MAY 3, 13 .. SOUTH INDIA THALI MEALS ..

Who was it that penned the following .. "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree."

I think that I shall never see anything more beautiful than a South India Thali meal.

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A  MUNNAR  THALI  MEAL ..

Let's begin with the venue.  It is The Hotel Dhanyasree next to my Emmel Dwellings Hotel here in Munnar.  This hotel has a full-service restaurant.

OK in we go to the Purohit Restaurant! Below is my table across the room beside the window-wall with my 'things on it'.

 The elderly gentleman is my waiter.

And another man heard .. photos are being taken.

And another has appeared!  And you ask me why I LOVE India!  I could step outside onto any street in India and SHOUT one single word .. "Photographs" and the city would appear for a photograph!

"What's that 'Zilla?" .. "You're getting hungry and you are wondering where is the food!"

We are going to do-a-little mathematics.  How many Thali dishes or mini-bowls do you count below?

Just look both above and below at the Papadam on top of a special Methi Parotha.  Now you can clearly see how many Thali dishes there are with the meal.

They were 'either hiding or protecting' the rice under them in the above two photos.  

You have the Papadam top left.  Then two Fulka Rotis on the upper and lower right.  Then on the lower left the large sized Methi Parotha. The Papadam is crispy and eaten by itself.  The two Roti are soft like a Mexican Flour Tortilla and I personally eat them as I would a tortilla. I lay them flat in my hand .. then I spoon rice and the 'goodies' in the mini-bowls onto the rice .. then I 'roll-them-up' into a 'soft taco' and eat them.  OH YES!  Sometimes 'food' runs down my hands IF I over fill my 'soft taco'.  The Indian people eat them differently.  They tear the Roti into pieces and dip the pieces into the 'goodies' in the mini-bowls and expertly load their pieces with 'goodies'.

Lastly .. I eat the 'exotic' (I have seen and eaten very VERY few of them) Methi Parotha by tearing it into small pieces and putting rice and 'goodies' onto each small piece and popping it into my mouth.

Below is your meal with the above four items removed. No question .. there are clearly seven (7) Thali dishes with this meal.

Why does the below photo NOT surprise those of you who know me personally?

WAIT A MINUTE!  How many empty Thali dishes are there above?  The instant I emptied my first Thali dish here came my waiter with another full dish.  I had to 'back-him-off' or else I'd have been there all night eating!

It turned out that this restaurant has LIMITED and UNLIMITED Thali meals.  They do not say UNLIMITED.  They only say LIMITED IF indeed you are not going to get all you can possibly eat!  If you do-not-see LIMITED then you are going to get all-you-can eat!

So there-you-have your MUNNAR THALI!  It cost 120 Rs ($2.40 US).
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OK let's now go to a KODAIKANAL  THALI MEAL.

The Kodai venue I am showing is the ASTORIA VEG.  It's a little hard-to-see below but more photos follow.

Two closer-up looks at the ASTORIA VEG.

Now let's all-of-us walk inside and order lunch.  Do any of you remember the Thali meal that I so enjoyed in Agra Cantt?   Do you remember the Thali in Pondicherry you see below.

Feast your eyes on ASTORIA VEG's Thali! When they began to serve-the-rice I had them 'back-off' and just give me a small portion.

In the above and below photos I 'removed' the Papad (Papadam) Cracker since it was 'hiding' the rice.

Below you see the Papad Cracker. He said that he was 'protecting' the rice!

Now 'Who'd-a-Thunk' that I would eat-it-all!

Now for a study the below photo ..

What you are seeing above are the 'refills'!  My Thali Lunch for 85 Rs Indian ($1.70 US) was an UNLIMITED Thali (which as I explained above is an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT deal!) 

The instant that I finished my first mini-dish of one of the foods .. as it was here in Munnar .. PRESTO a waiter was at my table 'ladling' more into the empty mini-bowl!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!  These folks make me feel like some-kind-of-important-person!

And do-they-love their photos snapped!

