Food and Utensils

[rajagainstthemachine]

I understand using a fork and knife, but whats with the fork and spoon ?

Use the spoon in lieu of a knife since that's what uncle gives when you buy prata. How many hawker centers actually have knives? Not all of them.

And your "howto" seems doesn't work as you still have to touch the prata, which is also quite greasy.

agreed but its wipeable with a tissue, curry inside your fingers and nails is the major problem for me, my technique defeats that.
in the end one can walk away with a slightly greasy hand and then shake hands with some dude and pass on the greasiness and then he in turn smells his hand and then decides to eat roti parata and then its a chain reaction triggering a mushroom cloud of roti paratas.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I'm most pleased that this topic prompted me to look up if my favourite Indian restaurant in Tokyo still exists. And, yep, 20 years later it still does!

Was/is one of my favorites as well, question is, which Moti? At one point there were 2 in Roppongi, both good but different, and only one had my favorite Hyderabadi Chicken curry. Plus one in Shibuya, one in Shinjuku, and I can't remember the others.

I saw a moti in the akasaka district too, I didn't try Indian food all the while I was in Japan, I saw no reason to until the last day when a Japanese colleague got fed up with me badgering him to take me to different places, he took me to a place called sonargaon again in the akasaka district, they have a really good lunch spread.
however avoid the taj restaurants in Tokyo, they are a rip off, expensive stuff and small servings.

[zzm9980]

I understand using a fork and knife, but whats with the fork and spoon ?

Use the spoon in lieu of a knife since that's what uncle gives when you buy prata. How many hawker centers actually have knives? Not all of them.

And your "howto" seems doesn't work as you still have to touch the prata, which is also quite greasy.

agreed but its wipeable with a tissue, curry inside your fingers and nails is the major problem for me, my technique defeats that.
in the end one can walk away with a slightly greasy hand and then shake hands with some dude and pass on the greasiness and then he in turn smells his hand and then decides to eat roti parata and then its a chain reaction triggering a mushroom cloud of roti paratas.

Or, you can walk away with perfectly clean hands by using a fork and knife(or spoon).

Your "wipeable with a tissue" falls apart because hawker centers don't have tissue. They sometimes have aunties selling packets of nose tissue which is not practical for cleaning your hands. Especially grease.

[nakatago]

Conclusion: I will still use utensils with naan/prata, unless I'm in an Indian household and they didn't give me utensils to eat with.

Indian eateries certainly give you utensils and I haven't been to one that didn't.

FWIW, if the flat bread doesn't look greasy, I tear off pieces by hand (and swish it around the curry). I still like having a spoon handy, though.

[x9200]

I normally eat naans with hands but I eat naans in the places where I can later clean my hands. Eating naans with the utensils takes a way a bit of the joy.

[JR8]

Was/is one of my favorites as well, question is, which Moti? At one point there were 2 in Roppongi, both good but different, and only one had my favorite Hyderabadi Chicken curry. Plus one in Shibuya, one in Shinjuku, and I can't remember the others.

... -/ from 20 years ago /- I just happen to have a menu, excerpt above. So the 'Roppongi Durbar' branch was the one I used to frequent. That's not the whole menu of course, but there's your Hyderabad curry. And there's 'my' tandoor fish and prawns. Fresh made-to-order naan bread too, exceptional ... sigh ...


... Now to try and decipher their [damned JPnese] map and figure out if that branch is still there!

[JR8]

Good curry udon is also something to kill for.

I can't say I've ever had that. Is it like Udon laksa?

[JR8]

I understand using a fork and knife, but whats with the fork and spoon ? and yes I find Indians the most reluctant to eat japanese food, I was one of them myself until I visited Japan and thanks to my current girlfriend.

My SGn mother-in-law hoards sachets of chilli sauce from 'Kentucky' and 'McDonald', and keeps a supply in a ziplock bag in her handbag. If ever we take her somewhere where the food is European (as happened a lot in Europe! ) she whips a few out and liberally douses the plate in front of her.

One time we took her to an absolutely superb and pretty high-end Italian near where we lived. And she was griping away, as she'd left her handbag at home. 'Bland, no taste, blah blah'. Until we got a waiter to bring a bottle of chilli oil, and some pepper flakes, which transformed her food into being 'just about acceptable'

[JR8]

Yep. I remember how shocked we were visiting Japan for the first time and seeing people on TV, in some sort of connoisseur culinary show, eating nigiri sushi with hands.

On the other hand many Japanese were using chopsticks and only this show made us thinking. We've been to a small, family owned, sushi bar where there was only the owner and his friend, extremely open and friendly, and us and where we had the best sushi ever so far, but I think we still used chopsticks there as they were given to us and the chef said nothing. Maybe he didn't want to be impolite.

