Swiss fondue
During our Swiss trip, we had been tasting Indian food allover. And though it came as a pleasant surprise to us, we were still dying to try out some exquisite Swiss cuisine. And the stay at Interlaken provided easy access to numerous Swiss restaurants. And within no time, Swiss fondue clearly came out as the dish to try as it was on menus allover. It came in two flavors, cheese and chocolate, and the cheese one seemed really popular. For some reason, I always imagined a fondue as some kind of dessert. So we ended up having a quick dinner at some McD (ignoring the "Indian Spice" restaurant for a change), and later looking up for a restaurant that served great Swiss Cheese Fondue.
We found one real nice restaurant, it was very big. Lots of tables outside, lots of ppl around. Some live music as well. We settled down at a table near the center. It was a very pleasant atmosphere. Though there was something strange. It soon became apparent that the strange part was some (unpleasant!) smell coming from an adjacent table. We wondered if it was some alcohol or some real bad sea food or something.
The place also had a separate 'tea' menu. They had all kinds of flavors of tea. Never seen so many teas before. The first two of course were Indian Darjeeling tea and Assam tea. Just to honor the fact that the tea menu was really special, i ordered Earl Gray (an English tea). And of course.. the Swiss fondue. We ordered two cheese and one chocolate. And for some strange reason, the waiter said you cant order one chocolate. You have to order atleast two (no stretch of our imagination could comprehend why). So we decided to go for three cheese fondues instead.
First came the tea. Early Gray! And not to my surprise really, there was no milk to be added. It was dark tea. And for me, who for all my life drank tea with 50-100% milk and 2-3 teaspoon sugar, this dark tea was hard to take. My only comfort was Mridu had ordered Chineese Green Tea :D. Sadly, Rajat had the normal coffee with milk and did not make me feel better about the tea.
After a while, the waiter brought a stand with a burner. We watched anxiously. Then he brought a big bowl full of pieces of bread, and very interesting style of fork (close to a fruit fork). Now bread was first unexpected part. And the quantity was the second. What came next was the third unexpected part, also the feared part. The waiter got a bowl with molten cheese and put it on the burner. Immediately we knew what the awful smell came from. It came from the cheese. We just looked at each other. Wondering who would dare to take the first bite. Each of us eventually did. And it smelled better than it tasted. I thought i would get used to the taste and could eat more. But none of us could manage more than 3 bites.
The Earl Gray tea tasted heaven...
We found one real nice restaurant, it was very big. Lots of tables outside, lots of ppl around. Some live music as well. We settled down at a table near the center. It was a very pleasant atmosphere. Though there was something strange. It soon became apparent that the strange part was some (unpleasant!) smell coming from an adjacent table. We wondered if it was some alcohol or some real bad sea food or something.
The place also had a separate 'tea' menu. They had all kinds of flavors of tea. Never seen so many teas before. The first two of course were Indian Darjeeling tea and Assam tea. Just to honor the fact that the tea menu was really special, i ordered Earl Gray (an English tea). And of course.. the Swiss fondue. We ordered two cheese and one chocolate. And for some strange reason, the waiter said you cant order one chocolate. You have to order atleast two (no stretch of our imagination could comprehend why). So we decided to go for three cheese fondues instead.
First came the tea. Early Gray! And not to my surprise really, there was no milk to be added. It was dark tea. And for me, who for all my life drank tea with 50-100% milk and 2-3 teaspoon sugar, this dark tea was hard to take. My only comfort was Mridu had ordered Chineese Green Tea :D. Sadly, Rajat had the normal coffee with milk and did not make me feel better about the tea.
After a while, the waiter brought a stand with a burner. We watched anxiously. Then he brought a big bowl full of pieces of bread, and very interesting style of fork (close to a fruit fork). Now bread was first unexpected part. And the quantity was the second. What came next was the third unexpected part, also the feared part. The waiter got a bowl with molten cheese and put it on the burner. Immediately we knew what the awful smell came from. It came from the cheese. We just looked at each other. Wondering who would dare to take the first bite. Each of us eventually did. And it smelled better than it tasted. I thought i would get used to the taste and could eat more. But none of us could manage more than 3 bites.
The Earl Gray tea tasted heaven...
posted by Abhijit... at 5:41 AM
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