Slaphappy P.
Yelp
Some friends and I have been checking out various Indian restaurants around town last couple years. I had recently found that indo-chinese food was a thing in India and so was glad to check a place that served the mix, the both. Decided buffet to try, and the price was no more than run-of-the-mill places. Little did we know the price came with such superior quality and big variety!
First off, for a buffet, the staff was present and attentive. This never happens. They usually pop in and out just to fill pans like a wack-a-mole game. Here they're filling the water glasses, watching everything. I asked at one point, if there would be more samosas coming. Boom. What?! He was out with a plate to our table! And they have comfy chairs people....I'm talking about the kick back with a good bourbon and cigar kinda old steakhouse style chairs. Ahh.
The afore mentioned samosas had perfectly spiced aloo-muttar filling. As a matter of fact EVERYTHING was spiced perfectly (but not, of course chili hot, as that would be a bad biz move here.) And the flavors were so varied between dishes. Seems often elsewhere it's just generic, regular garam masala with a different base and meat or veg. Here the mixture was made to fit the individual dish. And the spice stood up and made it's bad self known! I would not be surprised it they dry fried and ground them daily. Have I said "wow" yet?
I was excited to try chicken 65, wildly popular in much of India, I am told. It didn't disappoint. It was like szchuan but a bit of indian flavor at the same time. Sweet, a little hot, spicy, nice texture, just on the soft edge of crunchy...with onions and peppers done just right. Fantastic.
They had north Indian/ Nepali panipuri! I have only seen it once before, pre-assembled and ok. Here they had a huge bowl of the fragile, eggshell thin, perfect batter spheres, with the chickpeas, potato, and onion to fill them as you want, at your leisure, to the side, with the watery puri chat to drizzle them with. Oh MY! And yes, sadly I have to confess: I was laughing like a 8 yr. old, popping my puri! Fascinating! Other diners were agast: "just LOOK at that puri poppin' MF'r over there! DisGUSTING!"
My friends and I have a running joke about "baby corns" being everywhere and being a big deal (since they are in almost every bad American Chinese dish around). So when I saw them batter fried and spiced I made a bee-line for 'em and sat right down. Wonderful. Seriously. I could eat a bowl full of these "baby corns" just like popcorn, while watching a movie.
Even the most every day of every Indian buffet's dishes, of which there were a few, were far superior than most. The muttar paneer had a different spice profile than I had ever tasted. Better. It fit. And the tandoori chicken that I always avoid because it's inevitably dry as dust, was not so. I guess it CAN be done! Who knew? (still not a fan though)
The only very slight disappointment was in the pakoras. And that's just because I prefer them to each have a single vegetable inside, instead of a mix. At first I thought they were a little over done too, but once chutney was added, they no longer seemed to be so. They were nice. Just stop the veg mixing and respect each vegetable's cultural difference! Heh heh.
We complimented the head of the house, and he introduced us to the owner and the chef who were sitting behind us. Nice guys and good chatting with them -in our comfy comfy gangsta-ass steakhouse chairs.
Correction: After reading a review by Anvaya N., I was wrong in saying the chicken 65 was like szechuan meets Indian. She accurately described it as Hakka chili chicken. And szechuan? No. Duh. No szechuan pepper taste in it. I hang my head in shame.....