It might be one of those things that has evolved, got caught up in etiquette, and further evolved via 'politeness and tradition' back and forth. Such that nowadays what is considered right and wrong is lost...

It's like eating mussels with cutlery as you imagine it's polite. Well it's not, it's silly The proper way to eat them is to roll up your sleeves, and get stuck in with your hands.

I recall one time eating a vast dish of mussels in a ritzy Belgic (? Flemish?) brasserie in Manhattan. I was torn between the social expectation of being polite and taking 2 hours to eat them with cutlery, and them being cold. Or, doing how I have been brought up, and getting stuck in with my hands. I did the latter, but yes I drew some dead-pan blinky-eyed looks for it! You do the same with fresh oysters, only a loony would try and eat them with cutlery...

[rajagainstthemachine]

Use the spoon in lieu of a knife since that's what uncle gives when you buy prata. How many hawker centers actually have knives? Not all of them.

And your "howto" seems doesn't work as you still have to touch the prata, which is also quite greasy.

agreed but its wipeable with a tissue, curry inside your fingers and nails is the major problem for me, my technique defeats that.
in the end one can walk away with a slightly greasy hand and then shake hands with some dude and pass on the greasiness and then he in turn smells his hand and then decides to eat roti parata and then its a chain reaction triggering a mushroom cloud of roti paratas.

Or, you can walk away with perfectly clean hands by using a fork and knife(or spoon).

Your "wipeable with a tissue" falls apart because hawker centers don't have tissue. They sometimes have aunties selling packets of nose tissue which is not practical for cleaning your hands. Especially grease.

I've had success with my technique,been doing it ages. Granted, aunty brand tissues are bad, however this applies to non hawker type places too, several dining places have a box of tissues. Some handout finger bowls, napkins etc.

there is also one more thing about eating with hands, many of us touch the food with only the tips of our fingers and not the palms or rest of the hands, it is generally considered bad etiquette to have food all over ones hands.

one a side note: the term greasing ones palms and Indians, sounds pretty synonymous.

[JR8]

I wanted to do a Streetview from in front of Moti's Roppongi to see if I still recognised it, so I did a Google search on '3-12-6 Roppongi' and ... ended up inside a Japanese restaurant!!

Check it out http://goo.gl/maps/HV55w

[nakatago]

I wanted to do a Streetview from in front of Moti's Roppongi to see if I still recognised it, so I did a Google search on '3-12-6 Roppongi' and ... ended up inside a Japanese restaurant!!

Check it out http://goo.gl/maps/HV55w

Yeah, Google offers that service to businesses. They'll send someone with a rig to come over and take pictures of your establishment.

https://www.google.com/maps/about/partn ... et-started

Even some small, street-side cafes have it.

[Sporkin]

Maybe they could serve it like burrito style, rolled up prata with the curry in the middle wrapped up nicely in foil, portable and edible without getting hands greasy. Pratarrito.

I understand using a fork and knife, but whats with the fork and spoon ?

Use the spoon in lieu of a knife since that's what uncle gives when you buy prata. How many hawker centers actually have knives? Not all of them.

And your "howto" seems doesn't work as you still have to touch the prata, which is also quite greasy.

agreed but its wipeable with a tissue, curry inside your fingers and nails is the major problem for me, my technique defeats that.
in the end one can walk away with a slightly greasy hand and then shake hands with some dude and pass on the greasiness and then he in turn smells his hand and then decides to eat roti parata and then its a chain reaction triggering a mushroom cloud of roti paratas.

[Brah]

Was/is one of my favorites as well, question is, which Moti? At one point there were 2 in Roppongi, both good but different, and only one had my favorite Hyderabadi Chicken curry. Plus one in Shibuya, one in Shinjuku, and I can't remember the others.

... -/ from 20 years ago /- I just happen to have a menu, excerpt above. So the 'Roppongi Durbar' branch was the one I used to frequent. That's not the whole menu of course, but there's your Hyderabad curry. And there's 'my' tandoor fish and prawns. Fresh made-to-order naan bread too, exceptional ... sigh ...

... Now to try and decipher their [damned JPnese] map and figure out if that branch is still there!

I know all of those locations, I forgot about the Akasaka branches because they were pretty small. Darbar closed years ago, it was the newer one, the other Roppongi one was the best, not the cleanest place but we would go 1-2 times a week.

[x9200]

Good curry udon is also something to kill for.

I can't say I've ever had that. Is it like Udon laksa?

I've never had udon laksa - I don't like laksa. I am not a big fan of noodles neither but my wife had ordered one when we visited Osaka and it was really good. More thicker than typical curry and more reach and intensive in flavor too.
We had another one this time in Singapore and to our surprise it was not that bad at all.