Yesterday I landed up at The Olives restaurant at Deccan Plaza, Royapettah, to sample their much advertised Amritsari Food festival. It had been a while since I had genuine Punjabi food like that available at Ahuja Dhaba on the way to Chandigarh. Olives had got chefs from Ludhiana for this festival and with my mouth already watering, I landed up at the venue 5 minutes before the proposed start of lunch at 12 pm.
To my amusement, the place was not even set up and a lady with a mop and broom was cleaning the lunch area. I saw a very irritated chef standing on the floor, with all the waiters and manager running around him. I was told rather brusquely that would have to wait for 15-20 minutes before coming in. This was unusual, as most food festivals I have gone to are set up and open at least half an hour before the designated time.
As I walked in for the second time at 12.20 pm, the chef was clearly irritated and told me that I should probably wait for another 15 minutes. At this point in time one of the managers noticed me and reluctantly asked me to take a seat inside the restaurant, much to the disapproval of the chef. As I sat waiting for the menu card, I cannot but describe the scene in front of me. It was straight out of a B-Grade war movie. There were some 20 people on the floor—some managers, some chefs and some waiters. All their energy was being taken up by this one stand at the entrance, which would eventually house the ‘welcome drink’. So my friends had set up the dessert first and the starters and welcome drink last—A classic mistake.
It was already 12.30 and I was getting tired of watching this mayhem and got up to leave for good. Then one of the senior managers woke up to the fact they had a customer in the restaurant and ran up to me. He asked me to sit, pacifying me with soup and starters. It was 12.35 now. These guys were 35 minutes behind schedule for a Saturday lunch buffet in Chennai where most things concerning food run on time. Chef Gordon Ramsey would have thrown a fit by now. But the chef here was not Gordon Ramsey and Olives is definitely not competing for a Michelin star.
I had ordered for a Bajra soup and my wife Tomato soup. The Bajra soup is a delicacy in parts of Punjab, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, especially in winters. The one I received was tepid, a bit more salty than what I expected, but overall palatable. The tomato soup on the other hand was just not up to the mark. The starters – vegetable Vada and Corn Pakoda (don’t ask me if this forms part of Punjabi food, unless you want to start a conspiracy that Vada actually originated in Punjab and the South Indians stole it and made it their own) were just o.k.
Now to the main course. There were close to 17 dishes to choose from including some very distinct Marwari dishes cooked in Jain style! Add to that Kashmiri Naan, Kabuli Pulav and Kundru Biryani (I have to check if this is a new dish in Punjabi cooking). A Punjabi food festival without non-vegetarian food itself comes with many challenges. To add a religious dimension to it, is simply a catastrophe. Some dishes had names I had not heard of before like Achaari Sabzi, which my wife said tasted predictably like cooked pickles.
Sample this – Sarson ka saag but no makki ki roti. Pretzel sized Naan. No laccha Paratha or rumaali roti or Amritsari Kulcha or Alu Paratha or even the common Paneer Tikka or Dal Makhni. Giant round plates with cut banana leaves (I was stumped on this! Punjabis, with all due respect to South Indians, do not eat on leaves as these leaves are not commonly found in Punjab!!), accompanied with small bowls and tumblers. Waiters with Rajasthani padgi, a Khalsa symbol on a Darbaan uniform. And most importantly -- No Sardarji anywhere in sight!! That itself dampened spirits.
Let me come to the good part. If there was one dish that stood out in the entire crowd, it was the humble rajma. Dum Aloo was cooked to perfection. The lassi, was a gut chiller. The Rabdi was great and so was the Doodhi Halwa, but the Jalebi sucked! It tasted more like Jaggery.
The ultimate non-Punjabi item was a parting gift given to my wife -- a very south indian looking agarbathi stand and a sweet that tasted suspicioulsy like a hyrbid between Maharashtrian Sheera and Tirunelveli Halwa.
At Rs 375+ taxes per head, one can sample better food on an a-la-carte option. Too many dishes, mediocrely cooked, spoilt the buffet.
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