Dilpreet Singh
After our discussion about cultural food in class, Raian and I were pretty hungry and decided to get some Indian buffet food. We choose to eat at a buffet because we were basically starving until that moment and wanted to fill ourselves up. After walking around a few places examining the price, menu and other various factors, we decided to go with Dhaba, a Punjabi Cuisine place that offers both dining, takeout, and delivery. Dhaba is a sort of higher class Indian restaurant that has been recognized for its outstanding Indian cuisine, excellent service, and friendly staff. Additionally, with waiters and chefs from South Asia, it was easy to see that Dhaba tried to portray a more authentic look. In contrast, Raian and I have also gone to places like Haandi, which provide Indian food for a lower price and the waiters and chefs are from a Mexican descent. Additionally, the environment at Dhaba was very different from Haandi. Dhaba was a lot cleaner, customer-friendly, and the food was, in general, more fresh and tasty. On the other hand, Handi was a lot more dirty, noisy and less aesthetically-pleasing. At Haandi, the food was not as authentic in comparison to the food in Dhaba as well. I think the fact that Haandi does not have chefs from India ultimately does hinder it from reaching its full potential. When people typically go to an Indian restaurant, they want a cultural feel in which they eat food that was cooked by someone typically of Indian descent. However, I think at Haandi this criterion is not met and causes it to lose potential customers.
“I think the fact that Haandi does not have chefs from India ultimately does hinder it from reaching its full potential. When people typically go to an Indian restaurant, they want a cultural feel in which they eat food that was cooked by someone typically of Indian descent. However, I think at Haandi this criterion is not met and causes it to lose potential customers.” To add on, I want to stress that it is definitely possible for anyone from any ethnicity to cook authentic Indian styled food and dishes. However, the perception of many people is that in order for a restaurant to be good that has a certain type of ethnic food served it must have people from that ethnic background. As a restaurant owner, it’s important to build off that perception by recruiting staff members of specific ethnic backgrounds in order to be a successful.
Funny, I eat at both those places and I always thought of Haandi as more authentic. Certainly, the food is less familiar to me than the stuff at Dhaba which seems more similar to food that you get at “Indian” restaurants in other NYC neighborhoods.