The Difficulty of Spending Money in Bulgaria – Taj Mahal Indian Restuarant
Taj Mahal is an Indian restaurant in Sofia. In fact, it is one of only two Indian restaurants and only a handful of ethnic restaurants. The prices are above average for Sofia, but not outrageous. One of the things that I like about the restaurant is that they provide delivery – well, sometimes they do…when they’re open. Here is another example of a business making it hard to spend money.
I called up Taj Mahal on Friday night to order some food for delivery. They were closed.
“You are closed?” I said.
“We are closed tonight.”
“Closed for just delivery or closed for everything?”
“We are closed.”
The strange thing is that someone was there to answer the phone to say they were closed. His wages certainly weren’t being covered that night. Ok, that’s a bit strange. Fast forward to Sunday. The craving for Taj Mahal hasn’t gone away. I call again. They are closed Sunday night as well!
Now, Friday and Sunday nights are pretty big nights to eat-out/order-out in America, and you know what – they are in Sofia , too. Taj Mahal has the keen sense to realize the plethora of business they would get from Friday and Sunday night operations so they wisely closed down. They are much more content to stay open on Mondays and Tuesdays – nights Kat and I had successfully ordered food from them.
Good job Taj Mahal! You set an example for the all of the restaurant industry (although, I will say the industry does a pretty good job in their own right).
As an addendum,
At the Thanksgiving Tex-Mex night I was talking to the chef at the make-your-own-fajita bar. I found out he was also the chef at Taj Mahal. He wasn’t Indian, he was Nepalese, but I guess in terms of the Sofia restaurant business they are the same. Apparently Nepalese also passes for Mexican on Tex-Mex night at Flannigan’s. Anyway, our theory is that on the nights he works at Flannigan’s Taj Mahal has to shut down because he is the only cook. It’s just a theory, but it may have some merit.
If a Nepalese dude in Sibiu could make me anything vaguely resembling a burrito or a taco, I’d happily take it at this point. Indian food is like a mirage here. I see it in my dreams, only to wake up to the harsh reality that, today, like every day in Sibiu, I shall eat pizza.
Hey Ryan,
When you come back home we need to swap up chinene for Indian. I am most definently in favor of the indian.