Train Through California - Coast Starlight

Train to Los Angeles

All Aboard!

Most people whom I told that we were using up a whole day of our holiday on a train from San Francisco to Los Angeles said I was mad to be wasting 10 or more hours where we could easily drive and make it there in five hours, or take the flight, my husband included. But, he very kindly humoured me and went along with it. I promised him that this would be one of the highlights of our U.S. holiday and he wasn’t disappointed. 

Before booking the tickets I researched for a month, reading blog posts, tripadvisor reviews and information on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, a direct shuttle to L.A. and I got loads of perspectives, from people cribbing about coach seats, to fellow passengers, to the delays the line was plagued by, to the service and surliness of dining staff, to the age of the tracks. However, there were also people who had a wonderful experience and gave very useful tips. Biggest of all, to take the train only if you are not on a tight schedule as sometimes the delays could extend to well over 12 hours! 

Dining Car

So I did. Kept a good two day buffer before our flight back home, booked a sleeper cabin - never mind the cost, was going to be a holiday indulgence - and looked forward to getting on the train. We almost didn’t make it though. 

Staying with a childhood friend in Mountainview, California, we had to catch the train from Oakland’s Jack London Station at 8.50 a.m. My friend insisted on driving us there, as only good friends do, and assured us that 40 minutes was all it would take to reach, while carefully making herself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Got into the car at 7.45 a.m., turned on the GPS and uh oh! The earliest we were likely to reach was at 8.45 if we were lucky, and then have to park, find our way in and check in 2 suitcases, it was all looking very bad. 

Breakfast

The highway was jammed because of two or three accidents and apparently a jumper. We were bang in the middle of rush hour but the one thing going for us was the carpool lane which was thankfully free for a huge distance. My friend drove like Schumacher but we were forced to take some circuitous detours and even managed to go off track at one point thanks to me not paying attention to the GPS at a crucial time (OK I know what you’re thinking).

 My heart was sinking, I could see the not-so-small amount of money we paid vanishing in front of my eyes and having to shell out another God-knows-how-much for last minute airfare and my poor friend was beating herself up about taking her time with the peanut butter sandwich, muttering that she would never eat another one in her life, while navigating lanes like a pro. Buy hey, we got to see a whole lot of Oakland that we never would have otherwise! Look at the bright side. 

Pacific Parlour Car Lounge

After about almost an hour of tension, crucial moments ahead where a minute here and there would make all the difference, the hubby suddenly piped up and said `the only way we will make it is if the train is late’. He looked up the website for the timings and voila! It was! By a whole 20 minutes! Phew! All that tension dissipated, we started laughing and joking and made it to the station with a good 15 minutes to spare. 

Aboard the Coast Starlight, our cabin had two long sleeper seats on one wall, and one chair on the opposite window, a teeny tiny bathroom stall with a commode and shower and there was a sink with liquid soap in the cabin just as you enter. We were then directed to the dining car, where we were seated at a table with a white table cloth and given options of different combinations of eggs and pancakes and sausages and the like.

Dining Area of the Parlour Car

The highlight of my journey, however, was the Pacific Parlour car, where there was a single row of chairs lining the windows on each side for a bit and then four dining tables. The parlour car is only accessible to the occupants of the bedroom and roomette categories and all meals are included in the fare while passengers in coach have to pay for their meals. 

I was quite impressed, as anyone who has travelled on Indian Railways would be. My journeys to boarding school the first few years was nothing short of a test of endurance. Once we were stuffed two to a broken wooden bunk on third class (yes they even had third class at one time where there were wooden benches with no padding) with children and parents and porters rushing in with our trunks and bedding holdalls, injuring people in a quest to get a seat because the school would always book fewer seats than the number of children travelling. And the bathrooms! the less mentioned the better. We would hold everything in for as long as we could to spare ourselves the least possible trips there. 

Tenderloin Burger Lunch

Then there was one time, when I was 11 years old, returning from school for the holidays in the second class coach (padded berths and fan) on the Tinsukia Mail, a journey of two nights and three days from Delhi to Guwahati in Assam in June - peak summer - the lights went off in Patna, Bihar for a couple of hours. Traumatic. Food was basic. Rice, dal, chapatis and a vegetable preparation for the vegetarians and chicken curry for the non vegetarians which you had to buy separately. 

California Countryside

I had no money on me and was too shy to ask anyone so I stayed hungry! By the time we arrived in Guwahati, my white shirt had turned grey, filthy. My father, who had come to receive me at the station walked right past me, mistaking the bedraggled imp for a street urchin! I was immediately taken to a hotel where a shower and food were in order before our 8 hour drive home!

