Home away from home

One of our favourite places to eat has to be Anjappar Doha. It was our, “home away from home” for the two years that we lived in Qatar. The thought of eating at Anjappar still bring back many fond memories and I confess it gets my tummy rumbling.

They serve great South Indian food everything from your vadai, tosai, puri to your full scale chicken, mutton and fish meals with the all the essential accompaniment. Last Deepavali they went the extra mile to serve 30 varieties of meat dishes. Wow it was glorious. Well one thing is for sure, we always left there satisfied and if that was not enough we could always pack a little “takeaway” for later.

It didn’t matter if it was lunch or dinner, they always had something to satisfy that craving for rice, sambar, fish curry, fried chicken or some mutton varuval. Friday morning breakfast of sambar idly was my ritual after church. (Fridays in the Middle East are like Sundays)

In addition to all the essentials, great food, wide variety, pleasant ambience and affordable prices there was one extra ingredient that stood out.

They always served their food with love.

It was not merely dining at a restaurant but it was as close as you could get to eating a “home cooked meal”, 6,000km away from home.

They would greet us as we entered the front door and you instantly felt welcome. They always made sure you had more than enough of everything you wanted. Always happy to top up half finished bowls of gravy or vegetables and of course all the rice you could eat.

It was hard saying goodbye on our last day in Doha as we had our last meal there and said our goodbyes, knowing that we would miss those wonderful guys at Anjappar, their lovely smiles and warm Doha greetings.