LaaJawaab – Swaad ka Khazana

Well, to start with I am not much of a foodie or rather I was not one until marriage. After marriage I became one in the sense that I started trying out the new dishes and new eateries otherwise I am still one of them who follow “stick to regulars rather than lament later” rule. Today I am in one of those moods when I want to write! Why? I ate good food (not that I eat bad food otherwise but it was just awesome today).

This year I got promoted in my office (thanks for all the wishes ). So with promotion came the occasion to celebrate (literally for others though). Strange are the ways of world, you work hard, burn the midnight oil and get promotion and others want the party for your hard work! However, I kept postponing the party as there were others before me in queue whose parties were due. Six months passed like this only and finally the pending quota got over and my turn came. Thus began the hunt for the restaurant which can give only a small hole in the pocket, near to office (I had put the foot down that I want to take the team out for lunch only!) and most importantly people should appreciate as to what ever they eat. The last reason had given me night mares as we already had quite a few disasters when it came to food. I didn’t wish my name to be added to that list. After much deliberation and hunt I settled on this one in Indira Nagar. The fact is I wanted to go to this place since day one when I had read the first review in Times of India. More so because I was new to Bangalore some 3 years back and I would miss the authentic North Indian taste in hotels/eateries. This place claimed to be authentic and caught my attention.

So when it came to throwing lunch party, I first thought of this place but then budget was constraint (which actually I had never bothered to find out). However, luckily again Times ran an article on this food joint and ‘The Buffet’ price caught my eye (lucky me!). Still the search went on and finally my sweet husband ran over to this place and made enquiries. Ok, hang on! I must tell here the name of this place; it is called LAAJAWAAB, swaad ka khazana (Laajawaab means to which there is no answer or literal interpretation will be to which there is no comparison and swaad ka khazana will translate to treasure of taste).

So after much of deliberation I zeroed in this place and started making the enquiries and rate and menu etc. Well, I still can’t figure out as to why they took so much of time in responding to my emails, or why there was no call back on my number to ensure that there is one customer who desperately wanted to eat at this place! Never mind that, after much of haggling we settled on December 22, 2009, Tuesday as our D-day to eat out. We reached to this place by almost an hour late (bad habits of the Finance Team, can’t help it and this is after when everything was fixed on last Friday itself, huh!). Thankfully, the table was reserved in advance for 2 hours. I will not say much of décor though I liked it especially they played all my favorite numbers (good old evergreen classics from 70s- 80s).

This place is situated right there on the CMH road, a very posh and convenient location for all. Valet parking is available at no cost which is a cool plus point. Now the food, which is just the best part or should I say in our Indian Standard English – the beshtest part is food! (Few of the good teachers of mine would have failed me in English test for sure after reading this!). I cannot help in expressing my feelings about the food. I believe in my 6 months of pregnancy this is the first time I have become so emotional about food in spite of the fact that I have gestational diabetes and I am on almost 18 units of insulin! But trust me all you readers, you have no choice but to believe me that food was just awesome! The buffet had 2 vegetarian starters and 2 non-vegetarian starters, with 2 non –vegetarian gravies and 4 vegetarian gravies as main course, pulao, plain rice, tandoori roti / naan (served right on your table garam garam), 5 dipping of salad and 4 desserts. Oh yes! I cannot forget the Vegetarian soup and non – vegetarian soup. And guess what, the veg soup was something I had tasted a few days back at some big place and I didn’t like it and so was the case with my colleague. Hence, I didn’t take the soup and as I went back to my seat, I saw my colleague having the soup; I asked him if he liked it and he was like please go and have it else you are going to miss it. Yes, I will not name the dishes. I have a valid reason for this which I will disclose sometime later. However, I can say that one paneer item and one daal is a must in their buffet. The food was not spicy and it was not bland; just the right combination of spices. They say “seeing is believing” and today’s buffet was a live example. When I had first met the manager, he claimed that their buffets’ are jam packed. I actually didn’t believe him because when I had gone, there was not a single soul sitting there except the staff. However, today I considered myself lucky that I had reserved a table for 22 people else we would have waited for ages for our turn to come. The place was actually jam packed! I believe you now Mr.Manager

Coming back to why I can’t disclose the items on buffet; I had asked for the menu as we generally do and we have done so in past with quite a few eating places. However, no matter what these people will have one or the other answer on the menu and till last moment I was not aware of what was there on today’s menu card. I wish I knew as to why they were so secretive of the menu; but then I guess it is this secrecy that drives people to this place. My God! What a pleasure it was to eat there! This is all available at a reasonable price and yes if you are a big team and you have good bargaining capacity then you may get a discount as well (I will not tell if I got one )

Also, I am not sure if the executive chef always sits at the billing counter or was it my plain luck? He was the sweetest chap around who did most of the talking with eyes . If you get a chance to meet him, be courteous to tell him that food was good, he will sure like the appreciation and will keep this place going on with the same quality. My biggest appreciation came my way from a colleague who said that 6 months wait for this lunch was worth it!

The only way you will believe as to what I have written here is go out and try the food and I am 100% sure that you will lick your fingers and you will have only one thing to say ‘Stupendo, fantabulous, fantastic’ (this is a line which Geeta Kapoor says in Dance India Dance when she likes the performance) or as Remo says again in Dance India Dance, ‘this is what I call a performance’.

Bon Appetite kyunki Laajwaab ka koi jawaab nahin hai!

Divya

A Chartered Accountant by profession who enjoys writing or should we say keying ?! in her free time.

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This entry was posted on December 23, 2009 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Food Xplorer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.