Mar 19, 2012 10:24 PM
11015 Views
(Updated Mar 19, 2012 10:25 PM)
Last year I have written a review of a restaurant in Bhubaneswar that serves unlimited thali meals and have several other attractions.
https://mouthshut.com/review/Sai-Bhog-Restaurant-Bhubaneshwar-review-rsquornrmn
On that review I got a comment that Rajdhani Restaurant is the pioneer in offering unlimited thali meals. I recently got a chance to have lunch at one of the Rajdhani Restaurant at Chandigarh.
Location
The restaurant is located at ground floor of DT Mall in IT Park. You can easily reach there by public or private conveyance. There are AC & non-AC buses running frequently from ISBT-43 (also originating from few other locations) that passes through almost all the major locations of Chandigarh.
The Khandani Rajdhani
Rajdhani is a chain of vegetarian thali restaurant and is present at over 33 locations in India and Middle East. It offers delicacies from Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is a pioneer brand of Mirah Hospitality, Mumbai.
Ambience
It was just an ordinary restaurant and there is nothing about ambience worth noticeable. Also, the furnishing and furniture was very ordinary.
As you enter, there is person in priest attire with a ‘tilak’ thali and applies tilak on everyone’s forehead. I asked him not to apply on my forehead and he keeps insisting that he will put a very small one (personally I don’t like this attitude of his). By the way, this Aarti and tilak is performed as an act of respect and love to seek blessings from God and to welcome the guests. Simply said, it is their way of saying ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’.
Service
The service may be anything but it was neither quick nor professional. The slow servicing may be because of the peak hour (noon time on Saturday) but there is no explained reason for unprofessionalism. The waiters were smiling, laughing, and murmuring among each other’s for unknown reasons. May be they were discussing about the guests that how they are eating or how much they are eating or how they don’t know about the offered dishes.
They were very poorly dressed in white shirt, and black waistcoat and trousers. They were rushing for each other as if roaming in a grocery market.
The cutlery was very simple with a large oval shaped thali with very smalls round bowls.
The best part or I should say the USP of their service was the hand wash procedurefollowed by them. A person with warm water came to our tables before and after the lunch to wash our hands in a pot adorned with rose petals.
Food
This is the most important part of a restaurant review and I was just satisfied (nothing amazing or extraordinary) in this category also. The food was divided into following categories:
Farsans: It is a Gujarati word, collectively used for snacks. We were offered Tirangi Pattice & Dhokla. The quality and taste was good.
Vegetables: There were four vegetables offered in this category. Surprisingly, one was bottle guard that I never expected being served in a restaurant. The taste was very ordinary and I don’t even remember taste of any of the vegetable dish.
Dal/ Kadi: There was two types of dal (rajasthani and gujarati) and one kadi. The bad thing was that all were sweet (except the rajasthani dal). I accept that sweetness is a part of Gujarati cuisine but it could be prepared in a neutral sweetness that is acceptable by all. If you are from northern part of India, you may not like any of the dishes present in this category.
Rice: There was steam rice and khichdi offered in this category. There was only one positive aspect of this offering that they pour ghee as if they are pouring water in a glass. The quality of the rice was very poor, I was expecting traditional basmati.
Bread: There was puran poli and tawa roti. For those who are not aware of puran poli, it is a sweet thick roti made up of wheat, gram & sugar. It was very tasty and the taste was further enhanced by the desi ghee poured over it.
Accompaniments: This category consists of the majority of the items and also increases the count of the offering in a thali. There was green chutney, red chutney, garlic chutney, pickle, papad and dahi vada. The ‘dahi vada’ was very tasty and since it was an unlimited meal, I took the liberty to have it twice.
Desserts: We were given three options in this category- Moong daal halwa, Spongy rasgulla & fruit srikhand. I opted for rasgulla which was good to taste. It would be better if we were allowed to have more than one dessert.
Final words & recommendation
As I had been to a similar and better place before, I entered in this restaurant with huge expectations. Alas, none of my expectations were met. It would definitely be a pleasure to visit for those with no expectations. The delicacies offered here are numerous but they have compromised somewhere on the quality. The reason may be because they want to make it affordable. You can nowhere get such a vast menu with unlimited offerings at just Rs.250 (approx.).
For the first timers, it is 100% recommended as it will definitely be a totally different experience. For the repeaters, it is up to you to decide but it would be a nice twist from dining at usual restaurant.