After a while our parents threw a fit and the school then started sending us by air-conditioned coaches on the Shatabdi and the Rajdhani, India’s premier trains, though they are still not a patch on the trains of the west. I’m to believe things are changing now, but because train travel in India is regarded as for the masses and those who can afford it mostly choose to fly However, it will take a while for us to have trains with parlour cars and dining cars. On our trains food is delivered to your seat. 

Teeny Tiny bathroom

Shower over the Pot!

On the Coast Starlight, they never allow you to have your own table at the dining car and always seat you with other people. At breakfast, we were seated with a young lady of African American origin with whom we had a delightful two hour chat about everything from current affairs to where to visit in our respective countries and what not. Forgetting the time, we yapped on and on and literally had to be politely reminded that it was time for them to start prepping for lunch service!

At lunch we were paired with a couple, the gentleman from the U.S., the lady from Iceland and us. We had a lovely conversation with them too and marvelled at the fact that on one table we had people of three nationalities. The girl from breakfast we had been chatting with was seated at the table next to us and was paired with another girl from the U.S. and after our table companions left, we all started talking to each other and the waitress was amazed. She pointed to the two tables with an approving smile and said..look at that!

More Brown 

Dinner was with another elderly couple returning to California after visiting their daughter in Seattle and we had a pleasant conversation with them as well. The food options were steak, crab cakes and a couple of other dishes. I went for the crab cakes and then realised I should have opted for the steak. The dining room is a great place to meet new people, though we were very lucky to have had friendly companions for all our meals. Being paired with not so pleasant people would have sucked. 

Still more brown!

I spent all my time in the parlour car reading a book, or gazing out the windows and helped myself to some strawberries that were placed in a bowl for us to help ourselves. Didn’t want to miss out on anything. We barely spent time in the cabin. The meals were so elaborate and so close to one another that it felt like one continuous hog fest the whole journey. My friend, like a super typical hospitable Indian, very particular about feeding people properly, had come back home the night before after a long day at work and immediately got down to making us chicken curry and rice for our journey and even after my trying hard to dissuade her, still went ahead with the meal. We did not get to eat it. Feel so bad. 

We reached Los Angeles Union Station about two and a half hours after the scheduled time and were surprised at how quickly and comfortably the 13 hours on the train went by. Also, the train was quite empty that day so there were no issues with getting a seat at the dining tables and we had a choice on the meal timings and there was always a seat free at the parlour car the entire time. A full train and the scenario would have been very different as my readings divulged that sometimes people did not get accommodated at the dining car because of the numbers.

By the time we got to the good part...Sunset!

The Coast Starlight travels 35 hours from Los Angeles all the way to Seattle, with breathtaking views of the ocean from Los Angeles and apparently gorgeous scenery through forests and mountains through Oregon. Passengers are treated to the ocean view if they start their journey in L.A. and also get to see some of Santa Barbara. We however, were coming the other way round and because it was winter and the sun set around 5.30 p.m. We got just about 15 minutes to enjoy the view of the ocean. The views overall were nothing great and for most of the way we passed through a desert like valley and small hills with pretty much brown scrub. Blame the California drought. 

The train also has a movie screening hall and champagne and cheese party in the evenings in the parlour car which did not happen the day we travelled. Don’t know if I would be able make the 36 hour journey anytime but whatever we did was a great first experience. It also helps if you go with no expectations. You get pleasantly surprised sometimes. We could have done with more interesting scenery though. 

A Walk in the Park - Singapore

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Supertree Grove OCBC Skyway

On a hot sultry day in May, we went to check out the Gardens by the Bay, in Singapore, a man made conservatory and ecological park developed by the country's National Parks Board. What we didn't  realise is that you’ll need to set aside a fair bit of time to fully explore this place as it is huge! The day we went, the conservatory, which houses the flower dome and the cloud forest was closed, which was a real pity. It would make sense to check out their website gardensbythebay.com.sg before making a trip there so that you don’t miss out on anything. 

Even the tree was super neat with perfectly rounded fruit!

The gardens were like almost everything in Singapore. Neat, clean, beautifully manicured. Our highlight was the Supertree Grove, a clump of about 50 meter-tall tree like structures with creepers growing on them giving them a very War of the Worlds (remember the Tom Cruise movie) kind of look. Apparently they're a beautiful sight at night too, accentuated by a sound and light show. 

Seated Old Man (rock carving)

We went up to the OCBC Skyway, a hanging path 22 meters up the trees for a gorgeous view of the gardens and the city. You also get a full frontal of the stunning Marina Bay Sands hotel up close. Anyone with a fear of heights or vertigo would be severely affected by a wave of dizziness as experienced by my uncle, who, after taking four steps out of the lift, literally froze. He simply couldn’t take another step forward. I teased him a bit about that and got a dirty glare from someone walking by as he probably thought I was being totally inappropriate. But that’s what you do with near and dear ones right? Tease them about their weaknesses.