"Cap?  What exactly is it that you so love about India?"

One of the fun things about now living in downtown Kodaikanal is the NIGHT LIFE.

The ASTORIA VEG at night!

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On April 27th .. I did an extremely detailed post titled .. MY TWO RESTAURANTS IN OOTY .. of that Thali meal.

But  I want to show it again and end with the Thali that I enjoyed in Ooty. It was LIMITED .. NO seconds and thirds and fourths! On top of the rice is a Papadam and under it a standard soft Roti.

 I removed the Papadam and the soft Roti and how many mini-bowls do you see below?  I count ten (10) of them!  Which goes to show you that they are all a 'tad' different.

OH MY (burp!)  That will suffice!  .. Cap

APR 27, 13 .. MY TWO RESTAURANTS IN OOTY ..

I have two restaurants here in Ooty that I eat in.  One .. FOOD WORLD .. is located on the street level of my Hotel Sapphire Paradise.

In the first photo below .. notice my room up on the third (top) floor of the hotel to the left of the hotel sign (see my blaze-yellow shirt).  Now notice the blue sign for FOOD WORLD on the lower left of the hotel.

 A photo from the other direction.

 A straight-on photo.  You enter to the left below.

And a close-up photo.

The actual entry door.  You can .. and I often do .. enter from within the basement of the hotel.

The next two photos below look at the cashier's counter and the front door.  In the first photo below .. I sit at the second table on the row of tables on the left.

A photo taken from my table looking right.

My other restaurant is shown below.  In the below photo .. FOOD WORLD is just around the corner on the right of the photo only a few doors away.

We step inside and from the entrance door I snapped the below two photos.  I sit at the second table on the right .. one removed from the cashier's counter.

 Looking back at the entrance.

OK LET'S EAT SOME BREAKFAST!

A 'Bread Omlette'.  $0.80 US.  Yes!  It tastes as good-as-it-looks!

Below are two breakfast entrees.  A 'Masala Omelette' ($1.00 US) on the right AND an Indian Dosa ($0.80 US) on the left.

I put the Dosa on-top-of-the-Omelette so you can see the 'fixings' that you eat with the Dosa.

Below I 'unfolded' the Dosa so you have some idea of how large it is.

They use banana leaves under the food.  Nice.

 I have had Dosa without the banana leaves but the true traditional Dosa comes with the banana leaves.  

Isn't the below Dosa presented beautifully here in Ooty!

OK let's get to Lunch and Dinner.  

OH MY!  Indian Thali!  OH MY!  All for only $2.40 US (120 Rs Indian).  SUCH-A-DEAL-YOU-WOULDN'T-BELIEVE!

The 'flash' photo shows the true toasty color of the Papadam on top of the Roti.

I am going to attempt to take-you-around the below Thali. I specifically requested 'less rice' in the below Thali than what came above!

We will begin at the bottom and we will go counter-clockwise around.

Tomato Soup / Aromatic Clove Biriyani / Salad of Onions and Cucumbers and Carrots / Curd or Yogurt / Cauliflower and Chick Peas in a red sauce / Birnal a mixed vegetable dish / Lental Dal / more finely-cut mixed vegetables / a milk-based very pleasant dessert-sweet / Potatoes and more Cauliflower .   I always eat an Indian Thali one-dish-at-a-time.  And I pretty much go-around-the-circle.

My old-stand-by .. Chicken Chow Mein for $1.80 US.

My  poor Chilly Chicken does NOT photograph well at all.  BUT it sure 'tastes' swell at $1.60 US.

NOW I am hungry .. it is almost 10PM and I have been here since 4:45PM or five-some hours.  Both restaurants are open until 10:30PM so I will-not-die tonight from starvation!

Much Joy .. /s/ me hungry Cap

Don't stop now!  Below I have a second Post for today showing some scenery along the highway between Ooty and Coonoor.

And some of you actually still wonder ..  "Cap why is it you so love India?"  

Should I bring her home Patti?