BARR - Chaat House

Chaat House as the name suggests is a Punjabi Chaat place at the corner of Wolfe and El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. We dont go here that often, but we do go for an evening snack once a month or so.

I usually go for the aloo paratha here. Reminds me of munna maharaj's aloo paratha!. People who went to school with me in india and stayed in Vishweshvaraiya Hostel will know what I am talking about. To summarize : godly parathas that melt in your mouth!

My wife orders the typical Chole Papdi Chaat or Dahi poori or sev poori. I was going to be very positive about Chaat House, but my most recent experience yesterday is going to cost them a nice rating.

We walk in and the guy at the counter has a glazed look on his eye and cannot focus on us. Ditto for the other two guys (in their early twenties I should guess) who were working behind the counter. After ordering we sat down and figured out why. They were playing a very racy hindi movie on the wall mounted TV. In the fifteen minutes or so we spent there, at least three times women were undressing and we were treated to what can only be called "soft porn". At first we were the only ones in the restaurant but then another family walked in and they were embarrassed too. They tried to place their kids away from the TV. My wife suggested I go complain to the guys, but judging by their focus on the screen, I didnt want to pick up any arguments with these guys (they were much bigger than me). So I told my wife to eat fast and get the hell out.

My daughter watched the screen and lifted her T-shirt above her tummy and that, wasn't funny at all. That goes to show you the type of movie that was playing.

Wait time : 5 minutes
Food wait time from order : 10 minutes
Check time : 3 minutes (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX)
Average price per person : $5
Rating "My wife can cook better" for the food but watch out for the ambience.
Service : Poor

Items sampled : Paratha, Chole papdi chaat

Yummy paratha (kid approved), average papdi chaat. Raita was too strong. Have had better raita here in the past.

NOT A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN TAKE YOUR KIDS OR YOUR PARENTS.. not unless these guys change what they play on screen.

BARR - Swati Tiffins

This review is long overdue. We have been going to Swathi Tiffins for almost a year now and have seen it go through changes - in appearance and food quality.

Swathi Tiffins is in Namaste Plaza on your way to Central Expressway West on Lawrence Expressway North. A nice little place with Telugu TV playing in the background, it has been remodeled recenty to have closed eating nooks instead of the all open seating.

This used to be one of our favorite hangouts, so much that I started having get togethers here, with my old work buddies who left for greener pastures. The place got rave reviews from all my buddies, indian, chinese, isreali and yankee !

But recently, the cook seems to make a habit out of insulting my taste buds.. maybe a new cook, I dont know. This place had one of the best rava dosa's in the bay area but there has been a noticeable slump in quality.


Wait time : 5 minutes
Food wait time from order : 10-15 minutes
Check time : 3 minutes (Visa or Mastercard ONLY !! Pay before you eat)
Average price per person : $8
Rating "My wife can cook better".
Service : They call your number and you pick up your food.

Items sampled : Rava Dosa, Upma, Poori, Thali, Idli.

The rava dosa was average (too oily, too thick). Made me long for the once crispy thin dosa from the same place 8 months ago.

The Upma was below average but the poori was EXCELLENT. This is one item which is still good at Swathi tiffins. The idli was okay and the sambar above average (another thing that has gone down in quality).

Now coming to the one item that makes you really go "what the Heck ?". The rasam in the thali was actually tomato puree with some sambar powder. It lacked the taste or consistancy of what can even come within three standard deviations of your average "rasam". My wife who ordered the thali was really disappointed.

The little one ate the idly without complaining but was not overly enthusiastic.

This place could regain its place if they changed a few items to their old quality levels.

what is god ?

recently Karthik has been blogging about god.. after being inspired by Mukundan's philosophical articles..

my logic here..

man proposes god disposes
man proposes woman disposes

Therefore ...

also when woman proposes, nobody dares disposes !!

I am not writing this to please the boss at home. I have actually put some thought into it.

Maybe I have stumbled on to something big here ?!?

The proof of the pudding ...

The proff of the pudding is in the eating !! (that is what I was taught).

Recently, I made my foray into the kitchen after a long absence. Decided to make some coconut rice noodles. (Tamilians call it Thengai Sevai).

As is customary with my cooking, I go for speed, efficiency and more importantly taste. You have to mix the noodles thoroughly since the salt and the oil which has imbibed the essense of the red chillies have to mix with the noodles.

Needless to say, a good mixing involves some spilling and this got me in trouble. I was guilty of dirtying the stove. This was later cleaned up, but my current status still reads "in trouble".

The proof of the "noodles, etc etc ,whatever i cook" is in the eating! Not in having a clean stove. I would like all the men folk who read this blog and who happen to do the occasional or regular cooking, let me know if they have the same issues.

By the way, the noodles were YUMMMMMY !!

The bad guys ???

Watched the movie "The Pacifier" with a bunch of friends last night. This was a family DISNEY movie that you watch with kids and grandparents. The movie does have bad guys like in any movie today. For a change I saw that North Korea (and north koreans) were the bad guys in this movie. This movie came out less than six months ago!. I found that interesting. A major movie house in the United States is line with the Government's foreign policy and they are joining the same band wagon as the general heavily biased media.

I remember seeing summer blockbuster after another, which had the typical muslim/arab looking middle eastern guy being the villain. Enough movies to stereotype any dude with an arab nose branded as a potential terrorist by the average moviegoer (True Lies and all hits within +/- six months of True Lies). Does this help the USA recruit more innocent people in the war against the middle east ? Is this all a general brainwashing strategy ? One cannot but wonder when we start seeing the Koreans being the bad guys in movies now that US is at crossroads with North Korea on nuclear issues. We did have a bond movie with a korean villan two years ago. Then things died down and the Middle eastern moslems were back as villans. Now the Koreans are making a comeback ?

Bollywood (Bombay's movie industry) makes 3 times as many movies a year as Hollywood and has a bigger audience. The average indian is as prime a candidate for brainwashing as the average american moviegoer, but it is a crying shame that Bollywood doesnt adopt this strategy to put the bad guys(?) in their place.

Learn from Hollywood !!