Anyway, he went back down and we walked the length of the walkway. Being at that height it was quite windy and luckily, the day was a bit cloudy and we didn’t have the strong sun beating down on us. Around the middle, the walkway gets quite narrow and the strong winds make it sway a bit. Just saying.

Very War of the Worlds'esque no? 

After that, we took a stroll around a part of the gardens and walked through to the Sands hotel. Very impressive. The Gardens by the Bay is a must do in Singapore. There are lots of hidden treasures such as the Seated Old Man. You're walking by an ordinary looking rock and see a little piece of white paper next to it and you wonder, why is there trash in the middle of a pristine garden, especially in Singapore? Upon closer inspection you realise it's not just a rock but a brilliantly carved face of a Chinese man on one side and the paper is it's identifier. 

Marina Bay Sands

The garden also has scores of eating places if you want an interval, ranging from McDonalds to fine dining restaurants like Pollen, a modern European restaurant, which has a dinner tasting menu for SGD $190++ a plate. I will go back on my next trip to see the conservatory and some more of the gardens and if someone is treating me, to eat at Pollen! Watch this space for part 2. 

Sunday Mall Madness

Mall of India, Noida

At first glance this could easily be mistaken for a railway station - a really posh one- at rush hour right? It's actually the food court in Noida's new Mall of India on a Sunday afternoon. This is the mall I've been waiting for, for years and apparently so has every other resident in the city and neighboring districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Before the Mall of India, the city had very few good dining, shopping and entertainment options and one would have to travel miles away to those in Delhi's Saket or Vasant Kunj or even cross two state lines to get to Gurgaon. The only mall of consequence, The Great India Place, about whose food court I went on a rant a couple of years ago, stopped being much good after the initial few years of its opening.

Now, with 2.7 million square feet of stores, restaurants and gaming, we need to look no further. The mall has well known brands like Zara, Marks and Spencer, the largest H&M in the country, Forever 21, Cole Haan, Gap, Hamley's and stores such as Armani Exchange are also on their way to opening their shutters. The shops also have large floor areas thereby giving customers a wider range of merchandise. 

It's also entertainment bonanza for the kids. The top floors have movie theatres, Fun City, a play centre for Kids with bumper cars, some rides and gaming options and Smaash, a gaming centre where you can hit cricket balls against a virtual opponent, play soccer, go bowling and have scores of video games to burn your money on. The piece de resistance though, is Ski India, the country's biggest snow park where you can go bob-sledding, tobogganing, tubing or just jump around in the snow. The lines for this place are unbelievable and if you don't come early on a weekend, there's little chance you'll even get to go in.

Now all these gaming areas are accessed through the food court. So, even though it is India's largest, with a 1,000 people seating capacity, on a Sunday, it was totally inadequate and practically bursting at the seams. There were easily three times the number of people the hall could accommodate and it took us two hours to get our food. We had planned to get lunch before the Angry Birds movie which started at 12.15 p.m. and decided on the food court as everyone wanted to eat different cuisines. Alas, being Sunday, we got lazy and missed the opportunity. So by 2.30 pm, when we emerged from the hall, it was madness. There were no tables free and people were hovering over occupied ones with a hawk eye ready to grab the seat as soon as their occupants finished.

Waiting for a table standing to one side with the two brats I was pleasantly surprised when in a few minutes a gentleman approached me and pointed to the table his family was vacating. Another lady from behind dumped her bag on the seat and was categorically told by his wife that the table was going to us. How sweet of them. It was nice to experience kindness from random strangers. I thanked him profusely.

Chairs are a premium. While the hubby was getting the food I was approached by at least 10-12 people who were polite enough to ask if the chair was free. One woman didn't even bother. She just grabbed hold and started taking it away. The `hey! someone's going to be sitting here' stopped her. How uncouth some people are. You get to experience all kinds of people in a crowded place.

In the two hours it took us to get the food - my husband and I took turns - one chair got swiped by someone which we managed to replace. Then the hubby saw a little boy holding an even smaller boy protectively on a table without any chairs while the mother went to get food so he gave him one of ours. He's a nice guy that way. Very generous in thought and deed. We got another chair soon after.

I don't see the rush abating in the near future as we are heavily dependent on malls for entertainment for at least seven months of the year because the scorching sun makes outdoor activity near impossible during the summer months. At temperatures ranging from 40 - 47 degrees Celsius only the very brave would go out gallivanting in parks and open spaces. We make full use of them in winter though. The developer of the mall has hit a gold mine and is well set for a good number of years before he sees any likely competition.

