March 06, 2006

Franjh-ship on the menu

The Hotel Nilam (Family Restaurant) in Pandharkawda (Yavatmal district) was recommended. Excellent dal-fry there, we were told. Now since there are few things in life more pleasurable than good dal-fry, we rushed there for dinner one evening.

The dal-fry doesn't disappoint.

Neither does the entirely-in-Hindi menu. Right off the bat, we notice the notice along the bottom of each page:
    Tips -- 20 minute vhate [wait] kijiyega.

    Tips -- please wait 20 minutes.

The soup section is headed with:
    Thandi ho ya dhoop, khane se pehle soup.

    Winter or summer, soup before eating.
Among the soups on offer are:
    Veg Hot & Sour Soup (Veg/Non-Veg)
    Veg Manchow (Veg/Non-Veg)
    Veg Sweetcorn (Veg/Non-Veg)
    [etc]
I wanted to ask if I could have a Non-Veg Veg Hot & Sour ...

Also on the menu are:
    Ring Piss Masala
    Veg Triple Sijwan Chopsuey
    Triple Fried Rice
    Drying Chicken Roll
    Fronjh Chili
    Franjh Curry
As ever, I'm intrigued by this triple stuff. But here, I'm more intrigued by "ring piss masala", and very very curious about "Fronjh" and "Franjh". Are those twins who do the cooking, maybe?

And finally, there's the "Ice Cream" section, with these flavours:
    Butterscotch
    Kesar Pista
    Vanilla
    Cassata
    Cold Drink
    Mineral Water
    Lassi
I asked the waiter for mineral water ice cream. He whacked me with a Drying Chicken Roll. I forgot to check whether it was a bird-flu-free chicken.

8 comments:

Anurag said...

Ahhhhh, the intricacies of small town India, which can only be experienced and understood. :)

Kartik said...

Oh Yum I'd do anything for some desi-chinese ishtyle food right now - that's just cruel Dilip :-)

Anonymous said...

>>bird-flu-free chicken

Otherwise you usually pay for bird- flu?

Anonymous said...

Thandi ho ya dhoop, khane se pehle soup.

rain or shine, soup before you dine?

Dilip D'Souza said...

rain or shine, soup before you dine?

That's very good, anonymous! My translation seems half-witted in comparison!

Anonymous said...

heh this was a nice 'light' read!

Anonymous said...

well..my translation (of "rain or shine...") was inspired by your Hindi song translation.
On similar lines, there is a Kannada song from the movie "Bettada Hoovu" (Mountain flower?) where words are translated word-to-word (http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/18/s/movie_name.2212/).

Sun let it come,
Rain let it come,
Forest Mountains I go roaming...

Vikrum said...

Hilarious, as usual. Next time, you must take a photo of one of these menus. They are too good to be true.