Maati handi (mati handi) mutton in Bhubaneswar reviews and latest pictures

When we Odias talk about our "maansha-bhaata", the  first image that springs to our mind is a soft-focus snap: a tall heap of piping-hot rice, a deep bowl of fiery red mutton curry, and a plate with sliced onions, salted lemon juice, crushed green chillies in it.... we can almost smell the gravy by now.

We fondly recall how spoons and forks would go for a toss that day while we go hunting for that elusive, semi-oval piece of potato found right at the bottom or middle of the molten-lava curry. We would tentatively dig out the piping-hot potato, scoop it up to the rice plate, mash it with some curry, mix it with rice, grinning from ear to ear all the time, and down it with the spiritual satisfaction of a monk.

This idea of using bare hands to have meat steeped in oil, fat and turmeric instead of spoons might be a more fulfilling dining experience but it has a flip side to it as well: you are left with a pair of rather unsightly, yellow and greasy hands, but then- you can't have everything, can you?

 

Can you?

Seems that if you are dining in this lovely thatched-hut restaurant known as Maati Handi Mutton, the answer is a resounding- YES! 

This restaurant derives its name from the earthen (maati) pot (handi) they use as a utensil to cook mutton here. Dining out in this restaurant was my friend's idea of a memorable birthday treat. To my pleasant surprise, we got to enjoy a nice square-meal of rice, some really tender mutton and my favorite- lamb liver. All at a very affordable price. 

The food gets ticks in almost all boxes from me- Quality of rice, taste of both the mutton and liver curry, quantity in the servings, the use of minimum spices and very less oil in the gravy, the side-dishes, the works. And no yellow hands, either! 

There is some bad news, though- The restaurant is a typical thatched-hut dhaba bang beside the highway and there's no AC. So if you are one of those prim & proper types, steer away. Also, they don't serve any soft drinks here and the quality of drinking water is, at the very least, questionable.

But you have a betel shop nearby that provides bottled mineral water. There's also a beer parlor down the road, in case you are interested in concluding your meal with a "different" kind of bottled beverage.

There are a lot of look-alike restaurants along this road that claim to be the first one to come up with the idea of serving authentic "maati handi" mutton, and truth be told, there's no way to check the veracity of their claims. I have had mutton in quite a few of these but I find one particular restaurant to be consistently good with its preparation:

You will find it to the left of the road if you are traveling from Cuttack towards Bhubaneswar. It's the one immediately next to a sort of big warehouse with "Vodafone" painted in red all over it.

So if you love mutton, just the way half of the population in Odisha does- look no further. Here is the picture of an excellent lunch that I had the chance to enjoy, and in a  very comfortable budget bracket as well. You might wanna get hold of a napkin, to help you with the drool ;)

Maati Handi Mutton in Bhubaneswar: Worth the hype? Check out the reviews and rating here.

Rohit Sharma vs. Virat Kohli: Batting Styles and Aesthetics

Keeping the on-field swagger and the identical way of celebrating milestones by raining down cusses aside, these guys couldn't get more different from each other in batting if they made a deliberate attempt. One's slogging it out in the middle calls to mind the old "war-horse" ethics of Michael Hussey, while the other's strokeplay resembles the languid, feline elegance of Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Watching Virat Kohli batting is like seeing an architect at work. The cautious approach to batting, deliberate pacing of the innings, patting the ball gently into the gaps, running the hard singles- you could sense him laying a strong foundation that is so important to build the tall innings he has come to be known for. It's this methodical, workmanlike approach to batting that makes him excel at chasing the kind of steep targets that would be considered night terrors by many.

Virat Kohli in Sketch: A still head and a non-fussy follow-through

Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, is the closest batting could come to a form of art. When on song, his batting is as spectacular as Tuscan sunset. Not for him are the chores, the rigorous drills and the frenetic running. In his world, everything happens in its own sweet time. The unhurried running between the wickets, the casual flicking of the ball, even the scoring of the double hundreds.
The intention of this humble blogger is not, in any way, to insinuate that Virat Kohli's strokeplay isn't beautiful, or that Rohit Sharma is loath to take quick singles. It is just an observation about the way I like them batting. 

Virat Kohli hitting a cover drive is textbook cricket, but somehow when Rohit Sharma hits one, it looks... magical. I have never seen him look ugly while hitting the ball; you can take a picture of him literally at any random second during his playing a shot and put it on the cover of a magazine.

It's as if he uses all that extra time he has to play his shots in posing for the cameras. Rohit Sharma taking quick singles is like 'Mona Lisa' being painted by a juggler. You can compare both the pictures and notice the difference yourself.

Now check Rohit Sharma out (in sketch). The same stroke, but with a pronounced, free-flowing style.