Pera

[Pera] We're Back with Home Catering from Pera at Robby's Palace

Covid lockdowns, families and friends leaving, restaurantsclosing down - it hasn’t been an ideal start to the year for most of us here in Shanghai. However, on June 28th, thehardships of the past four months were cast aside, as the OCC was back with a bang! This particular meet had it all; speeches, a trialist, shots, a courtroom drama, fake births,and of course, some much-needed Indian food.

Due to the C word (yes, that is the last time Covid will be mentioned), venue restrictions came into play but up stepped Robby, whose office cum Palace came complete with its own pool table, fish tanks, and canteen. The last of these is the most important as it sets the scene for theunforgettable evening with Indian food catering by Pera.

Pera, an Indian and Turkish food restaurant, hosted the OCC in Nov 2018 with added entertainment in the form of a belly dancer that led to one of the best videos you will ever see.

Onto the more serious stuff then – the actual food. A buffet was put on with a range of starters, including zucchini cake, chicken sis, falafel and chicken doner. Mains included mutton, levrek begendi, butter chicken, paneer, and a “dish of no name.” The butter chicken won a few votes for the best dish of the evening, and overall scores of 7.5 for food quality were recorded.

Interest from members seemed to be more drawn to “the dish of no name,” however, which later transpired to be a pre-prepared food creation from our very own chutney master, “Bazmati.”

OCC fans out there may know that Bazmati has gone 3-0 up in the poppadom dip series, where he battles it out with the host restaurant dip option. With confidence clearly flowing, he now appears to be taking on Indian chefs head-on with main courses too. A bold move some may say, but his “Chicken Handi” was voted as the best dish of the night. Further proof of OCC changing lives.

Once food concluded, we were served up another treat as one of our founding Shanghai members was put on trial by the punisher and accused of evading chili punishments.Serious stuff. Our very own media expert had shotexclusive footage of the accused attempting to do some kind of David Blaine hand shuffling illusion trick – basically throwing chili fines on the floor. Please note: if you haven’t watched the 4 part mini-series aired on YouTube a few weeks back, then click here before Netflix gets hold of it and charges you [https://youtu.be/GGH-t_rAvDc].

Fortunately, the OCC had an expert prosecutor in its ranks,and despite best attempts by the defense, justice was dished out as the phantom chili evader was found guilty.

It is at this point that we need to say a special mention to two much-loved OCC curry brothers who are leaving us.The first is Pat, who has worked tirelessly on all things social media, epitomized by his OCC mini-series masterpiece. It is fair to say that you wouldn’t be reading this if it wasn’t for his efforts.

Lastly, Dave who after buying his way into the club withOCC customized merch, had us all entertained with stories of underwear disappearances in Japan and sword fighting survival techniques.

As one happy chapter draws to a close, another newexciting one begins. Congratulations to our one and only shotmaster who becomes a father and his nomination Barrywho was voted into the club. May your poppadoms be crispy, your sauces tasty, and your curries very spicy. OCC