Another Indian Disaster!

the indian food stall in legaspi sunday market is a real disaster as the food was not even remotely close to the real thing. frustrated, i searched for another indian restaurant near legaspi village where i stayed in my most recent trip to manila. new bombay and swagat were the closest.

i heard horror stories of some undesirable life forms in the samosas of new bombay (uh, little thingies that had six or eight legs) so i told cat to accompany me to swagat.

her first reaction was that it wasn't really that good. on the other hand, she mentioned that her group previously asked the food to be mildly spiced and it came back resembling "lugaw" (rice porridge) without any flavor. well, not really "lugaw" but it was rather bland.

i was able to convince her to give it another shot but we made it a point to ask for the dish to be cooked spicy "hot". unfortunately, filipino definition of spicy is just loads of chili. the red variety.

the murgh korma (curried chicken in tomato cream sauce) was decent except that the meat seem too tough for my taste. the biryanni with goat and chicken was well cooked, a dash of calamansi lemon made the flavors pop.

since we're in an indian restaurant that generally specializes in vegetarian dishes, we ordered palak paneer (cottage cheese in spinach). The cottage cheese was too crumbly and tasted sour. and palak paneer should never be sour.

perfectly spiced palak paneer should give hints of coriander for the minty taste and cinnamon, a bitter hint of cumin and loads of onions, garlic, a good portion of green chili and topped with cream. flavors that i definitely did not taste - it was just sour and chili hot. my taste buds practically died and no easter is going to resurrect it.

the only saving grace to this meal was the curried potato samosas (fried puff pastries) stuffed with curried patata and peas. the green mint chili sauce made a perfect dip.

cat acknowledged that the food tasted spicier this time around but we weren't so happy with the fact that it was just purely flakes of chili that seemed to permeate every dish on our table. spicy is not the same as chili.

i think i tasted hints of chili in my rose petal lassi. cat did warn me about that one, next time around, the closest i'll get to a rose is on a bunch.

ironically, swagat means "welcome" in hindi. in any case, it should probably be

wel(not)come(back)

peeps, DO NOT go to swagat. if you are craving for indian food go to Spices in the Peninsula or Queens in Jupiter.

Comments

cat said…
hmmm i thought you liked the food?
1:14 PM
Cacho said…
the biryani was okay, same with the samosas but i wasn't really happy with the palak paneer and the murgh korma was a bit tough and dry he he he. next time we should go to queens. at least i know that place serves good indian food. :P
5:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

the sign

"Lord, give me a sign..." no, i haven't fallen victim to overly melodramatic movie lines. on the other hand, i actually did use these words while attending mass last sunday (Redemptorist, Cebu City). you see, i have been increasingly dissatisfied with matters regarding the church but not necessarily my faith. to a point that i am debating whether i should even attend mass. i was asking myself if i wanted to attend mass given the fact that the church is getting more political. sure, i understand liberation theology and standing up for what is morally right. but that is exactly the same thing that has been bothering me, the moral thingy. the local church is proclaiming that the current administration has no moral leadership. i am not refuting that claim, on the other hand, the church could have said the same thing about itself. except that they rather not comment on anything when it comes to issues facing the institutional church. and there are tons of dirt, make that hun...
Read more

a most unusual saint

Image
the title Black Magic Mary is enough to conjur images of a witch draped in black robes similar to that of the Virgin Mary albeit with a more sinister aura. in Sta. Maria Church in Siquijor, a saint wearing a black habit holds a skull in one hand and an "inverted cross" in another is fast gaining a reputation that is probably influenced by the mystic history of the island itself. locals have speculated that the skull is actually her husband's and that she murdered her husband for reasons that seems to have been lost in history. a bit of research show that the locals refer to the saint as Santa Rita de Siquijor, probably a Filipino convention where we name the Virgin Mary with annexes related to places (e.g. Our Lady of Guadalupe). my own research led me to discover this particular "myth" in an effort to know more about Santa Rita de Cascia who is the patron saint of a church and town named after her in Pampanga. The first thing that caught my attenti...
Read more

Cambugahay, Lazi, Siquijor

Image
CAMBUGAHAY FALLS three layered cambugahay falls, the water invites you to take a dip in its cool embrace Cambugayay falls  is accessible from the main highway of Lazi, Siquijor. a marker with Kris Aquino's face promoting Casino rubbing alcohol marks  the top of the 135 steps that leads to the landing area of the three tiered waterfalls that beckon visitors to take a dip in its gorgeously blue green water. side note, manong nonoy totally avoided the trek down to the pool in the pretext of watching over our car. moderate fitness is required for this one. looks inviting for a jump? some of the locals enjoying a splash in the pool. met a family having an excursion, this is the required "wacky" pose. interestingly, when i got the chance to chat up the family, they told me that while i was doing my "acrobatics" trying to frame my pictures, a monitor lizard casually walked behind me, paused for a bit while looking at me before sauntering of...
Read more