I learnt pretty early in life that things that grown up say are good for you – spinach, milk, vegetables, liver, apples, spinach ! – do not taste good.
Then as I grew older I found that things that taste good – red meat, prawns, egg yolks, chocolates, fish head, soft drinks – are not good for you! Between cholesterol and extra kilos, this list covers it all.
This just about leaves you with fish and chicken, the hot favourites of the dietary and cardiac worlds. And I am not thinking of crossing over to greener pastures right now.
There is a small problem. I don’t like fish too much. Specially the poached, grilled or boiled version. And frying apparently takes you back to square one.
Which leaves one with chicken. There is enough and more that one can do with chicken without frying it.
Problem solved? Not quite. When it comes to chicken I love the legs. And, I don’t think much of the breasts. I find the breasts a bit too chewy and dry for my taste. Now I can see evangelists jumping up and extolling the virtue of fat free breast cuts over the fat filled legs. I think I can live with that. A man deserves his wild moments.
So what’s the problem then? Here’s the thing. Most continental restaurants in Mumbai do not serve leg pieces. You won’t face that in Chinese or Indian restaurants. But continental places are stubborn. I once asked the reason for this when I was reviewing a restaurant. The manager told me that this was because leg pieces had bones which were messy to eat.
Hole in the argument 1: Why do they assume that we can’t find our way around that with a knife and fork. There is a friend of mine whose blood boils when they show English soaps on TV with English sub titles. He feels this this is an affront to his intelligence. Same here with respect to this argument.
Hole in the argument 2: You can get boneless cuts from legs too. We had some lovely East Indian Steaks at a resort called Manoribel near Mumbai. They made these with leg pieces on my request. I often buy boneless leg cuts from Marks to make dishes at home. Chinese restaurants give leg pieces on request in their side dishes (albeit chopped)
Hole in the argument 3: Candies serves roast chicken with leg pieces. See their classic roasts in the picture below. I recently saw that Salt Water Cafe has a braised leg of chicken on their menu. So there are people who serve continental dishes on the bone.
I really wish that contintental places would be more customer friendly and give the customer the option of choosing the cut they want. Most places charge upwards of Rs 250 (5 USD). So a dish to one’s preference is not much to ask for.
Till then I will stick to ordering pork.
But seriously, wouldn’t it make more business sense to have a customer with a long life?
Note: the picture on the tandoori at the top of the post is from Khaane Khaas, the most customer friendly restaurant that I have come across