While in my earlier post I lamented about the quality of fare at Great India Place, this mall has no such issues. The range at the food court is large and the quality good. Dining options range from fast food such as Dominos Pizzas to KFC and Rolls King selling Kathi rolls to oriental options like Kylin and The Bento Cafe, which sells pretty good Asian food in box combinations including Malaysian black pepper crab, prawns in sriracha sauce and duck in tamarind sauce with fried rice or Japanese chilli udon noodles or Thai noodles. It's not cheap and the portions are small but the food is good. It's early days yet. Lets hope the quality remains the same and the standards don't go down. Right now I'm happy to have quality food and entertainment in my backyard.

Gourmet Meals on Wheels - Napa Valley Wine Train

Napa Valley Wine Train and Grgich Hills Winery

Some years back, I watched a program on the Travel and Living channel about the Napa Wine Train. They spoke about the overhauling of its rail cars, the route it took, the carefully crafted multiple-course dining menu and the places it visited, and I thought to myself, how nice it would be if I could experience that. And last November, I did.

There are quite a few options to explore Napa and its wineries. You could hire a chauffeur driven car or a limousine - they get as fancy as you want -or you could take guided tours, or rent a bike or hire a car and drive yourself. The latter would not be advisable for, after a few tasting sessions, your senses start to get a bit woozy and it would be a problem if you get caught driving under the influence. Same with the bikes. For the serious wine aficionados to make the most of Napa, you need to stay for a few days and leisurely tour as many wineries as you can. As we had only one night there, we decided to go for the Napa Valley Wine Train, which is highly recommended all round and since I was the only really enthusiastic wine drinker among the lot, a tour of one winery was more than enough. Also, it was our friend's 40th birthday, so that made it special. 

Chugging Along the Country Side

With much excitement we got on the train with its refurbished Pullman rail cars at 10.50 a.m. and were promptly directed to our dining car for our meal. If you read my previous Napa post on Hennessey House you'd know that we would have just stuffed our faces with a rather large breakfast less than half an hour before. The thought of lunch immediately after, was a bit horrifying, so we asked if we could eat our lunch on the way back after the winery visit. They very kindly agreed and we were directed to the lounge a few coaches down and just as we were about to get comfortable, we were told that we had to go back to the dining car as that was the only option for those that had chosen the single winery visit as opposed to two. Yikes.

Perfectly Cooked Tenderloin Steak

So, back we went to the dining car and prepared to eat our gourmet meals. Now three of us went to boarding school where we were perpetually hungry and I don't think we're completely cured of that yet, so back-to-back meals are completely doable. Two of us ordered the steak (their specialty), one ordered the pork medallions and another ordered the salmon? We ate it all, drank a glass of wine, then rolled out of the train to drink some more wine.

The Wine Train stops at the Grgich Hills winery and it's of significance as the founder Mike Grgich, a Croatian immigrant whose Chateau Montelena Chardonnay beat French wines for the first time in the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, instantly catapulting Napa and Californian wines into the serious global wine map. He then set up his own winery.

It was a cool, crisp, sunny day perfect for wine tasting. So in we went, got a detailed tour, sampled seven different types of wines from chardonnays to sauvignon blancs to merlots and more. Towards the end of tasting, while we were on our sixth glass of wine, as I turned to our friends and remarked that this was probably the most wine the hubby would've drunk in his life (he's a whiskey drinker) I felt a sloshing in my glass. He had poured his red into mine. He just couldn't take any more wine. Karmic connection or what! After the tasting we were each given a complimentary Grgich Hills wine glass - which we brought all the way back to India - and those wanting to sign up to be a part of their wine club could do so. 

Mustard Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

After the tour, we got back onto the wine train and sat in the lounge car for our coffee and dessert on the way back. Each trip, up and down is about an hour's ride. The views in itself were nothing spectacular. We went parallel to the road for much of the journey and years of drought in California have stripped the lushness of the foliage.

I must admit we weren't sure what we would experience on the train because a few months before, there was a ladies book club comprising predominantly African American women who were escorted out of the train for allegedly being too loud and it became a racism row. The women in October filed a $11 million racial discrimination lawsuit against the company, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Our Grgich Hills Guide and the Oak Barrels

However, our trip was very enjoyable and the lounge car on our way back was full of slightly buzzed people chatting among themselves and we had a short but entertaining conversation with the people on the table next to ours. The train staff are still a bit touchy about any reference to the book club incident and when someone joked about getting kicked off if he spoke to loudly, he was told to please refrain from bringing it up!

