Michelle H
Google
Start off with a lentil soup. It was mild in terms of heat but very in terms of amount of spice. A perfect amount to start the meal. It arrived hot.
Chaat spice mix in the samosa was amazing. The tamarind sauce it came with was sweet and balanced. It complemented the slight heat and complex flavors in the spice of the samosa filling. The outside was crunchy but still soft.
Now for the thali.
1. The rice was very fragrant and quite nice. The papad had a strong flavor, in a good way.
2. The saag (spinach dish) was amazing. I could have eaten just this and garlic naan and been happy, truly. It had a subtle cheesy flavor as an undertone to the spices used. It made this a rich and deep, flavorful and creamy dish.
3. The shrimp Tikka masala had a good flavor curry to it. However, the shrimp wasn't my favorite. The shrimp still had tails on, which made for a very messy meal. I had to pull them off but couldn't see where the tail ended, so I had to try not to fling sauce. Also, the shrimp were overcooked, so the texture wasn't quite right, which I'm sure isn't easy to get the timing right when cooking in a sauce. Wasn't worth the extra $3. I'll definitely have the Tikka masala again, but with the chicken.
4. Also in my thali was a cold potato carrot salad. It was okay, but I wasn't in the mood for a cold dish so didn't eat it. It wasn't bad tasting, just not spectacular.
5. I always enjoy a green salad, and this dressing was a nice balsamic, maybe with a tamarind? One bite and I ended up finishing the whole salad before trying anything else. Not sure what made it so good, but I enjoyed it.
6. Lastly, for my meal, the garlic naan, really flavorful. Not too greasy. Some parts were thicker than I'd like, but these were the softer parts. The thinner parts were a little over cooked, which made it harder to use these for eating my food with. I use those parts more like chips.
As for the portions, they're a good amount. The thali without the lentil soup or samosa would have been a good amount for me and I wouldn't have finished the rice. With these, I ended up taking home leftovers.
That being said, my partner finished his full bowl of chicken tikka and rice. This was good, but not great. It was boneless chicken, which was most. However, the chicken pieces were rather large, so the flavor on the outside was good, but the inside just tastes like chicken. Smaller pieces would have given a stronger flavor with each bite
We both had a very small dinner that night, so it was quite filling.
Lastly, we had masala chai. It was good, but rather expensive for one cup. It did have a very authentic flavor profile which is hard to find, so I appreciated that.
Will I be back, yes. Was it expensive, yes. Will I order chicken in some kind of curry next time, also yes.
Next time I return for lunch, I'll probably just get a couple samosas and then a plate of chicken something and an order of garlic naan to share with my partner.
Also, just in case, if you're using the Synergy gift cards, these can't be used for the thali, so check what you buy beforehand to make sure you can use it.