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Lunch was at a restaurant in Shimla called ‘Alpha’. Started in 1961 by Surendra Paul Bamba and located at Scandal Point, it boasts multiple cuisines and smoking/non-smoking seating areas.
Did you know that Scandal Point derives its name from an incident connected to the flirtatious Maharaja of Patiala? As the story goes, The Maharaja was besotted by the daughter of the Viceroy of India and one day, while she was taking a walk, kidnapped her from that point. Then onwards, that point was known as ‘Scandal Point’. The service is small town hospitality at its best – uniformed, uninformed but friendly, and you’re better staying away from the stuff they called ‘Chinese’. It may also be advisable to stick to the staples like chicken curry, dal and rotis. We ordered vegetable soup, Chicken curry, Paneer Makhani, Dal Makhani and Murg Badaam Pasanda. The chicken curry was nice, the paneer and dal underseasoned but well cooked. While the chicken badaam pasanda was quite bland, I must appreciate the effort that went into this dish. The chicken was beaten flat, stuffed with a creamy mixture of cashewnuts and cottage cheese, then cooked in a white, cashewnut gravy. Meal for 4: INR 600. |
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Dinner was at the Taj in Chandigarh.
The food was could have been presented far better and quality of service needs improvement. We ordered Salakhon Wala Kadhai Paneer with Naan, Manglorian Fish Curry with Rice and Grilled Chicken Steak with mushrooms. The paneer was carelessly poured and splattered all over the bowl. It tasted quite ordinary too. The so-called manglorian fish curry wasn’t fully cooked and the spices tasted distinctly raw. The saving grace was the chicken, which was well prepared, delicous and very well presented. The service was slow and shoddy. Our table lay littered with used dishes a full 10 minutes after we finished and some were there even after we had paid and were leaving. The temperature of the place wasn’t anywhere close to comfortable and was only mildly higher than that outside Anyhow, I’m glad we were able to eat on our terms at 11:30pm. Meal for 3: INR 1500. |