Wine Library Grgich Hills Winery

The wine train is a bit of an extravagance, but its totally worth the experience for those who enjoy fine dining and the good life. Have crossed that off my bucket list.

The Fatty Bao – Restaurant Review

 Fatty Bao Will Make Me Phat

Most of the time I've come out of a restaurant in Delhi being not so impressed with the food, given their exorbitant prices, or being completely disappointed. Not so with Fatty Bao, a pan-Asian restaurant which totally lives up to its name in R.K. Puram's Sangam Courtyard complex . You will certainly stagger out a kilo heavier after pigging out on its deliciousness and want to keep going back for more.

Scrumptious Seafood Salad 

Lets start with the char siu bao, a taco style steamed bread, stuffed with pork belly, green apple and cucumber. The bao melts in your mouth with its sweet smokey hoisin sauce and before you know it, it's all gone. That was the first thing I ordered in the restaurant and it ruined me for any other bao even though they are all good. Have had the duck bao too but it didn't compare.

The second and definitely as-amazing dish, was the seafood and pomelo salad. A light Thai style salad with pomelos, tempura fish, prawns and squid in a tangy tamarind, coconut milk dressing, feels like summer in your mouth and I devoured a bowl on my own. Was contemplating a second helping but thought that would too greedy. The starters are so good that most of the time you don't really end up even getting to the mains.

Char Siu Bao

The tuna tartare was subtle and came with a layer of jelly on top. We also had the salmon carpaccio which was pretty alright though I preferred the tuna. The Vietnamese sugarcane chicken was nicely spiced and the chilli, basil chicken fried rice and smokey chicken (which I cannot seem to find on the menu now) were good too but by then I was too stuffed and couldn't manage to shovel more than a couple of spoons in. As you can see the entire meal was non-vegetarian. A friend later told me that the veggie bao was amazing and I said I'd have to take her word for it as there's no way in hell I'm ever going there and ordering the veggie bao! Vegetarians, sorry! That's a whole different world you're going to have to experience through someone else.

As for the desserts I've only tried the Coco Caramel, an assortment of milk chocolate ganache, and fancy ice-creams and mousses and crunchy bits but was not overwhelmed by it. Am sure there are better items on the dessert menu.

What was Left of the Tuna Tartare Before I Realized it Needed to be Clicked!

Where the food is mostly great, the drinks are a let down. The cocktails were average and they could do a lot better. I would stick to a wine or a sangria or traditional drinks. My prosecco with raspberries was overwhelmingly dense with a raspberry puree which was quite sour and at 600 rupees plus tax was a total waste of money. The first time I ate here I had to return a cocktail that was highly recommended by the waiter as it was.... not nice. Still, the food really makes up for it and the menu is extensive. Am already looking forward to my next meal there.

Mind Your Head!

The kitschy decor and Chinese pop art on the walls make up the light and fun ambiance which complements the style of food served. However, the overhead hanging lampshades with Medusa like extensions with butterflies near the windows got too much for a poor young girl whose hair got caught in one of the spokes and spent what I would believe a few embarrassing moments de-tangling herself before sitting down to enjoy her meal! Yeah, watch out for that. Also, be warned, the restaurant does not allow children below the age of 10 at night.

Wine Country Lodging - Napa

Hennessey House, Napa

One of the most important decisions for me when planning a holiday is accommodation. I think the place you're bunking in can make or break your vacation, so when we planned to go to Napa, the wine growing region in the United States last November, I pored over Tripadvisor, travel blogs and Google for more than two weeks looking for the perfect place for our stay......and it sure paid off.

After all that research, I zeroed in on Hennessey House, a lovely bed and breakfast run by Lorri Walsh which got rave reviews. The place is a charming old world house with Victorian interiors and each room has a unique character, some with four poster beds and names like Mary Delight, Fox's Den, Pheasant Dreams, Duck Nook and Vintner's Trellis to name a few.

We stayed in a room called Lavender Lace and our friends stayed in Mary Delight. Our room had a four poster queen bed complete with drapes and a canopy and while I admit I wasn't too keen on a queen bed thinking it would be too constricted for the two of us, I had one of the best nights sleep there.

Lounging in Lavender Lace

What also helped was the fact that the rooms, instead of having a kettle with provisions for tea and coffee had instead a decanter of sherry with two glasses in keeping with the whole wine country atmosphere. Nice touch! 

The bathroom had a stained glass window and a boxy wooden flush above the commode with a chain that you needed to pull, which gave off the old world vibe perfectly. The place has since been renovated so might be a bit different than I described. The inn, located in a residential area is about a 10 minute walk from the Napa Wine Train station.

