The residents of Mumbai love to eat, drink and party. They also love to sleep, procrastinate and complain about potholes, but let me save that for another story.This one’s about their table manners, particularly while dining out.Mumbai has some terrific restaurants to visit so dig in your forks, or as is the custom here, your fingers. 1. Making table reservations is not a big custom :-Most well-to-do people think they’re important enough to be recognized and that they will miraculously be ushered to a table the moment they set foot into a restaurant, no matter how crowded it may be.Others don’t mind waiting for a table because, frankly, they are more interested in the spirits at the bar than the specials of the day.The people who actually do make reservations don’t show up, because they’ve probably made alternate reservations in three other restaurants too.These types don't feel the need to call to cancel if they've changed their mind.Or often their group has suddenly gone up from four to eight pax, because Bunty's wife's best friend is back and she's bringing her clan too. 2. Indians love to dine in groups :- If it’s a weekday, you might see groups of four. But once the weekend comes around, tables for eight or more are commonplace.If you go over four people it's considered rude not to invite the entire rest of the friends or family circle.This would sometimes include couples, their kids and babysitters too.Wailing babies are not seen as odd in Mumbai Restaurants late at night. Neither are loud cellphone ring-tones or equally loud phone conversations. 3. We use our fingers, all of them :-If eating at an Indian restaurant, more often than not, you will see diners giving cutlery a miss and using their hands instead.According to lore, Indian food tastes better this way.Unless of course, you have hairy forearms. In which case, licking curry off them would prove quite unappetizing.I’m all for cutlery. But draw the line at pizza. Eating pizza with a fork and knife is as silly as making a table reservation.On the subject of strange restaurant behavior, I’ve seen diners so lazy they’ve asked for finger bowls at the end of a meal. At a Chinese restaurant. 4:-. Our mouths water for fiery cuisines When it comes to popular types of cuisine, Indian, Thai and Chinese rule over Italian and Continental as spicy curries and fiery sauces are preferred over roast birds, stewed vegetables and creamy Alfredos.However, don’t be surprised if you visit an Italian restaurant and see diners smearing a pizza with ketchup, chili flakes and chili oil or asking for a side of green chilies to accompany their minestrone soup.That chili kick from every bite is a bit of a cultural addiction.Click Here to Know more about Delhi Restaurants 5. Sliders, lost-balls, fighters and show-offs at check time :-But the strangest part of eating out in India has to be when the check is called for.There are the sliders who subtly disappear for cigarette or toilet breaks just before the bill arrives.There are the lost-balls who fumble around in their pockets until someone else has picked up the tab.The fighters will wrestle over a bill and come down to abuse if they have to -- a typical Indian scenario. The show-offs slide their credit card to the maître d' as soon as they enter the restaurant and simply end the meal by announcing like a mafia don that "it’s been taken care of."More often than not, women's credit cards will be politely rejected by their male companions. See it all in play at Mumbai Restaurant Week this week. Source “cnngo.com”
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