Salt and pepper

There are fine dine restaurants and the then there are those which are not. How do you know one from the pretenders? Simple. Look at the salt and pepper bottles. The udipis and the fast food restaurant are the ones who have always got them wrong. There is no consistency in the bottles so as to indicate which is which. Is the ones with fewer holes the salt or is it the other way around. Or is it something to do with the size of the holes. I have seen innumerable diners including myself, completely confused as to which is which. We invariably test one and wonder what comes out. White – now take the other – wow…black… now we know. Sometimes you get two whites or two blacks. I think the best designs here are the transparent containers where there is no mistaking what’s inside. I don’t even trust the ones with the markings P and S on them. I can read but there is no guarantee that the lowest common denominator at the restaurant can. Add to that the sticky Mumbai weather which ensures that salt does not flow and what have you? A complete customer experience. Yesterday we were at this restaurant and when we asked for the salt and pepper. This is what they gave us. So how do you know which is which. Look closer….

The only way to know for sure is to tilt it and see what falls! or else you can smell it and hope the first one is not pepper.

While on the subject. How do you know if your lassi (thick butter milk) is really a thick lassi with malai (cream) in it. You do the spoon buoyancy test. See below. If it floats, it passes, if it sinks, then that’s exactly where it belongs – in the sink. Forgive the absolutely inelegant use of the pun.