Mary Delight

However, the high point there was actually the service. We got so much more than we bargained for and every aspect of it was personalized. We arrived late around 5 p.m. driving in from San Francisco and were warmly welcomed by Lorri and Lynn. After dropping off our bags in the rooms we were treated to an evening feast on the dining table. 

Laid out on the dining table were three different bottles of wine, one red, one white and a rose, a cheese and fruit platter, and very refreshing water with cucumber and lime along with home made cookies. All on the house.

Last but not the Least

Breakfast the next morning had very nice coffee, even though I'm not much of a coffee drinker, teas of different kinds laid out, home made granola and breads laid out on the side table. The meal was personally made by Lorri and Lynn and served by them to all the diners. If the dining room gets full, guests are set up in the living room. We had a crystal goblet filled with freshly cut fruit placed in front of each of us and then plates with an artichoke omelet with asparagus on the side and a delicious muffin. 

There were two different types of butter on the table including maple butter and a foodie glutton like me just had to have it all! The coffee, the granola and, and, and. By the time I got up from the table, I was ready to explode. We also had to eat fast as we were running late to catch the wine train and then head out to Tomales Bay for the next leg of the trip. Our time at Hennessey House was so short and fleeting that it felt incomplete. 

While planning our trip my friend and I had a tussle about whether to spend two nights in Napa or two nights in Tomales Bay. I was pushing for more of Napa, but we went with Tomales Bay. We arrived at our`resort' which was more like a motel in the middle of nowhere, It was dark, our friends' room keys were taped to the window pane of the reception door in an envelope, and ours was nowhere to be seen.

 After calling our contact we found it had fallen on the floor. The place was so impersonal, and the exact opposite of our experience at Hennessey that we were quite depressed. We razzed our friend quite a bit for opting to spend more nights here. However, we got a ton of sightseeing done over the next day and a half which would never have happened otherwise and the motel grew on us by the second night so she was forgiven!

Still, Hennessey, the lovely bed and breakfast, run with so much warmth, care and thought is a destination in itself and should be savored for at least two or three days. I'll be back for sure.

The Hungry Monkey - Restaurant Review

Monkey Business!

Have you ever eagerly anticipated meeting someone only to find out that your good looking date has a brain the size of a pea? Or that their outward showoff does not correspond with their actual abilities? Well, that was my experience at The Hungry Monkey, one of Delhi's popular restaurant cum bars last week. I'd been looking forward to going there for a while as it had been mentioned in some popular blogs as having exciting food. Apparently Californian twist to European food.

While the ambiance and music were pretty good on the terrace and it was a pleasant Friday evening to boot, the food was a different animal altogether. We ordered the secret agent chicken, baked Brie and slow roasted mushrooms for our appetizers of which the only dish worth commenting favorably about was the mushrooms which were pretty tasty. The Brie came wrapped in parcels of filo pastry which were quite tasteless and not very fresh but the accompanying raisin jam was good. The chicken lollipop style was OK though it had a little too smokey (almost burnt) kind of flavor and the meat from each lollipop would barely cover a fourth of your fork. That was the better part of the meal.

The entrees... Two slider dishes, one, a crispy chicken slider, which came with three mini burgers and three shot glasses of warm beer (don't know where they were going with that) was pretty much picked at with only the slider filling being eaten. The beer shots went to their natural resting place.. at the far end of the table, forgotten in its uselessness. The falafel slider, another set of three, also didn't get finished, and came accompanied by three shot glasses of Bloody Mary, which promptly joined the beer. Not good. Or maybe would have been appreciated by people who love tomato juice, so not judging that too much.

My seafood linguine, with literally three small to medium prawns, some calamari, topped by one dodgy mussel, which didn't seem to have been cleaned so well, was smothered in a fairly tasteless tomato sauce and liberally sprinkled with at least a bush of fresh rosemary, was seriously underwhelming and not to mention annoying. Am all for roughage generally but it really wasn't my ultimate culinary experience plucking out tough long leaves and sticks (yes those were also thrown in for good measure) of rosemary from my mouth with each bite of food. And at 695 rupees plus tax, the dish was so not worth it.

Imperfect Parfait

The dessert gets a special mention. By the time we finished our mains we were a bit hesitant to order any more stuff but being the hogs that we are, decided upon the white chocolate parfait, which was supposed to be accompanied by a Baileys/ Kahlua float and almond and vanilla filo pastry cigars. Come on, how wrong can you go with dessert, especially at a fancy restaurant? Seriously wrong, I can tell you. A jam jar held a white pasty filling that tasted of concentrated milk powder sauce, rancid filo pastry cigars and no Kahlua/ Baileys float. This was where they should have actually added the liquor. Not to the burgers! We returned the dish after two bites and refrained from ordering anything else, though the sweet potato pie with pecan praline sounded interesting.

