India - Two is company?

This past week, I got extremely tired of eating any type of Indian food whatsoever. As such, I decided to look for alternative places here on campus to get decent non-indian tasting food. One place that I found was the Barista Coffee shop in Tower 17.

It is a two minute walk from the Guest House to the Barista Cofee shop, so it is convenient enough. I went down there looking to get something sweet like a strawberry frappachino or something similar. As I perused the menu I saw that they also sell grilled sandwiches and other pastries.

I was happy about this because as I looked at the sandwich selection I found a couple that looked non-indian. There were some "Tikka/Masala" type sandwiches but I stayed well clear of those. I decided on the Grilled "BBQ Chicken" sandwich. I put the "BBQ chicken" part in quotes because this sandwich was almost exactly a "Chicken Salad" sandwich that you would buy in the states. There was no BBQ sauce and the chicken didn't have a BBQ flavor.

As an aside, let me tell you about Indian versions of many trusted foods that we know and love. Here a "Pasta" can be any number of things. For instance, when I was at U.S. Pizza the other day I ordered the "Chicken Pasta" for lunch. What came out as my order could only be described as a bowl of soup. To be fair there was noodles in the bowl, but the sauce was brown and the taste was a mix between "Super Spicy" and oregano. The chicken had taken on the spicy oregano flavor and to me tasted nasty. It had a very strange aftertaste. We would have called this "Chicken stew" back home, but the Indian's called it "Chicken Pasta." I had a similar experience at the resort we went to in Mysore, where I got the "Chicken Casserole" and was instead served "Chicken Fettucini Alfredo" that looked like something you would order from Olive Garden. It was VERY good, but I would never call it a casserole. So yeah...the Indian idea of American food is very skewed.

Anyway, back to the Barista Coffee place. So I ended up ordering two sandwiches because I was hungry. I also still wanted something sweet so I ordered two Strawberry Frappachinos as well. Now, the drink sizes here at the Barista coffee are considered "Large" here in India. This size is just a tiny bit smaller than the small Straberry Frappachino you can order at Starbucks. That is why I ordered two of them, because the Large here is super small for me.

So the guy taking me order at the cash register told me to have a seat and he would bring out the food. I obliged him and was engrossed in chatting with friends on gchat on my Blackberry by the time he came out with food.

The guy brought out one sandwich and one drink. I looked at him funny and he said to me, "I will bring out the rest of the food when your friend arrives." I just started shaking my head. These damn Indians, I swear! I looked at the guy and I said, "All the food I ordered is for me alone." He looked at me with this incredulous look, like he couldn't imagine one person eating two sandwiches and drinking two "Large" drinks. Then he said to me, still with that incredulous look on his face, "Oh ok, then I'll bring the rest of the food when you finish this." Hmm, ok thanks 'Mom', and can I have dessert if I finish all my food?

Needless to say, being as starved for non spicy food as I was, I scarfed that drink and sandwich in about five minutes. I had to wait a few minutes for him to bring the rest of the food out, but I devoured that stuff too. It was pretty good, at least to my jaded, mistreated tastebuds.

This whole experience just makes me laugh. I wasn't really laughing at the time, but I get quite a few chuckles out of it now as I recall the situation. Most of my friends laughed too. The portions in this country are quite a bit smaller. The people here probably eat alot less than in the U.S. too. I have seen many out of shape or overweight people though. Interestingly enough, I actually agree that many of the portions of food in the U.S. ARE too large. However, I happend to be starving that day and incredulous looks and slow service were NOT going to stop me from eating my fill.