Vivian C.
Yelp
When I find myself in Central Square around dinner time, while there are a few restaurants that I have in mind that I want to try out, there's an app that I like to check first to see if there's a current discount running at Indian Pavilion. Generally, doing so has scored me a 20% discount off the food ordered, so why not?
Their Vegetable Combo Thaali $14.95 comes with a choice of soup, any two Vegetable Specialties, Dal, Raita, Rice, Poori or Paratha, & a choice of Gulab Jamun or Kheer, which for me is plenty fo 2 meals!
The Chicken Soup ($3.95 a la carte) (chicken, fresh vegetables, lentils & tomatoes) had a bit of heat, and the tender chicken bits resembled diced chicken tikka. The vegetable seemed to consist basically of corn kernels. I preferred this soup over their Mulligatawny Soup.
My selected Vegetables Specialties (requested mild) on this visit were the Malai Kofta ($9.95) Vegetable balls cooked in delicious mild cream sauce and the Paneer Chilli Masala ($10.95) Paneer sauteed in a creamy tomato sauce with bell peppers, onions & tomatoes. So I accidentally ended up with a heavily tomatoed meal. If I had known that the Malai Kofta's cream sauce was a red sauce, I probably would have opted for the Saag Paneer to accompany it.
But still, I enjoyed both veggie selections and the dal, though I preferred the cream sauce of the two somewhat. The vegetable balls tasted good though the balls themselves were rather soft and lacked substance. The diced vegetables that accompanied the cheese chunks, however, were perfectly firm.
The twin poori arrived plump and filled with air. The top layer was crisp, while the bottom half more malleable for folding. It was a nice change of pace, but I think I will return to the paratha.
For dessert, the kheer (rice pudding) was sufficient, though it did not rate high in my experience of the sweet.
On this visit, their ladies room unfortunately had this awful smell. But I mentioned it to them, so hopefully they'll deal with it.
Thought for a future visit:
Dahi Papri appetizer $3.95 - A medley of chickpeas, tomatoes, cilantro, potatoes, homemade papri wafers, tamarind chutney & raita (served cold?)
Addendum - in eating the leftovers, I came to realize that the Paneer Chilli Masala (thought requested mild) still had a touch of heat that had been overshadowed by that of the soup in the first go around.
*** 6/2017 ***
I returned for the Dahi Papri $3.95 (A medley of chickpeas, tomatoes, cilantro, potatoes, homemade papri wafers, tamarind chutney & raita; served cool). It arrived as a good sized portion mounded on a plate, and I found it tasty with a nice light crisp texture from the light puffed crackers. I enjoyed it very much though I felt the ratio of papri wafers to the rest of the ingredients by volume to be perhaps a 2:1 ratio. I wish they would adjust it to have more of the vegetables.
For my entree, I ordered a mild Chicken Mango $11.95 Chicken tikka cooked with broccoli, & tomatoes in a sweet & spices mango sauce, which came with a nice heap of rice in a covered metal dish. Beneath the orange sauce, I found perhaps 4 chunks of chicken and 3-4 small broccoli florets. Their mild variation turned out to be a bit too spicy for me. A small dish of yogurt was brought out to help tame the heat quite successfully even as it added a nice creamy sweetness to the meal.
Perhaps half the meal went home with me. Sadly for the leftovers, the papri wafers grew sodden, though the appetizer still tasted super.
*** 11/2017 ***
For my dinner, I ordered the Dahl Papri $3.95 (yes, again) and the Kashmiri Sweet Pulow $8.95 (basmati made with dried fruits, nuts, raisins & honey, served with plain yogurt).
I figured I would try to finish off the appetizer due to the papri wafers which do not hold up well to the sauce overnight, but the flavor, though tasty, was too strong and the portion too large. It was meant for sharing for sure.
The rice dish was lightly sweet, and the yogurt added to the experience. While I could see the small halved red berries and sensed what seemed to be coconut in the flavoring, I guess the nuts must have been minced so small as to be invisible.
I hankered for the cheesecake on their dessert menu (Jaipuri Cheesecake - cheesecake draped in the colors of Jaipur, drizzled with a homemade honey ginger syrup & garnished with pomegranate preserves), but that was not to be. Turns out, though listed on their menu, it is no longer available, at all, not just that evening.
Perhaps a scoop or two of their ice cream? But those, it turns out, come by the bar. Huh? Popsicles! Mango, Kulfi, or Saffron? My mango ice cream $2.50 was served upsidedown in a pretty glass footed cup. It was a nice treat, with the exception of the base by the stick where the outer surface had the smooth gooey texture of aged ice cream. But if more people were to order it, they could cycle through their supply...