I get sad about my father at the strangest times, but the most I miss him is when I experience something beautiful to eat. My dad had a passion for food and everything he ate was an experience. Greggie has the same nature and today that very passion was mingle with my father's favourite food and I had one of the most special times with food that I have had in a long time.
Greggie has a special way of choosing restaurants and this one is a neighbourhood one that he has wanted to support with his new found love for Indian food. We nearly missed the chance because our precious friend, Sportsy, isn't as into Indian but Greggie was kinda determined that this was how we would be spending o ur Sunday afternoon.
Secretly, I wasn't thrilled because it happens to be the restaurant above the restaurant that my ex of like 10 years ago owns. Some things you just never quite let go of ... ok, not you ... me!
Thava is the place Greggie, Sportsy and myself ended up spending nearly the whole of Sunday. Ok, Sportsy is nerdy and went to do some work, but Greggie and I chilled and ate and ate and ate.
When 4 and a half hours pass and you've felt completely at home, been perfectly attended to by the most charming waiter on the planet (Thanks Blaze) and had your meal personally recommended to you by the owner ... now that's a place I want to brag about.
There's another reason why Thava was such a special experience for me. My dad would have loved it. At times I fell all silent and thought about his absolute love for Indian food. I munched on the complimentary pompodums that kept on arriving at the table and smiled at happy memories. My dad was a sucker for?hospitable restaurant owners and I imagined that before the meal was through an owner and a waiter or two would have pulled up a chair and listened to a few of the stories that I spent my life hearing over again.
There is something magical about Indian food. Something about the aroma and burst of flavours whether it's a prawn fried in sesame seeds, butter chicken, roti or vermacelli pudding. Ok ... that's only some of what I ate, but with each mouthful I had a million reasons to smile. Great company, special memories, perfect setting and pure indulgence. I don't do indulgence without guilt and Greggie has given me the great gift of appreciating perfect moments like today.
That's what 'project me' is all about today ... mixing memories and food. I'm battling a bit with food of late and know that 'project me' is going to be about forming a new relationship with it, without being goal orientated and losing any of the fun. I'm also battling with memories and am only now realising just how much I am like my dad. Neither of those are a bad thing ... they are just new. Where better to have these realisations that the only place my I would have wished for a moment to be with my dad for a while.
Before I left the restaurant I told the owners and the super charming waiter, Blaze, that I would be blogging about them, but I didn't get to tell them why. I didn't get to say that I had revelations sitting in their restaurant. That my father taught me about good Indian food and that theirs was beyond great. That my father taught me about the joy of talking to strangers so that they felt like friends in an instant and that the restaurant felt like home before very long. That my dad taught me how to be bold with food and that I was surrounded by boldness.
Most of all, my father taught me that when you have an amazing food experience ... you talk about it. You talk and talk until you have convinced everyone around you that their lives won't be the same if they don't have that experience.
My wish is that if anyone is in or around the Norwood area that you share the Thava experience and step into my world for a while and all that my dad taught me about living life to the fullest ... yep, it pretty much weighed on a damn good Indian restaurant.
You would have been proud of my find daddy ...
Your Dad sounds like he was one amazing man! I love being around someone who loves to tell stories and just makes you feel like part of the crowd, especially if its someone I don't know. They make for the best conversations!
So happy you had a great day and it sounds very tasty....too bad we don't have any Indian restaurants around here 🙁
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My dad really was just amazing! I wish you had an Indian restaurant closer, it's an amazing experience.
Hope your weekend was super special too hun!
Cool blog
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment.
Ah... Indian cuisine... I'm in KZN, which I believe is just as good as being in India 😉
Oddly enough food also takes me back to my dad more often than not. We had very, very different tastes (I was 100% carnivore... I'll go as far as fish) but the one thing we both did rather well was try the strange or bizarre. Don't ask... and I won't tell 😉 But, gotta try anything once.
We so often spend our first few years trying to be as different as possible from our parents, then as time goes by notice how similar we may be and then do our best to be as much like them (if they were good folk that is). It's rather funny how that goes.
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My dad always taught me that you have try everything once. He used to get so irritated if anyone ever said they didn't like something before they had tried it. With that in mind, I have also tried a few crazy things in my time 😉
You won't know until you try it! So very true.
Try everything once... okay, sometimes you'll try it a second time (or multiple times in my case just to confirm I don't like coffee tequila!) 🙂
But drives me nuts too. All those vanilla people. Be different, try different, you never know what may surprise you. But guess they're missing out.
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Ok I have to clear on thing up ... I can be a little vanilla ... vanilla ice cream that is. Not that I haven't tried every flavour of ice cream out there, but I do always seem to go straight back to vanilla. For the rest, I totally agree ... try it 😉
I ordered Mr Delivery from Thava Indian Restuarant in Norwood. This was at 20:13 and the ticket slip said we would have our food at 21:13. At 21:05 I got a call from the restuarant and the man tells me that they are not making my food thank you good night. I asked him to please explain and he tells me they too busy to worry about take aways. I explain that my wife is in between feeds with a three month baby where would he like me to get food at this time. He hands the phone over to someone else. This person also tells me too bad but he at least uses the word sorry once or twice. I literally beg him to make a plan and he is insistant that he cannot. He then speaks to someone else and starts telling me he will make it he just does not know when it would be ready it could be today?????? In this day and age if you looking for good service becareful here as in this instance my circumstances were totally ignored and in my opinion they really could not care either way to quote male number one they cannot worry about take away people.
Darren, thank you so much for letting me know that you had this experience with Thava.
As I'm sure you agree that everything is judged on our own personal experiences and we are most probably equally surprised at the other's encounter of the restaurant.
Due to my relationship with Thava I would like to let you know that I will make contact with them on Monday and let's both see the response of the restaurant to your post on my blog. Yes, we are both looking for great service, I absolutely agree.
Dear Darren
On behalf of Thava I first would like to apologise for the manner in which you and your wife were treated on Saturday night. There is no excuse for that and I will not even attempt any explanation. All I can say is please accept our apologies and please let us what we can do to try and convince you to visit us and give us one more chance.
I acknowledge your right to circulate all this information on the various websites you have chosen but as a food critic I also believe that a second chance should be given to all, and if we manage to change your mind such information should also be posted on Hellopeter.com and your blog so to show the world that we all can change and all are human and mistakes are possible as long as we learn from them and take into consideration all feedback, whether good or bad.
Having just had a conversation with you, I'm looking forward to changing your perception of Thava in the near future.
For and on behalf of Thava Indian restaurant
Philippe Frydman
Chairman: Academy of Chefs
Thank you so much for the response to my reader and for pointing out the important message, that everyone should be given a second change. I'm most impressed that you don't shy away from criticism and that you use it grow the business.
Darren, I hope that your future relationship with Thava is a reflection of the hospitality, passion for food and care for the customer that I am accustom to.