dinner at little india
24/01/2007
I felt like a tourist in my own country last night. I followed Mads to Little India for some facial hair threading, and we ended up walking down the whole of Little India.
It’s amazing. The place is bustling even at nine in the evening. I felt like a tourist in my own country.
So after the threading, we went to Ananda Bhavan for dinner. It’s like a little cafeteria next to Tekka Market. Mads had a huge paper thosai, which was rolled almost like a love letter. I had the idly – which were two little steamed cakes, kind of like the chinese steamed bowl buns they sell at fairs and pasar malams, except it wasn’t sweet. The carbs come with the same accompaniment – a dollop of spicy white sauce, a dollop of spicy tomatoey sauce, and a small bowl of watery curry-ish sauce. We shared a Pani Puri – a small crispy fritter, hollowed out and filled with potato and tomato and little bits of fried batter. You douse it in a little sweet sauce before eating. Neato! The lassi was a little rich, but very yogurty nonetheless.
After that huge meal, we went to this place to get rose water. Joh’s Flower Shop or something like that. The store, was so-so. Had loads of really retro toilettries and cosmetics and the rose water we were looking for ($2.40 for 500ml). But it was the getting there that was pretty amazing. We passed by stores selling the garlands and more food, so it was a mix of jasmine and fritters and people selling the fritters.
After the rose water we headed on to Mustaffa. Everyone says it’s huge. It’s not. It’s just got everything in bulk! Stacks of watches in the counters, and there were many many counters. I’ve never seen so many Casio or Seiko watches at the same place before.
I bought myself a funky army watch, which will hopefully come in handy in Bali.
And then we went to look for toilettries, and there was so many to choose from. It was dizzifying. This is why they open 24 hours. It’s because it takes that long to get around.
All in all, it was fun. Many thanks to ms Mads for graciously bringing me around my own country.
As expected, KF started complaining that I always refused to go to Mustaffa with him, but went with Mads so I expect we’ll be making another trip there soon.
In other news, we’ll be in Bali for the next few days so leave a message if you miss me. Back on Saturday 27 Jan. Ta.
