Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Ebony Bistro: A One Time Tradition

Tradition and routine help give order to our lives.   Traditions give us something to look forward to.  Most importantly for us,  it brings a little order the choas of uprooting our life to live on the other side of the planet.  So we decided to continue a weekly tradition from Grosse Pointe.   Church and food.  After services,  we'd usually hit a Coney island or sometimes Farms Market Pizza,  but the emphassis was always on a fun meal together.  

Of course, nothing is more traditional that a Catholic mass.  The Holy Roman Church invented the franchise concept.   There is nothing more consistent the world over than a Catholic Mass.  It's more consistent than a McDonald's hamburger (which McD's does not sell in India).  From the first Alleluiah to the last Amen,  the script is the same.    

Our first church services in India were what we expected,  but still surprising.   The church was a basically a metal roofed Quonset hut with large entrances on all sides for good ventilation.  When it rained on the metal roof,  you could hardly hear the person next to you and forget about hearing the priest.   Like McD's Japanese teriaki burger, every good franchise has some necessary adaption of local culture.   Here, Mary wears a Sari.   There is no handshake of peace,  they have a "Namaste" of peace (head bow with hands together at the chest).  Jesus is still white.        

It's off to dinner.   The speedy 5:30 pm services let out at 6pm  -- the lack of a fancy organ has some advantages.   Emma wanted Thai and had a 7pm reservations at he nearest Thai place.  It was at the country club of a neighboring gated community.   Within the club house,  the famous Ebony Bistro opened a satellite location which is much more convenient than the hour drive to the original in downtown B'lore.

Now, Indian dinner is typically served around 8pm and even later on weekends.  We knew 6pm was early and were not surprised when we were the only customers.   There was some confusion with the bartender and waiter at first,  but this was all in Kanada (the local tongue) and I figured it was due to our early arrival.  We were quickly seated at a nice large table with a white tablecloth and a significant wobble.  Things just didn't seem right.  The lighting and decor looked more like a lobby or classroom.   Something was odd, but was it real or just India? 

After ordering a round of drinks,  things went from suspicious to strange.  The waiter handed us 3 menus and left.  Why are they only giving us 3 menus when there are 5 of us ? Is he coming back with some Kids' menus ? And while similar,  none of the menus were the same.   One was stapled,  one bound with string and the last looked like a term paper jacket.  The menus had common pages, but only one menu had appetizers,  one had a Italian page and a wine list,  the other menu had several Indian dishes the others didn't. 

The bartender served the drinks along with an explanation.  The Ebony Bistro closed several months ago,  but they were still glad to serve us.   The guy who took the reservation, the one at the front desk who gave us directions and the host who seated us all forgot to mention this fact.  We were assured many times we could have anything on or off the menu we wanted -- including steak, meat loaf and lasagna.   (These, along with Pop-Tarts are the stereotypical Western dishes.)  So, the restaurant closed 3 months ago and you can still make us anything we want at a moment's notice ? 

Since we were already dealt drinks,  we decided to play out the hand and eat.   We ordered a spring roll and chicken satay to start,  which both came relatively quickly.  The entrees took some time,  but we've learned to be patient. Although we had the sole attention of the entire kitchen staff,  the sense of urgency to get things done is less than in the US.  This is normal.

The food was better than average and the bill was reasonable.   We assumed the food came from the country club's kitchen.   

We ordered Chinese take-out the following Friday.  The spring roll looked and tasted familiar.  Too familiar.  I wouldn't put it past them if the kitchen was a collection of take out menus and the busboy doubled as the pick up man.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds just like India to me! I think they have their own brand of ingenuity - they are willing and able to serve, just give them sometime and they'll solve the problem.

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