In today’s modern lifestyle,
every member of the family is busy in their own ways. Not blaming them but that
how the order of the day has become. The biggest fallout of this is probably
family time during a meal. I still remember 15-20 years ago, how if not for
every meal at least for dinner all of us assembled at the table and sat
together talking about the day and enjoying the meal. But the bitter truth is today
it evades most of us.
However there is one month of
the year where this opportunity strikes for a sizeable section of us. Yes, I’m
taking about the Holy month of Ramadhan. No matter how important a work is, as
the time of sunset comes closer, the entire family is promptly settled on the
table saying the prayers in unison and preparing ourselves to break the fasting
that we set upon at dawn.
Traditionally, the fast is opened
by consuming a portion of dates along with the Holy Zam Zam water but because
Zam Zam water is a scarcity in India (Until unless you’ve had someone who had
recently visited the Holy city of Makkah) regular water suffices the ritual.
After the opening of fast, depending on each family’s tradition, a variety of
snacks, sweets and juices follow. Some of the common dishes are Samosa, Spring
Roll, Vada, Bhajji, Cutlet, Flavoured Agar Agar, Roohafza (A variant of Rose
Milk), Nonbu Congee (A special variety in comparison to the traditional Congee)
amongst others.
Now for those who are
non-natives of Chennai and observing fast, it becomes a challenge as getting
all savoury, sweet and drinks at a single place become difficult as most
restaurants are non-functional around that time. But thanks to the advent of a
slack of Arabian themed restaurants in Chennai, this problem has found a
permanent solution. Until a few years ago, a handful of restaurants had
something known as the Iftar Pack and to the best of my knowledge Hotel Blue
Diamond was probably the first. But now the options have become unlimited.
Almost every restaurant now has a special pre-packed pack that can be picked up
from the restaurant and the fast opened at the convenience of one’s accommodation.
Curious on knowing how each pack differs from the others, I’ve decided to check
out on some of them during this year’s Ramadhan. The first of which was today
from Zaitoon.
 |
| (Iftar Pack) |
- Dates
- Bottle of Water
- Cut Fruits
- Lemon flavoured Juice
- Mini Shawarma
- Koji Rice with Laham (Mutton)
- Parotta
- Chicken Curry
- Kubus with a quarter piece of Grilled Chicken accompanied with Garlic paste
- Savoury Puff
- Haleem
- Gulab Jamun
- Payasam
 |
| (Iftar Pack Opened) |
The offering is quite extensive
and must say that it was a complete meal by itself. Some highlights of the pack
are that the lemon flavoured juice was indeed a Lemon flavoured Tata Gluco+
water. Although it can be deceiving from being a juice, it was a good
alternative because the body does need that extra bit of energy after being on
a fast for more than 14 hours. The mini Shawarma was not mini in a big way. It
was the regular sized roll with slightly less amount of filling. The rice was
spectacular as always while I felt the Parotta to be a little hard and doughy
inspite of heating the same. The curry was appropriate but my only issue was
that it was way too much to be eaten with a single parotta. Perhaps it can be
used along with some Bread/Chapathi/Rice for the pre-fast meal. The grilled
chicken was the usual fare. The puff was a bit flaky to my liking while the Jamun
and the Payasam were just fine. Another standout in the pack was the Haleem
which incidentally tasted much better than the one that most people usually
head to in Egmore. I’m yet to try it out from there this year but if it tastes
the same as last year, then I think we have winner at Zaitoon.
 |
| (Iftar Pack Contents) |
A true value for money the Iftar pack is priced at ₹
299 and is available across all their outlets from 4:30 pm onwards.
Till I see you soon with
another Ramadhan post,
To keep yourself updated on new reviews, kindly click subscribe by email on the right hand side at the top of this page.
