Mixed fare

MARIEN MATHEW

IT IS a flash card session. The card mentions Vadapalani. And you think of hospital, film studio, temple, traffic, congestion, pollution, etc. But hotel? Nah! How can there be a hotel in the middle of it all? But, yes, bang in middle of it all one can find a three star hotel.

All Spice, the multi-cuisine restaurant at the Hotel Aadithya, is not cramped at all. It is a well-appointed semi-independent unit with an adjoining lounge with a play area for children and toilets. The play area is a small patch of lawn with fountains and plants. Impressive is the word that comes to mind.

Though the menu features tandoori, South Indian and Chinese cuisine, to avoid outrageous combos we went desi. On the drinks front, the zafrani lassi (Rs.30) and pomegranate juice (Rs.35) were innovative and good. Adding milk/cream to the juice made all the difference. A few strands of saffron and good old lassi became something exotic.

We moved on to paneer amritsari (Rs.45). Minced, spiced paneer sandwiched between slices of; again, paneer and batter fried... it was a delectable starter. There were four small pieces. Forgive me for counting my chicken, but in this case it is vital. The numbers kept decreasing as the evening progressed.

Kalmi kebab (Rs.110) was everything it should be — tender, juicy and soft. But from the number had fallen from four to three. When the darbari malai kofta curry (Rs.80) arrived, it too had the same three dumplings. I was caught up in the magic of number three.

Konchu olathiyathu (Rs.140) too, if I had counted would have been around 12 (a multiple of three). Things reached a comical height when Kumbh mutter paneer (Rs.80) came, all the three, peas, paneer and mushrooms were so countable that I was convinced that the entire kitchen staff believed in numerology. The kurmi naan (Rs.30) was unusual and quite lovely.

We plumbed for gajar halwa (Rs.50) and shahi tukra rabri (Rs.50) from the dessert selection. As soon as the order was given we were told that the shahi tukra would take 20 minutes to arrive.

Since this had happened earlier in the evening with the entrees too, we dug our heels in. And what did we learn? Never fail to take a hint.

To begin with the rabri turned out to be plain milk. Then the bread pieces were fried in oil that had been used to fry something spicy. So we ended up having a hot sweet. Gajar halwa didn't smooth any ruffled feather either.

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