Sin V

There is a thin line between a Gourmet and a Gourmand. And it is pretty okay to cross it once in a while. Really, Kevin Spacey or not, It is okay to indulge in good food because that it is its purpose. With so many exotic cuisines abound, this blog, for a change, aims at giving the Gourm(and)et prior notice of what s/he is getting himself/herself into before ordering the "Soup of The Day". It can be embarassing to scream one's head out like I did after ordering "french onion" and finding an egg in it. (Go on, spill your guts laughing). However, this should not be misconstrued for some kind of assurance by this blog that it would provide useful info at any point of time in the future. That being said, let us cut to the plate.

If you are bored to death, you can watch Animal Planet or go to a Zoo or go to a Cambodian Restaurant. If you are a non-vegetarian and you just snort at this, be rest assured that the menu will make you think you are a practicing vegan in comparison. Crab's claws, Squid's eyeballs and Frog's legs are okay if they are on the white basin in a genetics research lab, not on the menu and definitely not on my table. Usually, when I think the menu isnt good, I order a milkshake for fillers. This time, I didnt because I am not Indiana Jones to be okay about having an eyeball for dessert. Thanks to the waitress who looked at our faces, read the lines, gave a wry smile and let us out without a question.
Minus: A menu straight out of the wild
Plus: An experimenter's dream

For moderately spicy food, music that tells you the origin of many a song by hindi music directors and some gorgeous looking waitresses, hit a lebanese restaurant. With most of the dish names sounding curvaceous (Fasolia, Balila and Tabil - I have a feeling these were already used in some thamizh song), and most importantly __all__ vegetarian, it comes down to getting the right combination and enjoying the other bits. Dont worry about the protocol, I remember spreading all the dishes on my bread and eating it like sandwich.
Minus: Curvaceous all right, but the names of the dishes could be more universal. It feels bad when a beautiful waitress giggles at your hopeless pronounciation of the dish.
Plus: Veggie folks, rock on.

For that cattle like feeling, visit an ukrainian restaurant. My salad had a tonne of lettuce. My friends "Kiev Cutlet" had two tonnes of lettuce. My main dish had, guess what, lettuce wraps containing carrot and beetroot. Each wrap the size of a cricket ball, and three of them at that. With our intro of "we are new to russian cuisine" to the owner of the restaurant, and him looking at our plates eagerly, all that we could do was to put a broad smile, make a few "hmmm... thats good" reactions and graze the table. After answering a "you guys enjoyed it" with a thick russian accent by saying "you bet", I felt one with a Jersey Cow. A perfect hangout for Vegans, Pacifists and Eco-warriors.
Minus: Check if you have grown two horns on the way out. It is a distinct possibility.
Plus: Even the water tastes like vodka, or say they say.