neighboring ‘Gramin’ restaurant. It does leave you impressed and satisfied even if you have to wait for your turn at the table.
Let me leave Gramin to another blog. All in all, go there if you are really craving Gujarati thali and have no other option. Never go there if you want to see what a Gujarati thali is...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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