Aug 30, 2006 10:44 PM
4107 Views
(Updated Aug 31, 2006 09:40 AM)
This is a tribute to my lost sense of taste...For the past 15 days, I am on medication to sort out my imbalanced and hyper sensitive tongue, ulcers,mouth infection and now viral. I cannot eat anything which is spicy, tangy, hot,cold or anything...which make my tongue suffer more:( It is impossible to live this way...and I m seriously thinking...thinking of the good old days when I could have what I wanted and relished the spice...Therefore this review...on memorable memories of my spicy existence...
To begin with, let me clarify certain important assumptions:
Anand is not a restaurant. It is a dhaba with a restaurant type ambience but not restaurant type bills!
It is not on a swanky main road; it exists in a bylane of Janpath and is easliy approachable.
Anand offers no guarantee of hygiene...but then none of the other restaurants guarantee that!
Locating Anand is not tough. You need to ask people around in Janpath( Connaught Place) and you would be guided well. It does'nt stand out , and you need to keep your eyes open to not miss it as there are some more dhabas surrounding it. The technique is follow your heart...arr! I mean follow your nose and keep the eyes open and you will find Anand.
Anand is frequented by all genres, all age groups and anyone who has a taste for good food. When I first visited this place, I was with a group of colleagues...colleagues who frequent places like Moti Mahal, Fujiya's and Taste of China!I did'nt realise that these mortals would be willing to eat at a place where anyone to everyone gets the same treatment and the same food...but that was me and my stupid naive thinking...
What you can get at Anand:
Vegetable dishes ranging from gobi mattar to dal makahani and a lot more.
Vegetable Biryani
Chicken Biryani
Other usual stuff
Eating at Anand is a quick affair; the service is excellent and the food is always ready. The waiting time is normally 15 minutes and the chappatis take more time...the salad that they give is fixed...loads of onions with green chutney! Carry your mouth spray or freshners with you if you are going back to your office, your girlfriend or anyone for that matter :)
Since I eat only vegetarian food, I can only talk about the usual dal makhani and dum aloo...do avoid the paneer dishes as those taste a little sweet and usually are passable. The chicken biryani is a favorite amongst all and it has been appreciated by the regular eaters...do try that one!
The prices of Anand are within the budgets...biryanis costs around Rs 70 and most of the other dish cost around Rs 40 per item. Do nottake the water that they offer for health reasons...you don't want to take any risks...do you? Ask for a mineral water bottle or a cold drink and the waiter would oblige...! Simple as that :) End your meal with a double dose of steaming gulab jamuns and you will not regret! The gulab jamuns just melt in your mouth, they are hot but not steaming and they have the right amount of sugar...they taste just ummmm!
Anandreminds you of good old days of dhabas...where the ambience was simple, realistic and ordinary...a plastic red rose in a holder on each table, some paper napkins kept rather neatly along with slow gazals playing in the background.What more you want! Good food, a nice company and no disturbances...that is what Anand offers you!
To end it all:
Anand is a one stop dhaba for your culinary needs...you need to visit this place if you are in Janpath or somewhere near. Do not forget to tipthe friendly waiter Rs 10( atleast) and he will remember you for all his life! and finally...Collect your pudyias...before you leave! Pudyias specially packed in leaflets of comprising Saunf and Sugar..to keep bad breath and indestion away!And...the leaflet is not a used newspaper or old magazines...it is a leafet for Anand again..." Please visit us again! " with the number and locations details...now that is what I call, word of mouth publicity!
Comments are welcome! If you have visited this place and liked it, let me know...if you didn't liked it, let all of us know as well :) And if you want further details..read the only other review on same topic by our very own Adi...in his zulu style!
