It was thursday night and my taste buds were wanting to eat something Spicy, Aromatic, Hot Non-vegetarian food. And after careful introspection I found that my inner want is Biriyani:-)
So hotels around Mahadevapura, Bhagini, Mayuri, Magath. Having decided not to eat in Magath, only two other options which I ruled out owing to poor service and yucky ambience. I was driving towards Marathalli in hopes of finding a good biriyani shop.
( I am the kind of person grew up in Chennai - you can drive around T.Nagar and find lot of Chicken Biriyani shops to choose from, with huge huge dheksaws, banging on it, "tak-tak-tak. An awesome full biriyani costs 50 rupees:-)
I was driving, until I saw a well lit shop which stood out especially because the other shops around were closed and lighted off, except this brightly lit with Yellow color interior. Moreover, well written Ammi’s BIRIYANI.
I could not stop saying this analogy "I felt like the Scrat who found his prized acorn in IceAge movie"
Parked the car in a hurry, went in saw the board "Chicken Biriyani - Rs.100; and ORDERED it. My mouth was watering and I could not bear the 3 minutes he took. At once he served, I pushed a big chunk of Biriyani into my mouth. What a wonder, immediately my mouth stopped watering.
My god, **this food was not even close to Biriyani**, does this guy know what is biriyani. my mind just did lot of thinking. **It does not even have salt**. I asked some salt from the bearer, sprinkled it on the rice, mixed and tried. **I felt eating Zeera rice**.
I tried adding the sherwa. **It is nothing less than what we get when we wash our Kadai after preparing a Non-Veg gravy**. It did not work any thing.
I took some raita, it was again like **1 cup of curd mixed with 2 litres of water** with some onions and chillies added, **with no add salt**.
Fed up, I asked the bearer to get some additional masala. He with a big smile said me it is not available, but a special biriyani with extra masala is available which has a different pricing. Bit** this first does not even taste like a biriyani and you are saying me special biriyani is available.
The biriyani hardly smelled like it should. In the whole portion of Biriyani, **did not come across a single clove, elachi, curry leaves** or for that matter anything. **Just Zeera rice with little Turmeric sprinkled gave that color. But I could not even see Zeera. So its kind of Zeera rice without Zeera too**:(
I seriously felt cheated and why the hell for total of 10 chairs in a small 10x 14 room, around 8 bearers were standing, making it appear crowded but with no proper service.
Example: I asked tissue paper to a bearer A. He could have given it to me directly. But he said to bearer B who gave tissue paper to a table other than mine. F*** off dude.
I could see similar feelings on other customers face. Mostly came with family and were sighing off and eating.
I could not stop saying this to the bearer in a loud voice. "What you served is not even close to Biriyani, I could not even think of this as a Zeera Rice, now get me the bill". Everyone looked at me as a "something".
I got the bill for Rs. 105. Hmmm . Rs.5 for tax(5%). I still dont understand the tax system. I wonder how this tax varies from hotel to hotel. Going ahead in our Bangalore we will get Luxury tax to eat biriyani. looks like the day is not far:-)
I asked him do you take sodex-ho. Yes, immediately popped him Rs. 105 in Sodex-ho and left the hotel feeling cheated and disappointed. My taste buds were yelling me . "you cheated me".