J-emine's reflexionando

We missed out on having a Diwali celebration on the actual day this week- which basically meant a nice dinner at Little India and a stroll around to soak up the festivities and taking photos. Hence it was brought forward to Saturday, when H got back from his work trip.

I’ve been meaning to give Podi & Poriyal a try for sometime now – a Southern Indian restaurant serving vegetarian cuisine. Being huge foodies and rather discerning with our choices, especially H – it was rather intrusive, when seated we had not just 1 but 3 attendants come up to tell us – (1) what was their specialities – Chakka Biryani with raw jackfruit, of which YOU need to order the accompanying – Alleppey Curry (red chilli based gravy with baby potatoes and mangoes) to go along with the Biryani or (2) Podi & Poriyal Dosai and (3) we should not order both as it will be too much for 2.

Perceived quality of customer service varies, finding a good equilibrium is never easy as well. As much as we appreciated the endearing service, diners should have the choice to decide to (1) over-order, (2) throw cash to just try a dish which they won’t finish and doggy bag it home or (3) heed the advice. In our case, H wanted the Dosai, and was not ready to relent on the top fav, which I wanted to try, so we ended up with 2 mains.

0:1 – the Dosai dish won hands down. I rather grudgingly accepted defeat.

After dinner, H suggested to the restaurant manager to consider a taster menu for smaller groups, allowing a variety of options to be made available, especially when portion size offering is more fitted for communal sharing of groups or 3 or more. Novelty wise, great – economically – may not be sound for the restaurant, considering the efforts needed by the kitchen to cater to such size. Guess P&P is simply better for communal eating for those with particularly greedy stomachs.

[Nice to try: Onion Pakoda; Must try: Beetroot Patties, Podi & Poriyal Dosai]

Wishing all that celebrates and even those that don’t – Light, Love and Hope.