Saturday, August 20, 2005

A rare 'ugh'

(As anyone who knows me will tell anyone who cares to know) I'm not a food person.

I will eat stale roti with sour curd. I will eat daal and bread for dinner, or glucose biscuits for lunch. I will eat on streets, off highways... Punjabi-style chow-chow and tandoori-style pizza and greasy halwa off stalls in the narrow gallies, flies abuzz... anything goes.

I will not whisper a word of complaint.

I do not rant about unpleasant food experiences, but!
Wimpy's has tested the absolute limit of my gastronomic tolerance.

I've eaten a lot in my time, but!
I've never eaten lamb burgers that taste like chewed-up Hawai Chappals.

Either that 'lamb' was sacrificed at the altar of muscular depolarization... or else, they tried to cross a rubber duck with a frigid goat, and fed me the result.

For the first time in my life, I have been grateful that Pepsi existed!

My friend was served a squishily yellow drink that passed for cold coffee. It reminded me too much of Bombay's gutters; didn't dare sample it.

Despite all this, I wouldn't have complained so much if it wasn't for the damn copycat attitude in that place. They've tried to model it exactly on MacDonalds faux-cheery countenance.... The counters. The queues. The menu. The prices. The tables. The uniforms. The trays and wrappers and dustbins.... Then why, oh why, was it so difficult to produce something edible?

And why, oh why, would anyone come to Wimpy's, for the joy of eating chewed-up hawai chappals, when MacDs is exactly a sixty second walk away?

When was the last time the owner sat down and ate at the eatery? If anyone knows him/her/them, please do communicate my sentiments: Ugh!

10 comments:

Anang said...

OMG! Wimpy's!

gawker said...

Keep a sharp look-out on tv for any news of a merger between Bata and Wimpy.

Ashish Gorde said...

We used to have a Wimpy's here in Bahrain, and thankfully, it closed down. Looks like inedible burgers is something the company takes very seriously on a global basis. :-)))

eM said...

You know I actually quite like Wimpy's. It brings back so many memories of my childhood in Delhi, before McDonalds came on the scene, when my biggest treat was to be taken there after school for a cheeseburger. And the tough meat was part of the experience, just like the rubberband cheese at Nirulas. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, wimpy's is something I look back upon with lots of fondness. It was the place to hang out before Macdonalds came. And I have had a lot of great burgers there. haven't been there for years now. Can't help feeling sad:(

Anonymous said...

Hi, wimpy's is something I look back upon with lots of fondness. It was the place to hang out before Macdonalds came. And I have had a lot of great burgers there. haven't been there for years now. Can't help feeling sad:(

R. said...

Hey, used to love the big sloppy joe's out there in Wimpy's, Bangalore!

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

i empathize! Nine years ago i stepped into a Wimpy outlet for the first time and ordered a burger and their copycat version of Nirulas' hot chocolate fudge (the only 'decent' *fast food* option pre-McDonald days).

I NEVER went back to Wimpy's again. It's been nine years and i can't bear the thought. And naah, (you've seen me): i am no foodie either!

Annie Zaidi said...

yes, wimpy's of the nostalgic era...
Pawan, graet burgers at Wimpy's?? Must have been in a different century altogether. Right now, I'd find it hard to believe even the memory of good food there.
r, what are the big sloppy joe's?
And Shilpa... where on earth DID you disappear? And how's your back?

Shilpa Bhatnagar said...

:) Was hibernating, A.
Gosh, your question made me realise just HOW long it has been..my back healed last year, i think!

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