Curry In Hamilton.
The drive to Rotorua was longer than I thought.
In my head, it’s always been an hour or two, but Google said three.
We knew we had to stop somewhere for lunch.
I was too focused on driving (Kiwis do 120 on a 110 highway), so Chika had a look on the phone.
“Hamilton? It’s the closest big town”
My only impression of Hamilton is that it is the butt of all real estate investment jokes for Aucklanders. Like, ‘Auckland's house price is so expensive, that some have moved to Hamilton’. The Geelong to Melbourne.
That sort of thing.
“Indian? There’re a lot of Indian restaurants in Hamilton.”
Oh, also, the city with the highest concentration of Indians outside of Auckland.
So yea, Indian food for lunch sounds good.
She said it’s near the town center, and Google reviews had it at 4.7 stars.
I mean, I knew Hamilton was small, but probably not so small to have a strip of shops next to Spotlight as a town center.
The shop was empty.
The owner didn’t even turn on the lights until we sat down.
I justified it in my mind because it was a rainy Monday afternoon.
We ordered two set lunches - butter chicken for the child and spicy Punjabi for the adults with papadoms.
Did I mention we were also busting for the toilet?
The owner said ‘we don’t have one for customers, but feel free to use the staff toilet if you don’t mind.’
This experience really highlighted how our child has a higher standard than her parents. She shook her head, but mum and dad took turns.
Hana, this is butter chicken.
And this long rice is called Basmati…
“I know, I used to eat it at childcare.”
Mum and I looked at each other.
There we were, thinking we had to educate our child.
It’s like trying to teach your kids about birds and bees and they say they’re already on the pill.
At the end of the day, I’m just really lucky to have a wife who would voluntarily pick an Indian takeaway for lunch.
And a daughter humoring us.
She could’ve pushed for fast food and we probably would’ve said yes.
Instead, I think I had a great moment.
Having Indian takeaway in Hamilton, New Zealand of all places.
The food was solid, quick and affordable. The owner came out and spoke to us. I knew he was from Tibet since I saw momo on the menu.
On the way back, we walked into a cafe to take away a latte so that Hana could use their restroom.