A good number of Indian restaurants claim to also serve Chinese so my food-buddy, Ashwani, and I decided to give some of them a try. Our (self-imposed) rule was simple, go in and order nothing but the Chinese items on the menu; no Daal Makhani, no Butter Chicken, no Bhindi Fry, just Chinese. Unfortunately (for them as much as for us) we were standing in-front of Vaishali’s Bombay Bites in Cluster C of JLT when we made this decision, so the restaurant kinda chose itself.
First up, Vaishali’s Bombay Bites should not be confused with Maharashtrian street-food specialists, Bombay Bites in Mankhool; those boys are in a totally different league to these guys. The interior of VBB is a pleasant enough place, airy and modern (in a cheap, plasticky kind of way). Prime location and the promise of affordable Indian street-food means this little corner restaurant is almost always full.
Unless you are used to the Indian Chinese lingo you will not understand what is going on. I didn’t, leaving it to Ash to do the ordering. Even he looked a little lost at times. Obviously, there is a method to the madness. I picked up that you can have everything dry, semi-dry or (as preferred by most) with gravy. He ordered a combination of all three, in their version of Manchurian and Schezwan styles. I really hope VBB serves better Indian food than it does Chinese – what we got was the retarded, third cousin, twice removed of the Indo-Chinese food restaurants like the Monk and Chin Chin serve; not at all nice and best avoided.
Service won’t win any awards either, I found the waiters hurried and distracted. But in their defense, they were courteous. And perhaps because they don’t usually get people coming in and ordering a full Chinese meal, kitchen to table delivery took far longer than my patience was used to. All in all, this was not a pleasant experience. Ashwani and I have since decided to abandon any further attempt at trying Chinese food in Indian restaurants. Based on this encounter, I suggest you do the same.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
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