Agashiye, Ahmedabad: Restaurant Review

Ahemadabad is situated on the banks of the river Sabarmati, and every time i set foot in Ahemdabad I am reminded that I am but a lesser soul treading this earth. But then, remembering Gandhi and his legendary Sabarmati ashram can be quite humbling. The abject poverty of his countrymen made the man embrace austerity and urge the rest of the privileged “class” to do the same. Today’s Ahemdabad is a spectacular contradiction to his ideas, and Agashiye is the perfect example of the excess he preached against. Not that we are complaining. No. Never.

The restaurant is located on the top floor of the heritage hotel - “The house of MG”, bang opposite the exquisite Sidi Saiyad Jali, definitely worth a visit, near Lal Darwaja in the heart of the old city. Now do not be confused by the “MG” in the name, it has nothing to do with Mahatma Gandhi. By some coincidence the late owner of this “haveli” was a one Mangaldas Giridhardas. Not that the present management is trying to milk the other “MG” “brand value”. No sir. Never.

There are around 10 parking spots in the hotel – i mean the ones that I could see, may be there are others hidden somewhere else. I don’t know. The hotel also offers a valet parking service, so you really do not have to worry about parking – but you could worry about your valet parked vehicle in between dhoklas and khichidi. I mean that in a general anywhere in the world context, not just in an Ahemdabadi context. That said, as I was in Ahemdabad, the newspapers reported this curious case of a certain bank manager (or some non banking financial executive, what do I know about such things other than that he was, well, a suave conman like the rest of his ilk) stealing an Audi Q7 from the Ahemdabad Audi showroom. And, and, he used it for 3 months before he got caught. So, so, so, you know what i mean, right?

Once you are past the parking, you get to the cashier and request to be seated – ahem, yes, the cashier. You pay upfront. Before eating. I know! Like I was going to change my mind about paying after eating. No man. I am only known to walk out of restaurants after I see the menu, and before I order anything. How the hell did my reputation get ahead of me! dang. Anyways, after having confirmed to the clean shaven grinning face under the sparkling white Gandhi cap, that one would indeed dine at this fine restaurant, one is escorted in a lift to the upperest (I just invented that. We, upperest and me, will see you in the abridged Cambridge dictionary of the English language. Soon.) floor. I must admit, I was feeling like an out of place buffoon – I mean shorts, chappals, an old supersize and nearly torn t-shirt, no wonder they asked me to pay first. I was the perfect villager in a diamond shop.

At the top floor, one steps out into a terrace peppered with young palm trees and other greenery. The summer heat hit me. And then I realized that the hotel, obviously, is air conditioned. It did not feel like it was “chilled 15°C” air cooling, like it should be, but it was a very pleasant 24°C. This area is where the guests are entertained in the evenings (No. Not customers. Please. They are guests.) It was how the Indian National Congress met all those years ago, and how the Congress (Indira) meets today I guess. One is quickly ushered into another smaller, but air conditioned, room where the waiters in green kurtas, spotless white dhotis and smiling faces adorned sometimes with handlebar mustaches outnumber the tables and chairs put together. You do realize, that I did not have to navigate all by myself through the self explanatory maze. There was a staff member guiding me to my table all the time, least I get lost. I know.

We was handed over to a portly “Harisingh ji”, who took it upon himself to ensure that I would put on 5 kilograms in 20 minutes. First, “welcome ji” he said and presented me with a rose. I know. What the efff. Bali ka barka. I was waiting for the tikka ana arrati, but that did not happen. Thank god. Then the Aam ka panna and jal jera followed. The lunch comprised of unlimited helpings of “kadi”, “dal fry”, “avial” (yes avial, no kidding), and one more vegi dish which i do not know the name of, kachoris, rotis, parantas, kichdi, ghee, kulcha and jera rice. Every dish was promptly refilled the second you finished it. Even though there were more waiters than chairs, I never felt like they were waiting over my shoulder to refill my plate. I was reluctant to apply makkan to my kulchas, but Harisinghji insisted, “It is the only way to eat it sir. Belive me. Try it once.” and went on to empty one quarters of a cup on my kulcha. And boy. Was it heavenly or what?

After gorging on the yummy food for 20 minutes like a person from a famished land (attempting to do full paisa vasoolee yaar, come on!) my stomach was at its elastic limit, and just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, Harisinghji offered icecream – locally made mango icecream. “Totally organic sir. We make it here only sir. Very little sugar. Try a little bit”. I mean, really, you forgot that you paid money to be treated like a guest.

A very sleepy me then staggered to the overpriced handicraft shop on the ground floor to see anything caught my fancy. And they did. Overpriced. But still, the whole afternoon was one paisa vasool.

This is also a good place for those interested in the Ahemdabad night walk.

Ambience	10/10
Service	10/10
Food quality	8/10
Buffet price	Rs 450 + taxes

Website: http://www.houseofmg.com/agashiye.php?topid=Mg==

Ahemdabad night walk: http://www.houseofmg.com/nightwalk.htm

As the discerning reader would have no doubt deduced, yours truly is now diversifying his pointless blog to include restaurant reviews. Yay. How thrilling. Now let us all open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate this momentous occasion. As if sleep inducing accounts of his boring travels down the beaten path and book reviews of books which no one but him would dare to touch were not reason enough to… hmmm… well… you know, hurl a couple of rotten eggs his way while cursing him for wasting your valuable time. Well, now you have reason to collect some rotten tomatoes as well. Wow. How cool is that? Ha ha ha!

