For sausage and Empire

I bought some bacon sausages last weekend which were very tasty indeed. I'd been looking for our normal Keel's pork sausages but New Frosty's in Indiranagar had run out, and the bacon variety proved to be a very fine substitute. So yesterday, we decided to repeat the exercise and hopped into the car for the short ten minute drive to Frosty's. This week we were out of luck altogether; not a bacon or pork sausage to be found, just chicken sausages. So I drove down to Spencer's on 80 Feet Road. Spencer's is one of a number of new supermarket chains springing up in the city. When I first arrived in the city there was Fab Mall and Food World and Namdhari's for green vegetables and imported foodstuffs. Spencer's combines the best of both worlds: a pretty good green grocery section, some nice meats and fish and also a few imported cheeses, Heinz baked beans and some of the other every day products that you'd find in a Sainsbury's or Tesco's but which are like hen's teeth in India.

It was ten past nine by the time I got to Spencer's and the floors were still being swept. "Are you open?" I asked one of the assistants. "Yes sir" came the reply. So I walked up to the meat counter which was devoid not only of meat but also all human activity. I went back to the girl I'd spoken to earlier. "Is there anybody on the meat counter?" I asked. "Sorry, sir, the meat counter doesn't open until ten."

So my sausage quest ended there. On the way back home though, I did pick up some nice strawberries (thirty rupees a punnet), some bananas and a kilo of grapes. You can't beat the fruit in India. It didn't quite replace grilled sausage, but Niharika quite happily tucked into strawberries and grapes while her mum and I had fried egg and bacon instead.

Later in the evening I popped over to The Hard Rock Cafe with my brother-in-law. Neither of us had eaten and so when we were tipped out at about eleven thirty, we decided to nip up to The Empire in Shivajinagar and get a takeaway.

The Empire is one of the few eateries in Bangalore which stays open until late. There are a number of branches in the city and the ones on Church Street and in Shivajinagar are my usual haunts. When we got there last night the place was heaving, not that it mattered because we had no intention of getting out of the car. The routine is, drive up to the restaurant, nab a waiter who's loitering outside and then double or triple park the car whilst he gets your food. You can park fifty or a hundred yards down the street but he'll still find you. We ordered two chicken kebabs, two dal fry and four parota. Less than ten minutes later he was at the car with our food, total bill, Rs 262, which is about three pounds forty. I gave him Rs 300 and he was more than happy.

Then we set off for Indirinagar. Alex was driving and he knows the routine in Bangalore and also where the cops wait to nab drink drivers. He'd had a couple of beers but he certainly wouldn't have been over the limit. Nevertheless, he popped a spearmint chewing gum into his mouth and, sure enough, five minutes later, we were being pulled over by a policeman in Ulsoor.

"Have you been drinking?" asked the policeman.
"No sir," said Alex, "just Red Bull."
"Let me smell your breath," said the policeman, leaning into the car.

Alex breathed into the cop's face and we were waved on. So that's how they breathalyse in Bangalore. Had the cop's nose been a little more sensitive, or had he smelt a rat, Alex could have expected a court summons and a fine of probably a thousand rupees. It wouldn't have come to that though of course; a couple of hundred rupees slipped to Mr Plod would have seen the whole issue settled then and there.

Originally published on Blogger on 24th February 2008.