Cart and I both love Indian food and I was quite amazed to see that Cart was able to take the heat of Indian food during his visits to Singapore.
It’s a misconception that all Europeans are not able to eat hot food by the way, and Italians have their hot food too like Arrabbiata. Also, the people of South Italy are known for their use of chillies in their food.
While driving to Cart’s parent’s place, sometimes we pass by The Himalayan Palace Indian restaurant. Cart was so curious to know how the food was like that last Saturday, that he couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer that we stopped by to have dinner there even though we were going back to Singapore in less than a month.
As we entered the restaurant, there were quite a number of people there already and the amount of people coming in kept increasing. This was a popular restaurant it seems. I looked around the dining area. It was a nice looking place, with Indian art decorating the walls.
We both had the fixed meals. Cart had the vegetarian set while I had the fish set. I looked through the menu, recollecting some of the names of the food that I used to eat and was looking forward to eating them.
When the food arrived, it looked colourful and inviting. But eating it, it lacked the kick and heat that I’m used to. I mean, it tastes authentic enough with the use of spices. But it was just too mild for me. And believe it or not, I had chosen the hottest food in my menu.
I suppose the food was catered to the majority of the population here. While Italians can take hot food, their level of tolerance is not the same as mine. If the food was adjusted to the level of heat that I like, I believe the restaurant will go out of business in less than a month.
The 3 ladies who were sitting at the table next to us seemed to enjoy their food a lot anyway.
At least the food here seemed authentic enough,
Ristorante Indiano Himalayan Palace
Circonvallanzione Gianicolense, 277-279
00152 Roma
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I have to say this, but spicy (containing tones of spices like cloves, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander seeds, pepper, etc) and hot (chili, some paprika, etc) are different things and don’t always go together. You can have really spicy food which is not hot, and just chili which just hot.
Indian food doesn’t have to be hot, but tends to be spicy. And in general people around the world enjoy spicy food, but it’s the heat that many can’t stand.
Fair enough, but I’m comparing my experience with the food that I’ve eaten before in Indian family’s houses, the restaurants in Singapore, Thai food that I’ve eaten in Singapore restaurants and in Thailand itself, etc.
I feel most of the food there are more flavourful and robust compared to the Asian food that I’ve had in Italy.
I was born in an “not hot neither spicy food” land (nothern Italy) but I do like hot and spicy food as well. The distintion between hot and spicy is important, normally I am never bothered by spicy food while sometimes when it is too hot I have the feeling that I cannot enjoy the meal, neither the hot dishes , nor the eventually following ones. I remember I had some “padang” meat in the past, it was delicious but..my god..how to bear it?
I always had a doubt: it is true that when people have different origins thet have a different level of tolerance in this field but…also people who adore hot food have a limit? Sometimes it seems to me that the hotter it is, the more they like 🙂
Hehe, I think its because its something that so habitual that it is a natural thing to do. I’ve a friend who says that if one day passes and she doesnt eat any chilli, something just doesnt feel right.
Kind of like coffee with Italians right!? Hehehe. But then again, I can understand the reasoning that if people just eat so much hot food that they dont really taste the essence of the food.
There’s some slight difference between spicy and hot food. I think that one’s level of tolerance for spicyness can be ‘trained’ over time. I recall my husband not being able to support the spicyness at the beginning and 4 years later, he’s able to eat something spicier. Like Marina and me, we are used to hot and spicy food in our home country. I must say certain dishes have to be hot, otherwise it doesn’t seem worth the while to prepare and eat it.
Yeah! You remind me of the time when I was at Singapore hotel eating their continental buffet and tried the local dishes and boy, it was so bland! I’d rather eat from a hawker center! Well, what do I expect since hotels are catered more to tourists yeah?
Hi there, Marina. Boy I miss that high you’re referring to.. sniffling nose and tearing eyes, the one I used to get from eating curry fish head – torturous bliss!
Have a great trip back to S’pore.