yummy indian food

continuing from my previous posts on my recent trip to india, this time, focusing on indian food. the first thing people think of when you say indian food is "spicy and hot". being a fan of spicy food, i was excited to find out how spicy authentic indian food was. to my surprise, spicy and hot are two different definitions. spicy, meaning a lot of spices put in the food, but not necessarily hot. hot or anghang, well, like your tongue is on fire kind of hot.

first stop, Peshawri restaurant inside ITC Maratha Hotel, where i stayed for 2 weeks last nov 08, another 2 weeks in June 09 and 3 more weeks in sept 09. on my first stay, my super boss, boss, and 2 of my colleagues all went to this famous restaurant for a team dinner. we ordered this humongous plain naan bread... so big we couldn't finish it (to think i was with 3 big guys), chicken kebabs, lamb kebabs, and paneer tikka (cottage cheese that was tasteless and looked like an egg). i wasn't able to take pics since i didn't want to look like a "turista" in front of my boss. hehe. on my 2nd stay, it was just me and A. we ordered A's fave, king of kebabs (chicken with bones), pomfret fillet, plain naan (for me) and steamed rice (for A). again, no pics coz we were trying to eat as fast as we can since we planned to go shopping right after lunch! third stay, with L. this time, we both brought our cameras. there were free appetizers to munch on while waiting for our orders (pictured below).. see the cups that we used? "feel namin authentic na authentic!"


we ordered plain naan (just the small one), lamb kebab (pictured below, left) and boneless chicken tikka(pictured below, right). yummy!!!



i must say, i'm not a coffee drinker, but i find that india's coffee is not that great. they don't have starbucks or coffee bean or seattle's best, instead i noticed 2 of the popular coffee chains, cafe coffee day and coffee world, both in 2 different malls. i posted pics from both cafes. sorry about the blurred pic from coffee world.


while preparing for our trip to Agra, our clients were already telling us to try the chicken biryani and aloo (potato) paratha (bread like naan) in Dhaba. and that's what we did. from delhi to agra, we passed by so many towns and halfway through the car ride was dhaba. the driver stopped at Maharajah Hotel (nothing fancy, just some small casual dining restaurant with lots of souvenir shops inside the building). of course, we ordered aloo paratha (for L) while i got my plain naan. here's the pic below (the left one is the naan, on the right is the paratha) what's the diff between the two? just that there are minced potatoes inside the paratha while plain naan is just filled with air. i personally liked the plain naan.

funny story #1: L wanted mutton masala (lamb curry) while i wanted chicken tikka masala (chicken curry) or chicken biryani.. below is my conversation with the waiter (tried to be as correct as i remembered it)

me: i want to order chicken biryani
waiter: no. too spicy for you!
me: that's okay, i like spicy!
waiter: no. too spicy for you!
me: okay, fine. i'll get 1 chicken tikka and 1 mutton masala
waiter: no. mutton masala is too spicy for you. order lamb kebab or chicken tikka!
me: no, my friend wants mutton masala and i want chicken tikka
waiter: no, mutton masala too spicy for you! order tikka.
me: fine, we'll take chicken tikka masala and lamb kebab, is that ok?
waiter: ok!

whew! first time i ever had a waiter tell me what to order! but i still had a sumptious time eating the food! see below!


Funny story #2: the next day, we were going back from agra to delhi, when on the way, the driver again, took us back to Maharajah Hotel for lunch. This time, i told myself that I will eat chicken biryani no matter what the waiter says! the waiter who served our table was different this time but...

me: i want chicken biryani.
waiter: no. do not order chicken biryani.
me: why not???
waiter: chicken biryani, only chicken. order non-veg thali (points to another entree in the menu)
me: what's thali?
waiter: it's like set meal, where you have chicken, lamb, vegetables, dal (lentils) so you get different food
me: but i want chicken biryani (stubbornly refusing)
waiter: no, ma'am. not chicken biryani
me: (frustrated) why are you telling me not to order chicken biryani? this is what i want!
waiter: but non-veg thali is better!
me: (still very stubborn) no, i want mutton masala, chicken biryani and plain naan! that's it!
waiter: (a bit angry) fine! if that's what you want!

huh!!!!! what kind of attitude is that? i mean, i get it, he's telling us to try the thali (think bento box a la indian food) so we can taste different indian food, but i think customer is always right. i had a huge craving for chicken biryani (been anticipating for it for the past 2 weeks) and nothing was going to stop me from ordering biryani! L wanted the mutton masala (since we were in india) and i will not let her leave without tasting it too! (hehe!) see pics below!


i have learned that biryani is cooked in different ways depending on which indian area or region you're from. aside from this dhaba-style biryani, i've tasted the vegetable biryani in the canteen in front of our office, chicken biryani made by my pakistani colleague's wife (using filipino chicken and rice and some indian spices), lamb dum biryani in the buffet dinner at peshwa pavillion in itc maratha, and chicken biryani from new bombay canteen at the podium. so far, i think the best i've ever tasted is the chicken biryani from Happy Singh (a small indian restaurant a few blocks aways from the office)... it was so good, i finished the entire thing even when i was already so full! and i was sniffing halfway through the meal.. it was too spicy and hot but i loved it!!!

again, the food did not disappoint and we left the restaurant feeling sated and happy!

so when you ask me, what's the best thing in india.. i think i would have to say indian food (oh wait..there's still bollywood!)