The Shama Restaurant Haldwani
I was standing near road side to cross the road but the wall of traffic was standing like a guard and I was like crossing the border. In Haldwani, the traffic has touched the highest point in traffic chart. Whenever I visit here I always see it more crowded and more populated. I live in small town of Kumao and like retreat.
Somehow I had won ‘the road crossing game’. In Hospital, I was sitting on my chair waiting for my turn. Who like to go hospital? No one. A healthy person also starts feeling sick after spending few hours. Well I take you to my childhood days; actually I had no attachment with kumau when I was young. My father was electric engineer in MES Pathankot in Panjab, so I had been grown up there. In summer school vacation we would come to our village in Nainital and I used to count number of days left to home. I have a lot of sweet memories. Sometime I will talk about it.
It was afternoon time, the lunch time. I thought to explore any hotel in Haldwani. I had heard a lot of time about The Shama hotel from my colleagues, so I thought to visit there. I searched in Google map. It appeared ‘Shama Deluxe Restaurant’. The photographs were quite enough to convince me to visit this hotel.
After half hour small travel, I was standing in front of The Shama Hotel. It was behind Haldwani Bus station. From outside it was looking like Indian Dhaba. In first impression I didn’t like it. Somehow I got inside The Shama hotel. The interior, the chairs, the tables, and all sitting arrangement were like a simple Dhaba which were just opposite I had seen in google map photos just half hour ago.
I took a chair and started exploring the menu. I was not in a mood to try something new or go for food adventure. A waiter came for order. I decided Chana Masla, plain Rice and Papad.
After five minutes my table was served with Salad, Papad, Chana Masala, and plain rice. Here service is fast. I thought to start with Papad. It was baked and taste wise normal as usual. Second I tried salad which was mix of onion, cucumber and soup made of curd and masala. I dipped onion in salad soup and took a bite. The soup was tasteless. I took soup again to confirm the taste. Really it was tasteless. It was difficult to take one more bite of salad. On wall one notice was written – ‘For extra salade you have to pay’. I thought the owner of this Shama hotel had’t tasted their salade. Next I tried Chana masala dale which was colorful and was looking delicious. The big size brown chana was covered under thick gravy. I took one spoon. The taste was average – not extremely good and not poorly bad. Now I turned toward rice which was basmati rice in black plate. The contrast black plate and white rice was eye catching. I took a little Chana Masala dale and mixed with rice. The white rice and Masala dale mixture were making a good colorful texture. I took one spoon. I was feeling something in my mouth. Either rice was not properly washed or there was something wrong in the Chana dal. I spat in a dust bin and washed my mouth. Now finishing this lunch was a struggle for me.
After sometime the waiter came to ask anything else needed. I said, ‘please give the bill’. I was planning – how to finish this lunch. The waiter came with the bill kept in fennel seeds, sugar candy plate. It was Rs 200. Price wise this hotel is not bad. But overall I was not satisfied with the meal. I will give 2 out of 5 points.
The waiter was standing all the time behind me. He was old and his face was telling a tragic story. He even came outside the hotel. May be he was thinking for tip, so I kept some change in his hand. His eyes spoke something.
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