Agashiye, Ahmedabad: Restaurant Review

Zurich

After several months of lost opportunity and after 7 transits and a day spent at its zoo, I finally got to eat authentic classic Swiss Fondue and Raclette... oh yes, and also spend an entire night in Zürich last weekend. My cousin, the same one I was trying to call in the Heathrow incident, was visiting Zürich with his friend, so it was quite logical that I got my fat ass to Zürich :)

If you have seen the Bangalore International Airport, then you have pretty much know what to expect at the Zürich Airport. Zürich Airport is part of the consortium running BIAL. And like namma bengaluru airport the public transport connectivity from Zürich Airport to the city is funkastic. You have a choice of the train (SBB), which will take you to the main railway station (no prizes for guessing! its called Zürich Haputbhanhof) for 6 CHF, or the tram line number 10 which will also get you to the main railway station in a few extra minutes. You can also buy a 24 hrs pass for 8 CHF. Pssst... I did not know this.

Anyways, a trip to the information center at the main railway station is worth the 10 odd calories spent. You can find out just about every thing you need to know for your short visit from the friendly people manning (O.K. Womanning) the center. We spotted a brochure advertising an interesting city walk here – The Ghost walk of Zurich. You are promised goosebumps and hair raising stories. Alas it was only available in spring or fall. It is something I would like to try the next time I am in Zürich.

By the time we guys reached Zürich it was 6 pm in the evening. Time for dinner you'd say huh, but we were a bit full with some junk food we had had, a little stroll in the city was in order to build up an appetite. So, we walked around the city, nearly froze in temperatures of below -4°C; soaked in the magnificent and charming sights of a city by night, which European cities seem so adept at exuding; and occasionally broke our zombie state walk to click some photographs.

What you see above is a view of the river Limmat, with the Zürich main railway station in the left edge and the Zürich Museum of something something. There are way too many museums to remember in this city!

The above is a view of the Grossmunster (i.e. big church) across the river Limmat.

The above the view of the city library (Zentralbibliothek)

And this is the view of the Kantonsrat (or Canton advice?? must be some sarkari office)

Oh well, so we were semi frozen, and had built up an appetite, so we headed to the world famous in Zürich restaurant for Original Swiss Fondue and raclette – Restaurant Swiss Chuchi. A cloud of aromatic cheese overwhelms the vicinity of the restaurant, so you cannot miss it. Apparently this is some sort of dandy place where folks need to make a reservation, so the waiter gave us some serious attitude for not making one in advance and warned us that nothing was available until 10.30 in the night. But Fondue we wanted, so we put our names on the list and made our way to the bar with the propeller. I remembered this place on the corner of Zähringerplatz from a previous trip.

It really was funky visiting this place with my cousin (a PhD) his two friends, both PhDs. hehe. It sure was fun. Oh, btw, for all the gay people out there, Zurich has a mind boggling number of gay bars and pubs, and not to mention exotic dance bars (you know what I euphemistically mean)

Anyhoo, the food at the Swiss Chuchi was not all that great. First they force you to buy one dish per person (??), first time i ever saw that on a menu by the way, and then the service was.. hmmm.. well.. flaky at best. I think it was because we got a waiter from the neighbourhood of our motherland, who was intent on getting his revenge for an imaginary crime we had committed by feeding us some “desi” Reisling. Yes, he said - “Original Desi”. I am no wine expert, but I have my doubts about “Original desi” ;)

Now, I was a 110% certain that we had trains every hour to Konstanz, even at night. Before someone gets all ecstatic, no. That is far, far, far away from the truth. The last train is at 1, there is another at 3 to Kreuzlingen, and the first train in the morning is at 6am. Or so the oracle of the TV schedule bespoke. Crap! so I had to spend the night at Zurich. God bless the poor souls\ of my cousins friend, for having given shelter to an almost homeless guy that night :P

Anyways, the next morning, we had a nice stroll near the Zurich lake; got aquainted with the ka-ka-ka-kawah-ing gulls; and then walked up to the Grossmunster for a splendid view of the whole city.

A hazy morning at the Zurich lake.

It costs 4 CHF to climb up the 70 meters and 187 steps up to see this view. Unfortunately for us, it was a rather hazy morning, but not too hazy :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the city buying some swiss army knives at Teddy's souvenir shop, and in the evening we made our way to Sihl city and to Vapiano’s for a super duper dinner. I realized later that Vapiano’s is a franchise operation, but the setting was spectacular, the food was good, and light on the wallet by Zurich standards. The most interesting part of the setting was the bonsai tree around which we ate. We could garnish the dish with fresh mint, basilikum, petersilie straight from the bonsai garden.

P.S. And then I took the 8.30pm train home ;)

P.P.S. The seeds of a new adventure have been sown - The Santiago de Compostella. Will I do it? Won't I do it? Will it be like the millions of other plans that i make? Muhuhahahaha....

P.P.P.S Did you notice that every shop has a website????

Zurich