Appooppanthaadi -13

In the European Restaurants, they do not serve drinking water as we do in our country. However, as soon as we settle down at a table, the waiter lights up a candle in the middle of the table. Even in the Indian restaurants, guests are not received with a glass of water first. They too bring the lighter to light up the candle.


In every city I visited, I could locate at least one Indian restaurant. In Mannheim, Germany there were 3 Indian restaurants and in Paris, I lost count of them. Still, as I mentioned in one of my earlier post, a Malayalai 'chayakkada' is conspicuous by its absence. How nice it would have looked if I could sit in a bench and have the mouth watering combination of "puttu-kadala kari" in a chayakkada somewhere in a European city? I don't mind if I could not read a Desabhimani' or a 'Manorama' (newspaper)


Though the lovable idly- sambar is a rare sight in most of the restaurants, eagerness to eat something Indian attracts most of the Indians to these eateries. Still the major part of the clientele here constitutes the locals. Most of the Indian restaurants serve North Indian style food. Roti, naan, gobi masala, Paneer masala, chicken and mutton items line up in the menu. A good lunch or dinner with a drink costs around 12 euros. If a dish like Paneer Masala or a Mushroom masala is ordered, a plate of rice is served along with it. A drink can be like water bottle, cola or beer. Incidentally, it is hard to find Pepsi anywhere in Europe. Coco cola has an all pervasive presence in Europe. Similarly, while Mc donalds is a common sight, it is hard to find a KFC. In China, wherever a KFC is found, in the immediate vicinity we can see a Mc Donalds.

A lunch in a European restaurant waiting for a vegetarian will be salads, raw vegetables and boiled vegetables. As I mentioned earlier, many of these items may not have any emotions. They neither have salt nor any spice in it. At one of the vendor’s canteen in Germany they offered me boiled cauliflower pieces for lunch.


At the Shiva Restaurant in Amsterdam, I ordered a dal fry and a mushroom masala.

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As I was waiting for the packed food to come, I requested the waiter to serve a glass of water. If we need to drink plain water, they collect the water from the tap and serve us. The waiter politely told me ‘abhi lake avunga’ in Hindi. As I have been waiting, the waiter got busy with some other customers and forgot me. I had to leave the restaurant with the food packets without quenching my thirst. Indian restaurants are largely interested in serving the local customers. This is what I felt from my experiences.


On many occasions at the Indian Palace, Mannheim, the Bangladeshi waiter used to give cold shoulder to me. A dejected me stopped going to this restaurant of late. However, these restaurants are a boon to visitors from India especially the vegetarians.

For more photos click the link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ppnatesan/IndianRestaurantsInEurope?authkey=Gv1sRgCNDRhavx2YOvCQ&feat=email#