Just got back from the finest Indian meal I have had anywhere, including India*. Viswanadh tempted fate by ordering the house special Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani - what with him being from Hyderabad and all… By the end of the meal, he was beaming all over his face! They’d got it wrong on a technicality or two, but he said for the first time he really tasted India. We were both slightly bemused to be served complimentary chinese-style pea-and-sweetcorn soup to start with but the main course (sorry, “entree”) was delicious from the first mouthful to the last. It was strange to hear the Indian accent of the woman at the front of house and the curled-up-at-the-corners Californian of her daughter. And be served by someone who seemed half Chinese and half Mexican…
* during my stay in India I had a portion of daal** and two portions of rice pudding.
** daal is a Bengali word, meaning “muck”