Alice Y.
Yelp
Summary: 5 stars for taste, service, and alcoholic drink options. Portions seem small for the price, but I still end up having a little bit of leftovers.
***
I liked the darker ambience inside the restaurant. Service was great, from water refills to check ins and plate clearing. My bf and I visited a couple times at 5-6 pm before Brand Blvd gets crowded. If needed, the Public Parking structure on Orange St is free for the first 90 min.
DRINKS ORDERED
- Mango Lassi ($5.95). Fresh, thick, and mango forward. It's not as sweet as the mango lassi I've had from other places. I'd like to try the cocktail version next!
- Maddalena Cabernet ($12 per glass). I don't remember much other than it being a smooth red blend that I enjoyed.
- Dirty Chai ($13). This cocktail was strong and heavily spiced with a sticky sugar rim. I love it when things taste like potpurri, but I thought it was missing something. Perhaps a warmer spice profile?
APPETIZERS ORDERED
- Samosa. I got one during Dine LA and it was impressive: crispy, but not oily, and generously stuffed with fluffy potato and peas. The filling was deliciously savory. I preferred the garlicky mint chutney over the tart tamarind dipping sauce.
- Aloo Tikki. We also tried this pan fried potato pancake during Dine LA. I was wowed by the umami flavor and fluffy texture.
- Tandoori Wings ($9.95). Pretty good! The wings were tender and charred, served on bed of lettuce and topped with tasty pickled cauliflower.
- Chicken Pakora ($9.95). The white meat chicken was so soft that I thought it was dark meat! I enjoyed the fragrant batter, which was between crispy and soft. I don't know how this wasn't oily either. The mint chutney does a lot of heavy lifting here; I preferred it again over the other sauce, which was a super sweet tomato chutney.
ENTREES ORDERED
- Lamb Frankie ($18.95). My bf ordered this and I took a bite of the frankie topped with creamy raita. Lamb isn't my favorite, but I still thought that was a good bite. The meat was not too gamey, and the inside was saucy without making the wrap soggy. I thought I could taste some sort of stone fruit flavor in the sauce.
- Fish Jalfrezi ($18.95). There were mixed vegetables and pieces of soft white fish simmered in coconut yellow curry sauce. The mild curry was sweet, coconutty, and tomatoey. We would have licked the bowl clean if we weren't in public!
- Shahi Paneer Thali (paneer in cashew red gravy). This was part of the Dine LA deal. For $35, we got 1 glass of wine, 1 appetizer, 1 thali combo, and 1 dessert. The red gravy was sweet, fruity, and umami, surrounding toothsome chunks of fresh squeaky paneer. Omg so good!!! I also enjoyed the lentils and the Kabuli Cholay (chickpeas).
The Kheer (rice pudding) was served cold, but the "fiery" taste of cardamom shone through. It was not too sweet. The rice pudding was good, but I probably would have preferred it warm.
- Vegetarian Thali ($18.95). I went for the Malai Kofta this time. The gravy was tomatoey, nutty, and had a hint of fruit from the raisin. While the sauce was bomb, I thought the potato and cheese balls were too dry and firm for my liking. The daily lentil had a vegetal, almost tea like flavor which was nice. I also enjoyed the warm spiced flavor of the chickpeas. Fluffy basmati rice soaked everything up. I decided to try the Kachumber; it was an herbaceous salad of cucumber, onion, and tomato.
BREAD ORDERED
- Garlic Naan ($3.50 side or $1 added to thali). This was really good. The flat parts of the naan were crusty, flaky, and crispy, but there were also pillowy and chewy bubbles of dough. I'm not sure if the naan was unleavened, but I thought it tasted yeasty and good. I appreciated the kiss of garlic on the naan rather than garlic overload.
- Tandoori Roti ($1 added to thali). The roti reminded me of a whole wheat tortilla. Even thought it was slathered in butter, I couldn't taste much dairy flavor. I preferred the naan.