Don't remember the last time I've been so disappointed by a restaurant - actually it was Monk at the DLF Place mall in Saket about six years ago. If the company was not so fun, it would have been pretty miserable. Maybe the chef was on leave that day, or they were just having an off day, because the service was not so hot either. Whatever it is, at 3000 rupees a pop, just good ambiance is not enough for a repeat customer if the food is not up to the mark. And the day we went, it wasn't.

The Terrific Taj Mahal and 'Terror'ific Touts of Agra

Taj Mahal, Agra

What a Beauty

It was a long weekend and in two hours on a smooth eight-lane expressway, we were at the Taj Mahal, one of the eight wonders of the world, the eternal symbol of love, genius architecture, blah blah. Any reason why we should not have gone? Well.... it was a long weekend. That means anyone and everyone from New Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon is trying to get away from their usually mundane, stressful lives and flee to the nearest outstation destinations, one of which,... if you want a drive less than four hours...... just happens to be Agra.

Coasting down the smooth expressway with two brats fighting in the backseat, we were treated to the sight of fancy motorcycle riders opening up their Harleys for a thrill. This is the only expressway in North India where you can have a wild ride on a hot rod without the danger of flying into the air after having sunk into a pothole/ bump or battling to weave around a million other vehicles. 

Life is a Highway, I'm Gonna Ride it all Day ....

Same goes for car drivers. However, you do have to watch out for they have cameras recording your Schumacher skills and there are cops hanging around the toll bridges waiting to catch you with sheets of paper with your car's photo and speed violation. Enjoy the journey because once you arrive in Agra and get to the parking lot of any famous monument, you will be besieged by a host of touts and people trying to take you for a less pleasant ride.

Here's one of the scenarios you can expect if you decide to make the trip on your own and not as part of a tour group. Get to the parking lot, step out of your vehicle, and within seconds you will be approached by a 'certified' guide who will quickly flash you a legal looking identity card with a monetary value of 1950 rupees printed on it and say that he is a government approved guide and for that amount of money he will manage to bypass all the lines (which are really loooooong) to get in to the premises as well as the actual structure. Friends of ours who had gone earlier, paid their guy 800 rupees. 

You jump at it because you really don't want to be standing in a queue in the heat for an hour to get in and you think that 1950 rupees is not bad for five people even though the ticket cost for Indians is 20 rupees a head (which he took extra by the way). 

Can't get Enough

Then you negotiate with the auto rickshaw fellow to take you the one or two kilometers from the parking lot to the entrance of the Taj compound and depending on how gullible or street smart you look, he will quote you a price. We paid 100 rupees. Then another fellow will offer you shoe covers. Ten rupees each for us (I keep stressing the 'for us' because the pricing is very subjective. White skin, triple). TAKE the covers. Because if you don't, you will have to stand in another line to remove your shoes to set foot on the marbled floors of the monument and the line to get in to see the tomb will be huge. Again.

This was our third trip to the Taj in three years and the first two times my hubby and I didn't even bother to go in because of the lines to enter and also because we foolishly declined the shoe covers. The guy selling them warned us that we would be sorry for refusing them, and we sure were. We knew it was going to be teeming with tourists, but it being a Sunday, caused a double whammy! The Taj Mahal itself was a majestic sight as always, but good luck to anyone who thought they could capture a worthy shot of the monument without at least four or five bodies photobombing you.

However, this time we breezed in, bypassed all the lines everywhere, felt sorry for poor suckers sweating it out but were really pleased with our situation. the 1950 bucks were so worth it. 

Had to get the reflection pic

The guide, rambling on in broken English was more for the convenience of getting in wait-free rather than for his actual information services, though we did get a few very interesting nuggets of information about how the British basically came and looted all the precious gems and solid gold structures like the doors and spirals and replaced them with colored stones and brass. The lawns, full of fruit trees were leveled out and replaced by non-fruit bearing trees etc.

The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum of immense beauty built at a staggering cost of 32 million rupees by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor. He commissioned the monument as a tribute to his beloved wife (one of three) Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to his 14^th child. Wow, I'm having a wild time handling just two. The Taj Mahal, commissioned in 1631 was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and gardens were finished in 1653. Built on the banks of the Yamuna river, it's just amazing the thought and architectural detail and opulence that went into it. The marble had inlay work of flowers and designs with stones such as jade, jasper, lapis lazuli and turquoise. All the precious stuff was apparently scraped out by the Brits (damn, those guys really did a number on it) and was replaced by other materials during restoration.

