Pages

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Roti Shhoti

At last! Been viewing this restaurant since it started about two years back. That it is a vegetarian restaurant was an incentive to visit, yet I hadn't been to it. The narrow entrance to the restaurant as viewed from outside had me feeling that there may not be anything really special about it. Second, we Hyderabadis know that every area in Hyderabad has its own style of cooking and the Ranigunj/Paradise/ MG Road areas are known more for their really oily and spicy food. With all these factors in mind, I gave it a go-by. But then goaded by quite a few good reviews, we finally visited this restaurant.
Let me admit outright, our mistake of visiting it at 2:50 pm. My restaurant reviews had led me to interacting with the restaurant personnel and knew that all main chefs leave the kitchens by 3 pm and again are back at 7 pm. In the meantime, there are no cooks or just the trainee cooks.
While entering the restaurant we were assured that food is available till 3:30pm. Available, yes. Quality, no guarantee!

 Our order for two was:

One Manchow Soup
One Aloo Corn ke Kabab from kabab/tandoor section
(spicy preparation of shallow-fried aloo and corn)
One Khazane-e-Lazzat
(the description given for this curry was "stuffed kofta with dry fruits cooked in rich tomato and cashew gravy")
Two Kulchas
One mock-tail of strawberry and mango

Manchow soup was quite tasty with the noodles within nice and crunchy. Aloo kebab was, as mentioned in the menu, a little spicy. The plate containing six pieces of kebabs about an inch and half in diameter served with mint chutney was also equally awesome in taste.
In the main course we had ordered kulchas and curry. We didn't dwell too much on the selection of curry as it was mentioned as 'Roti-Shhoti special'. The taste was awful! I then turned to the menu for the description and saw that it neither had the dry fruits mentioned nor did it seem to be cooked in a cashew gravy. There was gravy and plenty of it with three puny kofta-like creatures afloat. And the gravy?...it was nothing but lots and lots of ketchup and nothing but that.
When we met with the restaurant manager, he attributed our not liking it to the possibility that it wasn't spicy! I wanted to tell him that we aren't the chicken biryani eating types. We want a distinguishing taste in everything we eat. You can't dump koftas in sweet tomato ketchup and pass it off as your restaurant special!
 We ordered one paneer kulcha and one masala kulcha. Paneer kulcha was awesome! I have never eaten kulchas so soft and so well cooked. Masala kuchas were also quite decent. I may re visit this restaurant only for their paneer kulchas. So tantalizingly tasty!
The last order of mocktail was truly Yuck! Horrible. Given that quality, I am sure the rest of the mocktails are equally yucky!
Many reviews mention this place as being light on the pocket. The above order cost us 650 rupees. It may not come under expensive restaurants but cheap, it is not.
For a restaurant in Ranigunj area, it is a blessing to find preparations not too oily. 
The location is opposite Heritage in Sindhi colony. The restaurant isn't as small as it appears from outside. Though not really big, it is spread across three floors and can seat a decent number of diners. The ambiance is comfortable, though not really great.
The restaurant warrants a second visit. I give it the benefit of doubt as I had visited it in its downtime and also the fact that some of its dishes were quite decent in taste.

0 comments: