Pune Times - Foodie Article- Karen Anand

Here is another article by Karen Anand, in Pune Times dated 11th May
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JUFUvMjAwNy8wNS8xMSNBcjA0MDAw&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

GOURMET’S JOURNEY
I have now been living in the city for 20 years. Most people still think I live in Mumbai and wonder why I keep dashing here. Living in Pune, with work just about everywhere, means that "dashing about" has become an inevitable part of my life. When I am at home, I often don't step out of my environment for days at a stretch, except to buy food. When I first came to this city, I was captivated by the "real" food scene; I went regularly to Kayani Bakery myself and took great pleasure in doing a Marcel Marceau mime act with Kersi behind the counter, who would pass me what I wanted on the side so that I didn't have to wait in the long queue. Now, we are all on nonsensical diets all the time and the children seem to have grown out of Kayani, so I've stopped going. This also means that I have stopped interacting with all those delightful characters in the bakery. My loss. The same with Rusi at Royal Bakery who still produces the best bun pav in the world. The sight of him standing there welcoming customers in his old white sadra, head stooped, moaning and groaning about something or the other, is something I miss. The trek to Laxmi Road to Chitale for bakharwadi cannot be replaced by a trip to the supermarket to buy a mechanised packet version. Desi Bundu for mangoes, Tulsi Baug for fabulous traditional utensils and last but not least, Shivaji Market. Shashikant and Anil, my fishmongers who, because of my pronging and insistence, started introducing new marine life to us like Red snapper, Karimeen, Squid, Ladyfish, Yellow tail and so on. Until then it was Pomfret, Prawns, Bombay Duck and Mackrel and river fish for those who couldn't afford the rest. I must admit that I don't miss the grumpy old Zaiker bai but at one time she was my life force as far as "exotic" vegetables went. Today red peppers, iceberg lettuce and zucchini are no longer that exotic and available in supermarkets. When Dorabjee's changed from a quaint, old grocery store to the modern supermarket it is today, I nearly had a relapse. I missed the smell of coffee being ground and the sight of the chap wrapping ham in grease-proof paper with masses of string. Dorabjee's has now grown into a supermarket catering to the needs of our every increasing global palate. Would you have ever thought that they would be selling green lipped mussels from New Zealand and salamis from Spain? Then we have Koregaon Park which has become another sub-culture. German Bakery, started by Woody and Gopal, who first introduced me to the amazing Yak cheese from Nepal which they used to bring here in great big wheels, Prem's, Green Grocer, all have a life of their own. All this has been part of the last 20 years of my culinary life in Pune. The city is bursting with great products and wild and wonderful people. Unfortunately, the restaurants don't share my enthusiasm. At the traditional end of the scale, you still have the die-hards like Blue Nile, Shreyas, Shabri, Poona Coffee House, Vaishali, Mayur and so on. The new addition to that spectrum is Rajdhani, clearly the best Gujju thali in town, in the Gold Adlabs complex in Kalayani Nagar. Previously, we had only Mayur on East Street and Chetana in Budhwar Peth. For South Indian, Ram Krishna on Moledina Road, joins the brigade of ever popular 'idli-dosa' eateries, only this one is much smarter and larger.
The Maharashtrian eateries of Shreyas, Shabri, Bedekar Missal, Janseva Dugdale, Joshi vada pav, Shree for sabudana kichdi and wadi, Durvankur and Poonam, are still going strong and still serve up consistently good family style Maharastrian fare. I find it heartbreaking that nothing smarter nor more stylish has come along in the last 20 years.
On the seafood front, Trishna from Mumbai has packed up. Mahesh and Coconut Grove serve Mangalorean food, Riverview serves exceedingly good Kerala dishes and Shristi off Tilak Road does Maharastrian coastal. They are all competent and serve fresh seafood but the décor of all is rather lacklustre and uninspiring. Some Indian restaurants, like Sigree, Northern Frontier (actually a very good Kashmiri restaurant), Saat Handi in Kalyani Nagar, Mystic Masala and Chingari, the rooftop restaurant at Le Meridien, are showing a smarter side to Indian food, combining well-prepared dishes with some thought behind the décor and an ambience worth talking about. In the global food market, we have Oriental shining, mostly in the Koregaon Park area with the exception of All Stir Fry at E-Square. Chinese has also spread but it hasn't got any better, there are just more of them, with the exception of Mainland China, which has raised the bar for Chinese in this city. Considering that Pune has such a "cosmopolitan" crowd, there are very few options for European food and very few places which you can really call "elegant". None of the hotels serve European food except the Coffee Shops. Thank Goodness for that breath of fresh Greek air at the roof top Galaxy Grill at Seasons. Sizzlers used to be a Pune special. Unfortunately, some of them have not even maintained their standards. In the last 20 years, I have also seen a mushrooming of horrible places serving "multicuisine" with interior design like a doctor's surgery, insensitive service and food smothered in mass made masala. It's very sad. Pune has, by and large, a good weather. Where are the cafés? Where are the interesting outdoor picnic areas serving local food? Other cities have managed it. Well, we have several new, fancy hotels opening up in the next few years which should shake us out of our complacency and into work mode. Let's hope so.