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An ordinary fare

Between 1 to 2 pm only on Mondays madam, says the voice on the other end when I call up to confirm if walk-in is an option for outsiders in Rajasthan Bhawan's canteen. Sensing my interest in the Rajasthani cuisine, he immediately adds that anybody could walk-in on any day of the week but the Rajasthani thali or platter is a once-a-week affair at the canteen. 

So, I waited for almost a week for that preordained lunch hour to gorge on the delicious Rajasthani platter here in the Capital. And when the day approached, monsoon, with all its splendour, had finally arrived in the Capital, casting a perfect setting for my lunch. I started out early to make it on time; well, I had only a bracketed hour-long time for the meal. 

Walking inside the foyer of Rajasthan Bhawan, I glided down a step of stairs to find the canteen in a corner. A sizeable window in the canteen peeps into a hall with tables dressed in white linen and plastic covers set around wooden seats. 

Amongst the first few to arrive, I was delighted to make it on time. The attendant however informed me that I was early for lunch and food will be served by 1 pm. 

By and by, the hall started filling up with seemingly in-house guests and bureaucrats and it was half past 1 by the time the thalis made their first appearance. Indian Standard Time dutifully observed! Turning into a one man army, one attendant whizzed around the hall distributing thalis. By the time my moderately warm thali arrived, it was well past 1:30 pm. 

I scanned the thali and noticed the special daal-baati-churma alongside a dish of mix vegetable, gatta curry (gram flour dumplings in curry), rice and chapatis. Baati was bang on, crunchy and smoky in texture and the finely coarse churmawas mildly sweet. But what remained elusive was the conspicuous absence of ghee in the course. What stood out for me was the simple and tangy gatta curry.

I have never imagined eating daal-baati-churma without ghee; it seems dry and takes down the entire experience by several notches. 

Well, the food came in late, the ghee never arrived, and there was nothing in the tapestry or up on the walls to hook onto.  Give this one a miss, without batting an eyelid.

Meal for two : Rs 220 onwards 

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