Umerkot

Just as we visited Ginseng for a birthday lunch of a couple of team mates from work, we headed out to Umerkot today. Since it was a weekday, we couldn't afford to spend time as if we were on vacation and so had to settle for the sitdown buffet (pre-selected menu). Once we got there, I noticed that the interiors didn't have too much of a Mughlai look, which I thought was a little strange since the cuisine served here was Mughlai. However, having said that, I must say that whatever was there was very pleasant and nothing was overdone: from the upholstery to the cutlery, from the music to the decor, everything was pleasant and not tacky or loud.

Again, since this was an outing from work on a weekday, we went in for the buffet served at the table. For this buffet, there are two menus to select from: the Jasmine menu and the Lotus menu, with the difference being an additional non-veg item in the starters and main course in the former. We started of with a tomato shorba,

and although it's colour made you wonder if the yused the funky yellow coloured tomato instead of the traditional red coloured one, the taste simply blows you away. It was really good, without being overly tangy or whatever the taste is that you get when someone has been extremely generous with the amount of tomatoes used.

The starters were brought on as soon as we were done with the shorba. However, one disappointing aspect about the service came to light here. While serving the starters, if they ran out of it before serving everyone (we were a group of 13), they would just move onto serving the next dish, and would serve the one that got exhausted much later, almost like a second round. That was not only disappointing, it was very annoying too. And that explains why you have two pictures here, with the second one prominently featuring the chicken, which was served to me almost at the end of the starters.

In the picture, going clockwise. we had mutton sheekh rolls (10 o'clock position), crispy potato cutlets (which by the way were very good, and this from the guy who isn't too crazy about about potatoes), some mint chutney, veg sheekh rolls (which I didn't care too much for), and some black gram, which was a complementary accompanyment along with papads.
Ths chicken was very nice, but it was a pity that I had to wait for it and couldn't have it with the rest of the starters.
For the main course, a basket of naans and parathas are served along with a mixed veg curry (which was very good), a paneer dish (which wasn't bad, but I've had better), a mutton dish (probably the best I'v ehad in a long time) and a chicken dish (again, very good). The usual yellow dal was there, and after the breads came the veg pulav. The pulav wasn't bad, but neither was it something that made you sit up and take notice. No photo, coz there are certain foods, especially those with gravies, that ought not to be photographed with a phone camera in low light, lest it appear like a very bad abstract art painting.

For dessert, it was the standard Indian duo of gulab jamoon and Vanilla ice cream.
Good food and good convos, especially since Lehman Brothers sat on a wall and Lehman Brothers had a great fall, and none of the king's horses and men could put Lehman brothers back together again. With the collapse of Bear Sterns earlier this year, and with Lehman sinking now and AIG fortuitously being bailed out by the US federal government, let's hope things get better. Luckily my job isn't one that could get too affected by the slowdown in the US economy, and all this needn't necessarily change post the November US elections. Got my fingers crossed.

Umerkot, No. 30, 80 Feet Road, Koramangala 4th block, Bangalore. Phone: 25500426