Gurgoan: Eating joints is a booming business in India these days, especially the concept-based restaurants, which earned popularity in the metros. `Filmy Masala', `Khaja Chawk' are among those which stand out for painstakingly creating an "Indian Ambience", and carrying forward the trend are traditional Punjabi restaurants which have village themes as their dicor. Although to the young generation Barista, McDonald's and Pizza Hut offer more allurement, it is the soothing ambience of the traditional Rabab and Tabla that ultimately draws a connoisseurs attention away from the glare and glitter of the high rise malls and shopping arcades. `Pind Balluchi', is one such village-theme Punjabi restaurant, here that has successfully created an ambience of a village, giving rise to a rich nostalgia of Punjab, its culture and lifestyle of the days gone by.

    JD Chadha, owner of Pind Balluchi said, "We give an ambience to our customers, who have left their villages or who have never seen them and want their family to experience it. We provide authentic Punjabi food, according to the taste of the customer". When it comes to preparing Punjabi food, the menu serves you the season's favourite "Sarson da Saag", "Dal makhni" and "Baingan da Bharta" all served with the Indian style of bread, `Makki di roti' and "Lacchha parantha". Whether it is rustling up a vegetable curry or baking bread, it's the element of tradition that one finds inherent in the food prepared here.

    The attractive part of cooking Punjabi food is the aroma it releases, the drift of the true Punjabi delicacy. However, in cities where people are becoming more health conscious, its difficult to predict as to how long will such spicy food hold sway and yet fulfil all the nutritional standards? "Our food is non-oily, non-spicy. Spicy in the sense, we prepare the food according to our customer's choice. We ask them what they want. As foreigners do not like spicy food, we make sure of the preparation before serving. Most of the customers these days prefer butter-spread-bread and `tarke wali dal'. Little wonder that our most popular dish is `Makki di Roti' and `Sarson da saag', he said. The interiors have also been designed to make one feel like royalty, with an artificial rural landscape to complement the haveli interiors. Delicious food served in specially designed utensils, also signifies the mood of the place, as one providing plenty of fun, with a deep sense of nostalgia. "I belong to Punjab but we get less Punjabi food here in Delhi and after visiting the malls sometimes we feel like eating food of our own land like 'Makki Di Roti', 'Sarson Da Saag', 'Muliya' and 'Payaj'. What we get is a feel of our old days, the old cot, the food and after these, do we need anything else. We go to malls also but today we are glad that we got Punjabi food of our choice and taste here, said Malti, a customer.

     One can say it is more of an effort to bring the new generation back to their roots. Apart from experimenting the taste of Punjabi food, they now thrill to the folk tunes, which few have heard. The place has all the motifs, flavours, and even the smells of a traditional Punjabi feudal household. And that's what people from around the world come to see, feel and relive. For after all, touching their minds, telling them of their rural lifestyle is the primary idea and that is something `Pind Balluchi" doesn't fail at doing.
-April 10, 2005