Raison d’etre.
Like a hovering bee, the French word raison d’etre kept buzzing in our mind during a meal at Aangan Indian restaurant in Freehold, New Jersey.
Just in case you are curious, the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition, P.1028) defines raison d’etre as ‘reason or justification for existence.’
The smart ones amongst you have already figured out which way we are heading, eh?
Yes, folks, you guessed right – Aangan is a restaurant with little or no raison d’etre.
Poof. If Aangan were to disappear like that from the face of the earth today it’d be no loss to New Jersey.
We dare say it’d be a divine blessing and all of us would be better off.
Except the bunch of misfits in Aangan’s kitchen and dining room, who would be out on the Freehold streets as they ought to be for the high crime of their association with this insulting impostor of an Indian restaurant.
That a slick web site and a smooth-talking marketing kid do not translate into a fine Indian dining experience is amply proven by our meal the other day at Aangan restaurant in Freehold.
Some months ago, in the days when the afternoon sun blazed less fiercely we received an e-mail and after we ignored it, then came a call from a glib-talking kid from Aangan inviting us over for a meal and review of the Freehold (NJ) Indian restaurant.
Given our insatiable lust for Indian food and drooling at the great possibilities ahead, we readily consented.
Why not? Remember, we’re the people who like to tell the world we live to eat curry and not the other way around.
But a million other commitments intruded and it took us several months before we could make that trip north to Aangan.
Alas, it was one culinary road trip that quickly went south.
Except in talking a good talk, these Aangan bozos are dilettantes completely unschooled in delivering both fine Indian food or gracious service.
Given that the restaurant has two name boards outside (Ginger Thai Cuisine and Aangan Indian Cuisine) with a single entrance, we were understandably confused and uncertain of our steps as we gingerly made our way inside.
A question to a desi waiter (he with a ring on his left ear lobe and a sulk on his face) about the entrance to Aangan brought forth the brusque reply – you can sit anywhere.
That unwelcome rude brushoff set the overall tone for our dissatisfying meal at Aangan.
You know, like the chronicle of a disaster foretold.
Idli was so hard and the edges so dry that we have little doubt that Aangan’s Idlis routinely make their way to New Jersey construction sites when the contractors run out of small stone pieces to make concrete. Continue reading »
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