Mosque. Friday Prayers are Held Here

The minarets on all four corners are inclined slightly so that in the event of an earthquake they will fall away and not on the main structure, which, as it is built on a river bed, will be protected by the fluid base. Everything is in perfect symmetry and even the inscriptions on the structure are larger on the top so as to be seen at almost the same size from afar. The stone inlay work shines in the moonlight and the Taj apparently looks pinkish at dawn, white at noon and had a golden hue at dusk. Am going to have to make another couple of trips for the pink and gold views.

The only thing out of symmetry is the cenotaph, or empty tomb, of Shah Jahan which is placed on the left side of Mumtaz Mahal's (the actual bodies are buried a floor below apparently). That's because Shah Jahan was going to build a black monument for himself on the other side of the river but after he fell ill, was overthrown and imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb who had absolutely no desire to humor pops. In fact, he kept him imprisoned in the Agra Fort diagonally across the Taj and the poor guy stared at his beloved monument from a particular angle through...a DIAMOND..for nine years till he died. Then he got unceremoniously dumped next to his wife, destroying the perfect symmetry of his creation. Ouch. Do not piss off your kids.

Across The River, the Site Where the Black Monument Was to Be

After touring the Taj, our guide's work was not over. He led us through the south, or labor gate into a bazaar that apparently is used to sucker the unknowing out of their life savings. India being the dichotomous country it is, right next to the symbol of perfection and opulence, you're exposed to utter dilapidation within which stalls of vendors are hawking gimmicky trinkets, souvenirs and small marble replicas of the Taj at a kings ransom (you need to bargain seriously hard). Through the eyes of my young son, the place looked like it was 'war hit'.

Anyway, these guides will take you to all the shops they have loot-sharing agreements with. We ended up buying some hugely overpriced `pethas', an Indian sweet comprising of white pumpkin cooked in sugar syrup, but refused to buy anything at the horrendously priced marble store he took us to. We already had an idea of which restaurant we were going to for lunch, but I made the mistake of asking him how good it was. He of course suggested another, the Taj Mahal restaurant, insisted it was the best, accompanied us there, and it turned out to be another tourist trap with people from all countries eating there. No locals, average food, high prices. We were looking for more authentic cuisine. It's really hard to shake off these fellows, especially if you're the polite, decent sort.

Agra Fort Diagonally Across Where Shah Jahan was Imprisoned

Every time we've gone to Agra, we've been had in a different way. The last time we even visited Fatehpur Sikri, the 16^th century city built by the third and greatest Mughal emperor Akbar, about an hours drive from the city, and that was something else. Amazing monument, horrendously aggressive touts and hawkers. They saw us approaching the toll bridge, about a kilometer or so from the fort, the minute we slowed down, one 'guide' approached our car, literally dove in through the open window, threw his identity card in my lap and said to follow him as he and another fellow went ahead on a bike. Drove to the parking lot where he basically convinced us that we would get a great deal with him otherwise we would be paying three times more (that's their marketing genius) and basically ripped us off nice and proper.

First they take you to these people selling squares of cloth and strings and say you need to tie a string to the grate and make a wish. We were told to buy the cloth for 4000 rupees each (we were four of us) which would be placed over a holy shrine and the money would go to educate the poor and that all our wishes would be granted. We bargained it down to 2000 and bought just one, and later found out from a relative that they paid just 200 rupees for it. We obviously have large neon signs on our foreheads saying BIG TIME SUCKERS! Then he took us to a room where a fellow stood with a large broom and a gleam in his eye. Pray for your mother, put money down, whack, Broom descends on your back. Your children, money, whack. Your husband, money, whack. See where I'm going? 

Some of the Work on the Walls

I must say, these guys must have a degree in psychology, because they can sniff out the gullible and really work on their weakness! Anyway, after being dogged from the beginning of the stairs to the end of our tour by extremely persistent hawkers peddling stuff from pens to key chains and the like, I was ready to bite someone. Practically foaming at the mouth I literally snarled at someone who had been following us for at least 10 minutes trying to make us buy his wares, to back off. Was soooo happy to get back in the car.

Fatehpur Sikri

Gigantic Bee Hives on One of the Outside Domes in Fatehpur Sikri

This is pretty much the situation in most popular tourist spots in India which you would experience if not part of an organized tour group. But if you really want the real deal,...and a wild amount of writing material,... and not just a sanitized view, you gotta do it our way. Of course, learn from my experiences. Am sure I will be back in Agra and will be taken for a ride again! Till then...... adios. 

PS..The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays.