Was once served a live snake in Chinese restaurant: Bhupathi

Kolkata, Dec 3: They say "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" but sometimes it may be difficult to imitate the locals. Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi faced such a tricky situation once in China where he had gone for a Davis Cup tie.

Soon after Bhupathi and his team mates sat down for dinner at a restaurant there, the waiter brought a snake and asked whether they would prefer to have it just like that or should the live reptile be cooked first.

The Indian players rejected both the offers and instead opted for other items on the menu but none tasted as good as the Chinese food they had consumed previously in India, Bhupathi disclosed on a chat show here yesterday.

The occasion was the release of "Cooking On the Run", journalist Boria Mazumdar's new book on recipes. Four cricketers participated in the chat show too.

Dashing opener Virender Sehwag said that he loves north Indian food especially biriyani but often he had to remain content with vegetable burgers. "It is difficult to find Indian restaurants while on a tour," he rued.

Ajinkya Rahane who has till date played only two one-day internationals and a T-20, all against England, felt that the food at hotels in Hyderabad and Mumbai was good.

Pragyan Ojha described Hyderabadi biriyani as the best. Fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin noted that vegetarian cuisine was available in most of the countries that he has toured so far.

Sharing his experiences during the London Olympics, Bhupathi said, "It is a great fun to eat at the restaurants in the Games village." Record-breaking swimmer Michael Phelps and champion athlete Usain Bolt used to frequent the same restaurants, he recounted.

Though the cricketers revealed that the "rosgollas, sweet curd and nalen gurer sandesh" usually provided at the Eden Gardens were their favourite, they did not have a high opinion of the other dishes served to them at the famous stadium.

OneIndia News
(with PTI inputs)