Expedition Chennai: Bengaluru by Night

By now, it had been two weeks since we ate beef. Beef is rare (pun intended) in Chennai. Indeed, very few grocery stores carry any kind of meat and it's usually expensive. To top it off, the chicken looks nothing like the antibiotic and marigold-fed chicken that we buy in the US. So, after a week of South Indian food, many of us were ready to taste American cuisine again. We headed to the Hard Rock Café – Bengaluru.

Through our connections (Rajan's daughter) we got reservations. To get in the door, we had to go through a metal detector. This gives you a feel about India's concern over terrorism. Furthermore, the Hard Rock Cafe attracts Americans and would be considered a soft target for those who wish to kill us. The place was packed, both the restaurant and bar. The diners were a mix of foreigners and locals. Like us, American tourists and expatriates look for something familiar that's a break from the green, yellow, and orange vegetable curries.

The décor is like any other HRC, with authentic and ersatz rock memorabilia on the wall and LOUD MUSIC. The menu is like almost any other HRC. There are, maybe, a few more vegetarian selections than HRC Washington, but I didn't pay any attention to them. Craving the flesh of the sacred cow, Vikram and I ordered the steak and Chad had a hamburger. Restaurant food in India is relatively inexpensive because the biggest part of the menu price is labor and labor is dirt cheap. An 8 oz. steak with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables is about $11 US. We didn't all eat beef. The "vegetarians" among us ate meatless dinners because, y'know, other people were watching.

"Oh my God! They serve cow meat!"

"Thank God! They serve cow meat."

Although we couldn't hear each other because of the BACKGROUND MUSIC, dinner was enjoyable. I don't think Rajan and Manju had been to HRC before (and they may never go again), but Geetha was able to achieve one of her trophies, a souvenir glass from the HRC. She must have about 15 now and Bengaluru was the furthest we've traveled for one.