The Murder Of Gujarati Food

AGASHIYE 

(HOUSE OF MG , AHMEDABAD)

First Impressions

As you walk into the House of MG, you are immediately transferred to the days when Ahmedabad was a flourishing textile city, with mill-owners or better known as ‘seths’ with their buggies, servants and large havelis. The look as been kept intact with corridors lined with memorabilia and sepia toned pictures of an era gone by. Agashiye or At The Terrace in Gujarati , as its name suggests is located on the terrace of the haveli, which used to be one of the rooms of the erstwhile sethias of the house. Waiters dressed in the traditional gujrati kurta-pajama greet you warmly. You feel like one of the sethias in all their pomp and glory! Gurgling fountains greet you at the entrance and there are silent ponds with floating lotuses here and there, pictures, statues and paintings give this a warm, homely and posh feel.

Service

Service is almost impeccable. As you are warmly led to the table and explained about the menu, you are greeted with a rose as a gesture of welcome and you get hot water in a basin to wash your hands before you start the meal. Although the waiters weren't very good with english, they spoke traditional amdavadi Gujarati, but the over all warmth, the persuasion to eat more made you feel at home, as if being served by your own servant and maharaj!

The Food

This is where trouble started. Half of us wanted to eat the Thaali  and the rest of us opted for a-la carte. Both were pretty much disastrous and almost mundane. Now let me warn you, our own home standards of Gujarati food are very high since we are all caterers of some sort or the other, so we had already lowered our thresh holds. But the food didn't even live halfway to our expectations. 

The thaali was extravagant no doubt, starting with mini batatawadas with tamrind chutney, just about ok. The thick basundi was boring when so much excitement can surround it. The subzis  of masala parval, bataka, gatta-nu-shaak were just borderline where the gatta-nu-shaak  saved the day for the rest of the thaali. The daals were insipid and sweet. Two types of Rotis were served, methi roti - too thick, almost a bhaakri type dry feel and taste and the rotlis too thick and tough- now this is totally intolerable in a Gujarati meal, where the rotlis or phulkaas are as soft as a baby’s cheek. The second farsaan - Handvo was boring, dry and tasteless. Thankfully we did’nt bother eating the malpuas - saving of calories in a otherwise bas meal. Basically the food was over-all sweet thereby furthering the cliche that all Gujarati food is sweet (which is not so). 

The a-la carte was even worse. My sister in law ordered Utthapa (God alone knows why!) but they were aweful, tasteless and rubbery. We experimented with the bhakari pizza , (a melee of Gujarati Bhaakri with the Italian Pizza topping!) available on every nook and corner of Ahmedabad and generally super-delicious, but two bites were enough to leave the rest of the dish alone - inedible! I ordered a mini meal of methi thepla, dahi raita & sev-puri!!!  What a combination but nevertheless, the theplas never arrived, the raita was way too sweet but nicely chilled and a warm welcome to the Ahmedabad heat but the sev-puri was terrible, puris too hard, chutneys too sweet, now one generally cant go wrong with the basic sev-puri but alas Agashiye had! Lastly even the mukhwaas which no Guajrati meal is complete without, was half eaten, sticky and congealed in their respective bottles, refusing to come out. Phew!

Value For Money

At Rs. 600 a thaali in price sensitive Ahmedabad, this was a total waste, so what if you are being served in Silverware, its not like you get to take that home! Even the average mini meal was about Rs. 175 was just not worth it. The meal for 6 people came to Rs. 2300 which was a total rip-off!

The Verdict

A typical case of ‘looks can be deceptive” and so can reviews by khaadi clad goras writing for the Lonely Planet. Even they dont deserve such mundane and average food at sky high prices. The service, look and feel along with the beautiful atmosphere can bowl you over, but the high comes down like a deflated balloon with the food for sure. Agashiye does not deserve the trek to come to the old city. 

I am sure the spirit of the grandmoms of the House of Mangaldas must be weeping seeing their recipes murdered so!