I'm hungry. Depending on how you look at it that's either the best or the worst state to be in when you start writing about food. So, straight after writing this, I'm going to rush to Saravana Bhavan (1) for a dosa and quite possibly a delicious, frothing south Indian-style filter coffee. I'm a big fan of SB, I've eaten there quite a few times in Chennai and in Delhi and I've only once left the restaurant not feeling happily sated. Of course they're cheaper and slightly better down south, - the dosas are crisper and the chtuneys the dosa comes with (white - coconut, green - corriander leaf and red - tomato) seem fresher and zingier. But it would be wrong for me to complain - I always look forward to and relish the thali, with it's wide array of different tastes, the dosas and the squidgy coconut burfi. Also there's the canteen at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan (2) which serves authentic Andhran meals all week and fantastic biriyani on a sunday. I won't give a full description as the article I've linked does a very good job of that. I went the re last night ad ordered teh meal with crispy, spicy "chicken fry" which, along with the ever-replenished thali, was almost too much. It was also fascinating to watch the way different people ate - all the various ways of mixing the rice with everything else and varying degrees of elegance that people used to convey this mixture to their mouths. Personally I like to take a couple of spoonfulls of one thing at a time and slowly work my way through sampling all the different dishes a few times but others mix everything up on their plate or go for all of one thing at a time. I certain think that the traditional way of finishing up by mixing some yoghurt with the remaining rice is a nice soothing come-down from the spicy trip of the food. And you have to eat it with your hands. getting just the right balance of stuff to rice and then coaxing it into a ball just the right size to scoop into your mouth is a wonderful, tactile experience. True, it takes a bit of practise but as I'm so often told - it seems tastes better than from a fork or a spoon. Not that I've been ignoring north Indian food. Karims's Hotel (3) in old Delhi is a massive feature on Delhi's culinairy map. Down a tiny little alley that it has now grown to encopass, a few steps away from the stunning friday mosque built by Shah Jehan Karim's has no shortage of competition from it's neighbours. But It's reputation is such that 8/9pm onwards it's four dining halls are regularly full of greasy fingered men and families. You can read about their history in the "about us" section of their website. I will write more about the food itself in posts to come, but for now I think I'm being sucjed in the hunger vortex that I have just whipped for myself!

Related Links:
(1) Saravana Bhavan
(2) Andhra Pradesh Bhavan
(3) Karim's hotel