I have two confessions to
make. The first is that I do like fast food served by the Multi National chains
that are operating in India. I don’t eat very much of it nor do I have fast
food often. It is supposed to be unhealthy, poison almost, fattening, bad for
you, loved by children and the corporations serving the food are regarded as
the absolute scum of the Earth. They are supposed to epitomise everything that
is bad about fast food. The companies make bucketfuls of money, destroy the
environment, destroy our children and instil, horror of horrors, western values
in our impressionable Indian kids.
I say bollocks.
I have a different opinion. Lunch
for me is a something that I hate wasting time on. The idea of going into a
formal dining restaurant, ordering a meal, waiting for it to arrive, eating,
the charade about desserts, bills, tipping drives me round the bend. There is
so much to do during the day that spending 90 minutes just eating lunch seems
such a waste. I would much rather spend that time and money having a relaxed
dinner rather than lunch. I find it difficult to handle a `masala’ laden lunch.
Lunch for me is normally a quick dosa at an Udipi restaurant, or a sandwich if
it’s on offer. There are times when you have decidedly dodgy lunch options,
either hygiene challenged restaurants or restaurants serving such heavy food
that the 90 minutes spent eating would have to be supplemented with another 90
minutes napping. It’s on these occasions that I look for the much maligned fast
food places.
MacDonald’s is by far my favourite.
I do genuinely like a Maharaja Mac. It is always fresh and hot, it’s reasonably
tasty, it’s filling and most importantly it will not make you sick. HRH the
Queen of Kutch invariably has the Fillet O Fish. A Chicken Zinger at KFC is an
equally tasty option. Don’t bother with French fries and soft drinks. You go up
to the counter order your burger collect and eat it and you are out and on your
way in 10 minutes flat. No billing, no desserts, no tips, nothing. Neat and
clean.
On Sunday I had an appointment
to meet someone at Goregaon. HRH the Queen wanted to buy a few things from
Hyper City which is an excellent supermarket, so we set out for a day in the suburban
malls interspersed with a meeting. Our Amritsar Guide and ever enthusiastic
eating out companion lives nearby, and, after a phone call, joined us.
Soon, it was lunch time and
we were at the Oberoi Mall. We walked around the food court and thought why not
try something different rather and we had an extra mouth to feed with our
Amritsar guide with us, so we decided to eat at Pizza Hut. The second
confession is that I have never been to a Pizza Hut. I do however recall the
advertisements on TV. All those luscious pizzas with cheese filled in the
crust, cheese oozing out of the crust, visuals of molten cheese stretching so
very enticingly, smiling indulgent parents and cute cherubic children taking
huge hungry bites out of the pizza all flashed before my eyes. For a moment, I
also had visual of Paresh Rawal chomping into a pizza, until I was rudely informed
by HRH that Paresh Rawal endorses Dominos.
The menu proved to be
challenging for us, we were rather horrified by the Chicken Chat Pizza –
Chicken Tikka, Alu Bhujia, Tandoori Sauce and Cheese – the Alu Bhujia on the
Pizza seemed particularly scary. The Sev Puri Pizza had us on our knees. This
Pizza has Onions, Bell Peppers, Alu Bhujia, Green Chilli and Cheese. It all
seemed too much and threatening. I wondered what we had got ourselves into. To
get out of this conundrum we asked out `server’ - so very American – what he
recommended. We told him we were non vegetarians who ate everything. He said
that the Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza would be a good choice. Out of pure
curiosity I asked the server to also recommend a Pasta which was most popular.
He recommended Penne with a Mushroom Garlic Parsley sauce. We accepted his
recommendations. Soon the Pasta turned up and I am happy to report that it was
perfectly decent. It was exactly as described in the menu and thankfully with
no chilly in it. The Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza was excellent. Not overly
tomatoey, nor was there liquid leaking and the base was fully cooked. It was
hot fresh and tasty.
Pizza Hut have got their act
in place. The food is solid, hygienic, and, as I have said earlier, perfectly
reproduced from the description on the menu. What more could you want? Pizza
Hut would not be a 10 billion dollar company if it did not have its act in
place. Much more than what could be said of our local publicity conscious restaurateurs
who seem to crash and burn with alarming frequency. I recommend that you do
have a meal here one day. My only bit of advice would be stay away from the
Indianised Pizzas.
Unfortunately, I did not
have my camera so the photos are from our mobile phones. Please excuse the
quality.
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