The more things change the more they remain the same. This old truism kept coming back to me when we visited Touche the Place for lunch yesterday to celebrate our older son’s birthday. And I thought, why not kick off my long planned blog on Pune eateries with a tribute to this restaurant which has remained almost unchanged since I first stepped into it a quarter of a century ago.
Having spent over two decades in this city we have been coming back to this place on and off though it’s been less frequent off late. Moreover, with the general trend of reducing consumption of red meat I have been giving this place a skip to avoid the temptation of the pepper steak. But when my son who turned 19 yesterday suggested lunch at Touche the Place we decided to revisit old memories.
The place itself remains the same in look, feel and ambience with its predominantly wood based décor. Established back in 1971 (as stated in the menu) it has been managed by the Erani family with a great deal of personal attention is what my impression is, though yesterday for the first time there appeared to be a non-family member on the cash counter. However some of the old timers were visible among the service staff including the steward who took our order.
While both my sons opted for the chicken mix grill I decided to be adventurous and selected the special mixed grill containing (beef) steak, pork chop, ham, sausage and a piece of grilled chicken for good measure. My wife stuck to her chicken shashlik sizzler while the vegetarians in our group went in for the plat grimaldi. Being early, ours’ was probably the first order and the food arrived quite quickly.
The popularity of this restaurant has been sustained by the consistency of their offering and the same (appealing) taste and quality was on display yesterday. We attacked the food with gusto and for the first time my younger son also managed to finish his entire serving. As regards my dish, the steak retained the old taste and juicy tenderness, I prefer “well done” which may not please the purists but then we are Indian and prefer our meat well cooked. The ham was excellent as also the grilled chicken though the sausage was of somewhat indeterminate taste and the pork chop nice to taste but could have been more firm.
The chicken mix grill comes with a hamburger patty, grilled chicken, chicken sausage and salami accompanied by veggies and fries. The fried onions are done very well though I felt their portion has reduced somewhat. The shashlik and the veg sizzlers are accompanied by choice of rice or noodles, whose portion is usually quite large and tends to get wasted though in a group it can always be shared with the mix grill which lacks the same. Although this is not the place for vegetarians my opinion is that they do a fairly decent offering in this department. Overall the experience was truly enjoyable and we left with a contented feeling about a decision well made and its sumptuous effects.
The culinary landscape of Pune has evolved considerably since I first started living in this town and the options available today are many and varied, to suit the tastes of the locals as well as the many outsiders including expats who have made this their base. So I am happy to note that Touche the Place which originally defined the sizzler in this city continues to pull in the old faithfuls and keep the flag flying high. Cheers !
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