We continue our reader-driven series on great restaurants and eating places across the country.
Students of MICA-Ahmedabad Dinu Mathew and Abhishek Gujral tell you where to head for great momos and more Tibetan fare.
Tucked away in the Tibetan colony next to NID in Ahmedabad, AMDOS is a small one-room home converted into a restaurant.
Actually, you can't really call it a restaurant. On the other hand, it's not a shack either.
On the walls, you have pictures of the Dalai Lama for spiritual enlightenment and picturesque landscapes of Tibet for visual relief. There are no chairs or tables; you are expected to sit on a cushion with your legs crossed, just like monks would do in a Tibetian monastery.
You also have a filthy looking cook, the sort of guy you wouldn't want to give a second look. But, after you sample his incredible meals, you will fall in love with him and his perennial, radiant smile displaying paan-stained teeth.
AMDOS serves delectable Beef Momos; you can choose from the baked and fried varieties. I prefer the baked ones since they are light on the stomach and soft on the outside. Besides, the beef is so well cooked that it melts in your mouth.
For the ones who can really tuck into food, the crisp fried batter momos have no equivalent. The batter is just thick enough to hold the beef. We guarantee you will yearn for more.
You also have Beef Noodles, known as shapta, that is manna for a beef connoisseur; one order of shapta is your ticket to gastronomic heaven. The shapta comes with sliced vegetables. Though this dish is not bland, you can make it spicier by adding different home made red chilli pastes; these also enhance the flavour of the dish.
Apart from the shaptas and momos, AMDOS serves soups, Beef Chilli and Beef Fry.
The best part is yet to come... even hard-core gluttons like Abhishek and I find eating here easy on our pockets.
In fact, our transportation costs would be higher than the food we gobble down in AMDOS.
A platter of fried and baked momos, with shapta, Beef Fry and a soup would come to around Rs 125 per head. The soup -- a traditional thupka (a Tibetan noodle soup) -- is slightly bland.
The cook doesn't serve any cold drinks but it is always available on request at no extra price. I would suggest you go for the Lemon Tea; it's one of the best you will find in this city.
This place serves no chicken or mutton. For vegetarians, the fare is limited to a vegetarian thupka.
Price per plate
Baked momos: Rs 25 (6 momos to a plate)
Fried momos: Rs 30
Shapta: Rs 25
Lemon Tea: Rs 3
Beef Chilli: Rs 25
Each plate is filling for those with a normal appetite, but people like me will always want more.
AMDOS is a favourite among the students of NID, IIM-Ahmedabad and even the far away MICA; the latter travel for an hour to savour these exquisite delicacies.
In fact, we remembering faking an illness and telling our friends we were going to the hospital on the eve of our final media planning presentation. Where we were actually headed to was AMDOS!
Last but not the least, don't go there for the ambience because there isn't any. Don't go there for the quiet surroundings because there ain't any.
Go there if you love eating beef. Go there if you want value for your money. You will be welcomed by Shing Wong Do's mother (that's what the cook is called; though we're not sure that's the way he spells his name).
And remember, take off your shoes before you enter.
Dinu Mathew and Abhishek Gujral are students at MICA, Ahmedabad.
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