Ooty in Season - Food

I'm presently reading Vir Sanghvi's Rude Food (2004) and I am thoroughly enjoying his sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes blunt account of the food he has eaten in India and around the world. He is a bit of a kill joy though, for people who aspire to write about food, as he includes so many minute details about hotels and their chefs, food served in higher end hotels, the staffs' service, the kind of wine to drink, the foods to stay clear off for the weak-hearted in other countries, they best way to cook a truffle, truth about caviar and whew...what not. And all this, in his inimitable style that very clearly defines the title of the book.

Sample this:

I've never eaten a raw durian.
Believe me, I've tried. But the smell (like a dead rat decomposing in a pool of vomit on your dinner plate) has been too strong for my delicate sensibilities. ....I've eaten durian preserves. I've tried durian pastries. And I've struggled with a cup of durian ice-cream.

Believe me: it was truly, deeply, disgusting.

Yes, I know. Rude. He writes with the confidence of a guy who has seen and experienced a lot of the good life and is an authority on it. Here's another one:

With the notable exception of Air-India (where the First Class wines taste like urine samples collected from pregnant felines), most airlines are prepared to splash out on good wines. The champagne will always be vintage and the claret will come from a grand cru vineyard in a good year. The airline will also have paid some wine expert to select the best wines from unfamiliar regions so First Class is a good way to learn about new wines. 

In the wake of such rich and authoritative accounts of a well-traveled critic or maybe food writer (as he calls the book - a collection of food writings), I am trying to cope with my flagging confidence and finish this post on Ooty's food prospects. I promise that this food writing is devoid of anything remotely rude and sigh...fascinating. There's no caviar and champagne here nor are there any 'wild' mushrooms mentioned. Mainly because I know I shall cringe at the thought of shoving fish eggs into my mouth rather inelegantly, and so shall never find myself anywhere near caviar; also because Ooty is a hill station. Er...you get my point.

Ooty, according to Wikipedia, is known for the cultivation of 'English Vegetables' like potato, carrot, cabbage and cauliflower and 'English Fruits' like peaches, plums, pears and strawberries. But the fare dished out in the hotels I visited, except for probably Shinkows, did not capitalize the freshness of the produce. The vegetables were either drowned in sauce or gravies, or they were simply left out from the menu; perhaps the cost of the vegetables was a deterrent for the low and mid-segment group of hotels.

We did try a few restaurants here after dutifully checking out Lonely Planet and Wiki. Here is the list of the restaurants I went to:

1. Nahar's Chandan Restaurant:

We dropped in for lunch at this busy restaurant in the Commercial Road, Town Centre (address from Lonely Planet). The place was teaming with large families and groups of travellers. It took us a while to catch the eye of one of the many hassled uniformed guys, who could show us a table for two. S took things in hand and walked about the restaurant until he got a table. I sank into the chairs gratefully, without any hope of getting our food on time. But I was mistaken. The USP of a place like this is in their fast service. So S got his thali super quick, while I had to wait just a bit longer before I could try out the Butter naan and dingri mattar (mushrooms and peas in gravy). The butter naan was drenched in 'butter', though I don't really think it tasted like butter and the dingri muttar justified the low pricing. Nothing much to write about the thali as well -  Parboiled rice, sambar, rasam, vegetables, papad and curd were part of it. It was filling and average.

I think this restaurant would do for a regular thali meal at an economical cost. Or perhaps even decent North and South Indian meal. Don't think I'd opt for Chinese here though.

Rating: **

2. Shinkow's Restaurant:

For Chinese I'd rather go to Shinkow's. This restaurant is more of a landmark here and is often fondly remembered by my friends in Coonoor and Ooty. S recounted how when he studied in Ketti, his friends and he would save their pocket money to come have lunch here. They knew the owner and now his son who runs the place. I had read reviews on Tripadvisor about the bad service and extremely rude waiters, but in almost all reviews, the food got good rating. So in spite of S's reassurances about the place being good, I prepared myself to meet these rude waiters.

The first thing about Shinkows that surprised me was the brightness inside the restaurant. I somehow expected it to be dark and dingy, with red lanterns and low-end Chinese art on the wall. I was happily mistaken. The natural light streaming in through the thin curtains, gave a clear view of the clean and neat interiors. Tables seating four, with neat, checkered table cloth were placed around the room, which seemed to be a part of a house that was modified to accommodate the restaurant.

The well stuffed spring roll

The Chinese fried rice with a capsicum chicken gravy

The interiors of Shinkows

From outside

The elusive Chocobar ice cream which we enjoyed

Food over here is ordered by writing down on a notepad given by the waiter,  the number of servings and the number on the menu against the corresponding item. It was quite fun doing this,especially when you are one of those idle tourists whose major event of the day would have been holding a camera and clicking uninterested sambhars (ahem.... no, that does not sound familiar to you) in their 'natural' enclosures. The waiter, much to my surprise, was a very nice guy - courteous and confident. I made a note of this to write in the Tripadvisor website.

The food was definitely good. It was mercifully very un-Indian Chinese-y, as in there was no dhania (coriander powder) and chilli powder, or deep frying anything and everything in the menu before putting them in a gravy. The Chinese fried rice was mildly flavoured and tasty, and the capsicum and chicken gravy was a treat to the eyes and tongue. Not only were the vegetables fresh and correctly cooked, the gravy in which they nestled in was also good. I wouldn't mind going there over and over again for Chinese, while in Ooty. It gets a four star from me simply for being good value for money (when I travel to places like these, hill stations I mean, this parameter is always first on my list)

Rating: ****

3. Earl's Secret in King's Cliff

The path leading to Earl's Secret sure does seem like a secret pathway. We did not find any vehicle coming up with us nor was anyone going down the narrow winding road. This was the peak season and there seemed to be no traffic up here. The view was beautiful and our spirits lifted as we drove into the vast, verdant property with it's picturesque cottage. There was a kind of a glass house with tables laid out for people who wanted to bask in the bashful, weak sunlight. That's where we were headed too, but a few minutes tolerating a particularly loud, boisterous group and we were looking for a place inside. Inside here, is a converted house. The sit out had been transformed into the restaurant and the rest of the house had a few rooms for guests. It was not bad at all, but I was happy with my stay at Sterling Resorts and shall be happy to keep going there.

The menu here was no different than what many restaurants offer these days - Indian, Oriental, Continental (a bit of everything but not specialized in any) and the price quoted was on par with a good restaurant in Chennai. We wanted to try out their steak, so S opted for a chicken and I went for the lamb. We had also ordered a pea soup which was quite heart warming. The main course was adequate, in that we felt it did not justify the price. But who am I to say? They were probably charging us for the ambiance too. I would probably have felt better if they had offered the steak on a bed of those English veggies I had mentioned earlier, and veggies that had a bit of crunch to it. But as is the case with certain restaurants that don't take the art of cooking seriously, these poor things had their life cooked out of them.

We ended the meal with an apple pie served with fresh cream and filter coffee. I don't seem to remember how it tasted, and before you tell me this is exactly why organized people update their blog immediately after a trip, allow me please to put my case forward. I never forget good food, neither the memories associated with it. And perhaps that's the problem with Earl's Secret. Other than the beautiful scenery and the laid back atmosphere, little else is memorable.

Rating: ***

And so ends my er...writings about Ooty (has a nice ring to it), but as I said earlier...the memories live on. Happy travelling!