Indian food out of India especially in Scandinavia is much
like the Indian movies. The Indian Film Industry ,bollywood for many foreigners
is still a lot to do with song and dance ,a lot of melo drama ,a super hero and
a saree clad navel showing heroine. We in India know that our cinema is
changing ,thank god for that but it will take time for the world to know it !
The world as they know our movies through its glitzy sets knows our food
through the spicey chicken tikka masala. Well for all these years ,the only
Indian food that you get out of India is the bloody heavy throat blocking north
Indian ! I don’t mean to insult food but that’s how it is at most of the so
called Indian restaurants around Scandinavia.
In Stockholm its funny .. Of all the ‘North Indian’
restaurants I have been to not a single one has a chef from India ,they are
either from the west of India (Pakistan) or from the ex East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) not that they make bad north Indian ,if only they knew what a good
north Indian curry tastes like. But these restaurants have sprung up in all the
corners of Stockholm each trying to spice it up for the customers. And just
like our film makers add a scene or a dance for the people , the chef here
makes his food more spicey coz that’s the way they love it here.
In all this north Indian food mess, there is a small little
place called the ‘Hurry Curry’. I’ve been seeing it since 2009 right next to my
hotel here in downtown Stockholm. It forms an extension of INDISKA ,that is Indian
in Swedish, a retail clothes chain. The décor is charming ,the seating is
rustic and the food ,well I never had an opportunity to taste the food until
today.
My staple diet here in Scandinavia is Salmon. I usually have
it for all my 3 meals. So I knew what I wanted when I saw the limited menu. By
the way I really like the restaurants which have a limited menu. As the Salmon
topped salad with a garlic mayo dip arrived ,my fork and knife went straight
in. Half way through ,I realized that the salmon was a tandoori salmon. Can you
imagine the spices were so subtle that the flavor only loosely reminded me of
Indian food but did not over power my dish.
Guess who owns the place .. not an Indian and certainly not
a Bangladeshi. This is owned by a Swede and the chefs ,well all of them are
from India.
The crowd ,young hungry stomachs who after shopping are
exhausted and are in a hurry to eat. Well the curry doesn’t disappoint them.
The Gangs of Wasseypur is a film that is currently running
in Indian Cinemas ,Hurry Curry to Indian food in Stockholm is what Gangs of
Wasseypur is to Indian Cinema in India.
A blessing !
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