Monday, March 12, 2007

Menu Vs Buffet

Eating out used to be a rare/ special occasion thingy back in India. It took me a long time to digest(!) the fact that here many don't take lunch box with them to work and almost always eat outside!

Anyway, both my husband and I love the buffets at restaurants. Guess, it kind of give us the feeling of having to taste a variety of food instead of telling each other, 'Can I have some of your channa batura?'!! Somehow I thought that everyone else would prefer the buffet to Menu too and so when I found a few of my friends don't feel that way, it was quite surprising. I thought like in addition to having a variety of foods to eat, it is cheap compared to ordering from Menu and unlimited too! "What's not to like?" like Joey says in 'Friends'!!

After much thinking(romba important!), I've seem to have arrived at the reason behind my buffet preferance. I mostly come up with a menu for the whole week so that I don't have to break my head as to what to cook every day. Probably b'cos the daily food is no surprise to me, I find the buffet interesting. Whereas those of my friends who like to order from menu, surprise themselves everyday by cooking from what is available in the fridge. So, they seem to go planned with what to eat at the restaurant! Eppadi namma conclusion!!!


P.S. - An old versus here!

19 comments:

kuttichuvaru said...

start of the week-la pullarikkuthunga!!

Raju said...

Interesting... Conclusion ellam saridhan.. but buffet saappidumbodhu I always ALWAYS tend to overeat.. obviously the food cant be backed to home, which is possible if the food is ordered in excess using 'menu'. This 'buffet vs menu' was even mentioned by Gandhi in 'My Exp with Truth'..

Swetha said...

I always prefer menu to buffet. Somehow it gives me a more satisfying feeling than getting to eat a little bit of everything :) You come up with the menu for the whole week? Thts interesting !

Munimma said...

The only times I prefer a la carte is when the buffet choices tend to be too consistent and boring ;-)

Now the Udupi buffet in your pettai is a different (drool) lipsmacking story altogether!

SKM said...

I like Both Buffet and menu.
Buffet sapda romba romba romba pasiyoda poganum yenakku.Menu... ponoma,saptoma ,vandhoma nu irukkum.Here we have "udupi" where for a buffet they give 1 masal dosai also along with all the 10 items there.so yenakku buffet saaptta kalyana sapadu sapta madhiri.

Me too said...

kc, romba pugazhadeenga! :)

raju, our first weekend in the US, we found an Indian restaurant in walking distance(downhill while going) from our Hotel and we used to stuff ourselves for the 'patthu dollar' and climb uphill panting back to our room!! Adada! Indha buffet mayakathule, doggie bag marandhey poiteney!!

dushti, welcome!! Ya, I am a super menu planner!(my husband: psst... her week has only 5 days!)

munimma, your pettai? You not from somewhere around here?

skm, "buffet saaptta kalyana sapadu sapta madhiri" - correct! Illenna, ingellaam edhu kalyana sapadu chance!!

Me said...

dheivamey neenga yengayooo poiteenga....

could u pls post the menu that u make everyweek....something like friday melodies ...pls pls romba puniyama pogum...

...coming to the post...am not a big fan of buffet bec..

1. unga exact conclusion ...
2. they keep leftovers in buffet...leftover means not prev day's stuff...it means the oldest stuff on their freezer...
3. the quality is poor compared to regular menu...

Munimma said...

Close not same ;-)

Syam said...

buffet buffet thaan....quality kammiya irundhaalum quantity is good...namakku kudukara kaasuku athigamaave saaptukalaam :-)

The Talkative Man said...

Of course both buffet and menu have their own advantages. But (desi)restaurant staff treat you worse buffet-time compared to menu-time! :-)

D LordLabak said...

Hope this discovery puts your mind (or over-thinking brain) to rest.:-)

Me too said...

me, menu dhaane.. pottutta pochu!! Enakkum romba naala food blog start panna aasai dhaan!

munimma, dhooram adhigam illai?

syam, namakellaam enna quality-a mukiyam!! :)

ttm, appadiya? May be b'cos of our kid, we often end up getting some unwanted 'ubasarippu'!

deepa, oru ponnu manasu oru ponnukku dhaan theriyum!! ;)

Bala (Karthik) said...

Adhula paarunga...
Edhu eppadiyo, Non-vegetarians have an advantage when it comes to buffet because they have more to choose from inspite of paying the same...

Me said...

hey u should def start posting recipes but post it in the same blog? y a new one....one stop for everything...saapadu, melodies & polambals ;)

Me said...

aiyo ? position maathi adichiten...sorry ...innum thookathulaye iruken nu nenaikaren...

Me too said...

b(k), True! Enga ponaalum minority dhaan!!

me, enna, indha blog-a 'Super Walmart' aakka paakareengala? Neenga thookka kalakathule edho yethi vida, naa adhai namba... Irundhaalum unga idea-yavai oru '5 year plan'-le pottu vechikaren!! :)

I said...

buffet is unlimited. so i can eat howmuchever I want.

Ramya said...

Buffet or a la carte depends on the hotel.. if i goto a 5 star hotel i can afford only buffet.. it offers variety of food.. so in that way its nice.. otherwise, reasonably good veg restaurants, i prefer a la carte so that i can discover a lot of dishes.. i order different dishes everytime i go.. another reason, i dont do justice to the money i give for buffet.. if i eat 3 or 4 items ..my stomach ll fill..n end up with having no place for desserts.. idhukum daily samayal kum sambandam irukardha enaku thonala pa..

Me too said...

ramya, there is not much to explore in Indian restaurants here. For all I know, the menu card could just be a xerox copy!! Plus 'discovering new dishes' most of the times ends in disaster!