THERE ARE NO STRANGERS IN THIS WORLD, ONLY FRIENDS WE HAVE NEVER MET.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

World Cuisine at Auroville

I am not a foodie neither am I a connoisseur of food. But as far as I can remember I liked watching cooking shows, trying out new dishes happily being a mini Nigella in the kitchen(minus the B****). So when I landed in Auroville, I was quite happy to eat out at the different multi cuisine restaurants run by expats settled there.
The first morning unfortunately was a little disappointing. There were no continental breakfast place open on the ERC road. So found a small little place called “CHANDRU’S RESTAURANT” serving Dosa , Idli and regular South Indian food. The Pongal I ordered (which by the way is one of my favourite dish) was non- descriptive, whitish, more rice than dal (thanks to inflation). Oh well, at least our hungry stomachs were full! As we made our way back to the guest house, we promised ourselves to eat better for the rest of the trip.
And we did…at “GIORGIO’S”. We had Mozzarella fritters, frankly you can avoid that. But the pièce de résistance was the Gnocchi con Frutti di mare….Gnocchi, which is a kind of pasta (available in markets in Bangalore) cooked with sea fish. It was light, fresh, slightly thickened with cream and parmesan. A dash of lemon juice after which it promptly disappeared into our waiting stomachs. Strangely Giorgio himself was absent. So we were done with Italian or so we thought.

For dinner, it was time to turn French! We were at “MANGO HILL”, a beautiful hotel with a charming restaurant lovingly run by a French family. The swimming pool of the hotel was especially inviting. We ordered Roasted ham with lightly grilled vegetables for moi & Fish a la Setoise with french fries & garden salad for mon amie. Sadly though, no drinks on the menu ….so had to make do with half a bottle of wine back at the guest house.

The next day afternoon we made runs & reruns to & fro Matri mandir in the quest of finding our next cuisine, Greek! But when we reached there after crossing endless silent forests and lonely roads, the café was closed…for 15th August!!!!! Now what can possibly be the connection between a baklava or a moussaka & our Independence Day??? Ah well sometime can turn out to be a blessing in disguise…for then we settled for a restaurant called “TANTO’S”. Now we were not looking for Italian again but the fresh wood oven baked pizza at Tanto’s were delicious…So was the grilled grouper with fresh salad…Che Buono! The Mango sorbet was to die for!

The last evening at “LE CLUB”, Pondicherry was the time for Creole food washed with good beers. Who would have thought of Creole food in India…I guess India can surprise Indians too at times!!

Food for thought: Some people say that while on a holiday, food should be the last thing on the mind. But amidst the thrill of seeing new places, meeting new people, starting a journey or arriving at a new destination… isn’t trying out different food & cuisines also a part of the experience, another chapter of the exploration? I think so….

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