Simply put a thali is a balance of six food flavours served in various forms throughout Southern Asia. Most popularly India. After two months here it's hard not to realize one thing, these meals pack a punch at an incredibly cheap rate. Generally speaking the cheapest for around 60 rupees and top end 400 rupees (0.90 - 5.98 USD). Averaging out at about 100 rupees. Locals and tourists a like fill-up on these flavourful spreads. Most thalis' conjure up salty, spicy, sweet, astringent, bitter and sour tastes and come with unlimited refills (well most at least)! After a bit of verbal and taste-bud related market research a 100 rupee pure vegetarian thali is just about right.
Once the thali is plopped in front of said indulger it can be slightly over-whelming. Multiple curry colors in small dishes filled to the brim, a side basket of flat roti and a heaping scoop of white rice. It's like, where does one even start? With still a long ways to go about the proper eating etiquette of a thali I found out quickly that the steamed rice is meant to be saved for last. Why? I'm not sure. Do I save something to partner with the steamed rice as well? I'm not totally sure of that either but I should probably find out.
An additional head-scratcher for me as well is exactly how does a traveler tell if the restaurant serves bottomless thalis or not? From my understanding all thalis are "suppose" to be bottomless but that is definitely not the case as some places exploit the number of tourists and push that general rule of thumb to the side hoping we don't know or won't ask. Which is definitely true. I suppose asking more questions at the time is best route to gain a better general understanding.
The red onions. The crunch. The texture. The equalizer. Sliced red onions come as a compliment to many Indian dishes and that's no different to the thali. For thalis in particular it's a total game-changer. The sweet crunch is necessary for every bite as it goes with all the flavours and there is endless handfuls. Yes handfuls. A lot of the time servers will grab a handful from a bucket close by and plop them straight onto your circular thali tray. Thalis aside, Indian's essentially use red onions as a chaser for a majority of their dishes. Whether it's street food or proper sit down.
With still a few weeks to go, I hope some thalis along the way will answer some questions at hand. Such as stapling down the proper etiquette? Finally testing the taste-buds on a seafood thali? One that's been rarely crossed on the journey thus far.
An additional head-scratcher for me as well is exactly how does a traveler tell if the restaurant serves bottomless thalis or not? From my understanding all thalis are "suppose" to be bottomless but that is definitely not the case as some places exploit the number of tourists and push that general rule of thumb to the side hoping we don't know or won't ask. Which is definitely true. I suppose asking more questions at the time is best route to gain a better general understanding.
The red onions. The crunch. The texture. The equalizer. Sliced red onions come as a compliment to many Indian dishes and that's no different to the thali. For thalis in particular it's a total game-changer. The sweet crunch is necessary for every bite as it goes with all the flavours and there is endless handfuls. Yes handfuls. A lot of the time servers will grab a handful from a bucket close by and plop them straight onto your circular thali tray. Thalis aside, Indian's essentially use red onions as a chaser for a majority of their dishes. Whether it's street food or proper sit down.
With still a few weeks to go, I hope some thalis along the way will answer some questions at hand. Such as stapling down the proper etiquette? Finally testing the taste-buds on a seafood thali? One that's been rarely crossed on the journey thus far.
This was a top-end Indian restaurant and their lunch special was mixed veg curry thali.
The top-end thali here was 380 rupees = $5.67. Unlimited refills of everything.
Literally buckets of red onions! They're the equalizer
80 rupee thali
60 rupees with bottomless curries
