Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Taste-Bud

In India one of the most popular foods is Chinese food. And by that I mean Chinese food from 'Biswas Dragon Corner'. I will have a whole other post just
dedicated to this but for now lets move onto another Asian choice, Japanese Cuisine.

Now in India I have never seen Japanese Cuisine take off like the Chinese did. This always puzzled me no end until I had a chance to frequent and sample some amazing fare Japanese style. (Yes, I know how to use chopsticks)

I have gone to Teppanyaki and Sushi places several times now. And enjoyed them both a lot. Some things to be observed from both these places from a desi perspective.

Teppanyaki cuisine will never ever make it in India. The whole premise of the Japanese grill just cannot. First of all it isn't cheap. My dinner alone cost me about 35$ now. Theatrics is a large part of the whole experience. The chef will often perform juggling acts with sharp knives, toss egg shells into his hat, happy face, onion volcanoes etc.
Desis can watch juggling acts like these by the dozen if they just attend any mela type exhibitions. Also all the food is cooked on the 'teppan' (grill) in front of you. Thus this means that it is far from kosher for a vegetarian(Even if he does order vegetarian food explicitly). Thus this ultimately ensures that I have been to Teppanyaki places only with colleagues and the muse.

Now sushi is a whole different ball game. I have a vegan colleague who liked the food over here. (Vegan is the baap of vegetarians.) I have loved the chicken curry over here. A very different style of making curry than the Indian/Thai way. But yes if there was a place where vegetarians could go and eat some great food if they just explored then this would be the way to go instead of the same old choices between a cheese pizza, BK veggie burger, Subway sandwhich/pizza.

Coming to the point the muse hates sushi, which isn't a good thing and loves teppanyaki which is.

2 comments:

Alok said...

Good I decided not to accompany you guys :-)

Shrek said...

@alok
this was with office colleagues..you would not be there anyway...

most people have this biased prejudice against sushi without even trying it...