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Apr 01, 2008
Athithi devo bhavah
Sunday morning scene in our living room-
Me: "Where do we go for lunch?"
Hubby: "How about Rajdhani, seems like we haven't been there in ages"
Me: "But we went there only last month, besides I hate to get into a mall over a weekend - it's a madhouse!"
Hubby: "But you always love the food there, not to mention that it's my favourite too."
Me: "Ok let's land up there!"
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We have been to this place roughly 6-7 times in the last two odd years, which would probably make it number one on our eating out radar. This is the one place we can confidently take our out-of-town relatives, knowing that they'll be satisfied and there will be no goof ups in service or food.
Knowing the sheer variety of stuff that will be served, we make plans to skip breakfast and reach there really hungry. (Sorry but thats how foodies are!) I don't have much interest in their 'farsan' (generally dhokla, a fried snack with chutneys). This Sunday it was a yellow dhokla with paneer sandwiched between two slices and a half moon shaped samosa kind of deep fried item.
My focus is on the 4 types of vegetables / beans that are served with fluffy, hot-off-the-flame phulkas. They happily serve us phulkas without ghee, as per our preference. I must make special mention of the most amazing tasting smooth spinach curry with bits of paneer, that was one of the four veggies this Sunday. On asking the chef (who was also doing the rounds and getting customer's plates filled with stuff they were enjoying the most) the secret in the spinach curry, that made it taste so irresistible, he said it was 'mava'! No wonder, there has to something this rich that made it taste so good.
Two types of dal, a yogurt based curry are additional aids to dip your soft rotis into.
On weekends and holidays, they serve 3 sweets, in unlimited quantities. This weekend it was fruits in milk, jalebi and a malai sandwich (bengali sweet). Thankfully i don't have a big sweet-tooth, but the mildly sweetened milk with lots of finely chopped fruits was delicious, and this one had a special add-on too - pieces of unsweetened rasagolla kind of balls, which really soaked up the milk and gave a lovely texture to the whole thing. We really lapped this one up.
No review about Rajdhani is complete without a few words on their exquisite service. I often tell my partner that I can think of many restaurants in 5 star hotels who can learn their lessons in customer service from the servers at Rajdhani. They understand your likes and dislikes from a moment's observation of your expression. Whatever you finish quickly from your plate, will be immediately replenished even before you can look up from your food to call someone. This is how the ancient Indian populace supposedly treated their guests. The restaurant manager as well as the chef make rounds to see if you are enjoying your meal at regular intervals.
We noticed that in the past one year, the quantities they serve initially are a little meager, but once you like something and want more of it, there is no depriving you. They'll even coax and cajole you to have just a little more. I guess this is a brilliant idea that no food goes waste and yet people can eat as much as they want, of what they like.
No matter what people say and write about this place, for me, there is no place better than Rajdhani that says 'Athithi devo bhavah'!
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Cost of a blissful Sunday afternoon in Rajdhani for 2 people is 450 inclusive of taxes, but excluding a well-deserved generous tip.
