BC (Before Corona):
We used to go to work (into the office), meet people on office hallways, elevators, restrooms and kitchen and have conversations there. It was fun to catch up with different folks. These are folks we would not otherwise meet in our social circle, but there is always something to learn from/relate to their experiences in life. I miss all those random conversations with the colleagues.
There were two kinds of days: one where you had packed lunch and one where you did not.
The packed lunch days meant that we get to eat lunch in the picnic bench in front of our office building if the weather was good. Outside air can do magic to you. We would share our food and taste what each person brought. We would share recipes and stories of our home and kids. We would then go out for a walk in the trail near by. We will aim for some miles in our Smart Watch or sometimes rush back for a conference call. In winter, we missed the walks outside, but still enjoyed having lunch together at a table.
The second kind of days was more fun too. When I don't have packed lunch, I would reach out to others at work - hey, who wants to go out for lunch? It was unplanned, many times, but it let us get out of the office building, enjoy some different food, chat and share what is going on in life and then come back to work world refreshed. I would catch up with ex-colleagues or old friends and I thoroughly enjoyed those times. I am very particular about staying in touch with old friends, reconnect with them from time to time.
This takes me to the exact point I was going to make. What do I miss the most in those lunch times - don't laugh at me or judge me, but it is the truth! I miss the Indian buffets - especially the South Indian ones!
Before you judge me and say - oh my God, that is a lot of food, you overeat and gain weight etc, hold on! I am a vegetarian, and over these recent years, I have started appreciating quality more than quantity. Yes, we tend to overeat in a buffet - but the variety it offers is amazing.
Let me try to describe the spread of my favorite South Indian buffet!
It begins with a nice appetizer - uzhunnu vada, Gobi manchurian, veg spring rolls, chilli idly, bajji - any of these could bring a smile to my face. They better have a complementing chutney in the condiments section.
Then comes oothappam or appam with vegetable stew or kurma. Or pongal laden with ghee. Poori or Semiya upma would be welcome always. I am not a fan of naan in South Indian restaurants, so I would prefer these other tiffin items anyday. I save my naan cravings for North Indian restaurants.
Again, people laugh at me if I say I like to try an upma in a buffet. I want to taste an upma that I did not make, how hard is it to understand that logic :-)
This restaurant brings dosas and chapathis to the table. In the initial days, they brought kerala parotha instead of chapathi! Even better! So we can relish 1 chapathi with the yummy paneer butter masala and enjoy the mini dosa with sambar/chutney!
Oh! I forgot to mention that the small cup of hot steaming- spicy and sour rasam - was grabbed on the first round itself and placed in my table. It gives a heavenly solace to the soul.
Time to enter the world of rice. They typically have Vegetable Biriyani and a mixed rice (curry leaf rice, tomato rice or something of that sort). A spoon of each is good enough to determine which one of them is better today and have it with raita and pickle. The fryums or oil fried appalam on the front end of the table comes in handy now.
A small steep cup half filled with curd rice and topped with some sambar or pickle lets me taste the curd rice. Curd rice better be without the pomegranate seeds - just regular seasonings for me, please! A spoon of any poriyal or vegetable would be appreciated.
At this point, I cannot eat anymore. So I go grab a small steel cup and get the dessert - nothing to beat the kesari which is orange or yellow in color. I love the cashew nuts, avoid the raisin and don't like the pineapple or mango they put in it. Any South Indian dessert would make me happy. So tired of gulab jamuns that come in north Indian buffets.
Finally, just half a cup of masala chai to call it a day!
With this corona, this is the ONLY thing that one cannot dream of today. Resturants reopened for take outs and dine-ins even, but I have not heard of the Indian buffets resuming! Take out does not cut it, after all and it can never replace the satisfaction of sampling each item in a buffet to enjoy it with its complementing side dishes!
Sigh! Until AC (After Corona)! Waiting to relish a quality Indian spread without worrying about 'spread' ! Who is with me :-)
