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".