2010-03-17: Indian Culinary (Mis)adventure

Day 20

Wednesday, 17th March, 2010

Prince and Princess Suites, Calabar - Said to be an Indian Restaurant.

I have had some good and not so good experiences at Nigeria as far as food is concerned. There were times when I got really tasty food (1, 2) and at times I had to settle only for rice, chips and ketchup. This evening we decided to try Indian Food and boy... this was an experience. What I hoped to be a great evening with Indian delicacies turned out to be complete disaster and I came back without eating anything there.

Our colleague Vicky posted a superb blog on the experience. I copied her blog and pasted here. (Sorry!! Vicky, didnt ask your permission but I guess you should be cool as usual. Thanks!!)

We've had the opportunity to try many different types of food during our stay here in Calabar; grilled fish, traditional Nigerian soups and rice, pounded yam, but also Chinese and Lebanese food, though with a Nigerian twist. Tonight for our dinner out, we decided to explore the Indian cuisine here in Calabar.

Greg and Rahul had obtained the items on the menu for us beforehand. From our past experience at other restaurants, ordering beforehand shortens the wait for food upon arrival. Otherwise, our dinner usually turns into a 2-3 hour affair. Rahul helped us place the orders at 5:30. We left at 7:00 hungry.

The restaurant was in a hotel though it did not appear to be frequented by others. After our drink orders we eagerly but patiently waited for our food to arrive. Patience is a virtue that has been forged by eating out in Nigeria. An hour later, rice finally emerged from a dark room that appeared to be the kitchen (or at least lead to it). There were three plates of rice. Each portions were meant for one, but since we're sharing all the food we all took a small portion and snacked on it while we waited for the remainder of the food.

Another 30 minutes later, two chicken skewers with 3 pieces of Naan bread was served along with a small bowl of chicken curry. This too was divided up amongst our group. We started to wonder about the portions of the food being served. Certainly they do not expect 12 people to only eat these two dishes?

I looked at my watch, 9:00. No additional food has shown up on the table. Everyone was hungry but it became increasingly clear that the food we had ordered was not going to show up anytime soon. We notified the staff that we were not waiting any longer and wanted the bill. There was a huge frenzy and a small bowl of vegetable curry with a big plate of rice showed up.

When we had inquired about all the food that was ordered, we were told that certain items were not available and that the vegetable curry was the last dish. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and we all just wanted to leave at that point. One of the things I've noticed while dining out is that if you ordered something in advance that was not available, no indication is given upon arrival that the dish is not going to show up on the table. Had we known, we would usually order something else! Why this information is not communicated is something that I still don't understand. Miscommunication seems to be commonplace here in Nigeria, but that is a whole other topic for another post.

Our group collectively decided to head to a fast food place to eat after our ordeal at the restaurant. On our way to Mac Bite, our van was hit while going around the roundabout. The dinner saga continues! Luckily both vehicles were heading towards the same direction so it was just a slight bump. Our mission to get food was briefly delayed as the drivers exchanged words. We drove off after a few minutes and finally arrived at Mac Bite.

Everyone had their full and we finally returned back to the hotel at 10pm. That was some dinner adventure and one of my most eventful dinners yet!

Earlier when I went on to place the order, the lady taking the order didn't knew the difference between Mutton and Muttar. She was asking me the recipe for the items listed on the menu. And the appetizers (pakoda and papad) never arrived. To top it all towards the end they had the audacity to pretend to serve everything I ordered. Ufff!!!!!