Savage Garden

Ever since viewing a YouTube video on the Savage Garden last year, I’ve wanted to go there. It’s a restaurant run by a German guy serving Mediterranean influenced cuisine in an alley in the Chandpole area near the Bagore Ki Haveli. No need to worry about the address. Any rickshaw driver worth his chai knows where it is.

Rafiq and Pushker had tours that day, so only Nirmal and I went there for lunch. Within seconds of being seated, the owner came to our table and went over the menu with us. There were pasta dishes, Greek dishes and some that may have been Lebanese. With a German owner overseeing the kitchen, I knew there wouldn’t be fireballs of pepper in the food.

I ordered chicken wajid ali, a crunchy skinned breast of chicken stuffed with egg and cashews with a creamy, slightly sweet sauce with currants. It came with rice embedded with shredded carrots. Unfortunately, I was pretty hungry when it arrived, and I set upon the plate like a pack of starving dogs, completely forgetting to take a picture of it until there was nothing left. It was so delicious, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.

A few days later, everyone was busy except Pushker, so I brought him there. He wasn’t hungry, but I was ravenous. I ordered the chicken wajid ali again. And you know what? The exact same thing happened. I don’t care if I have to go back there a hundred times before I remember to take a picture of the chicken wajid ali before laying waste to it. I swear, I’ll do it.

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