Setting things up, when it looked like we had six of us headed that way turned out to be…read more.. interesting. As yesterday was a holiday, I'd sent a quick Facebook message to the place asking if they'd be open for the holiday. I ended up in a chat with the owner, and yes, they were open, but he absolutely refused to take a reservation via Facebook, insisting I call - which I did, but the phone just rang and rang, even though he was supposedly sitting there awaiting my call. But, he would only take the reservation by phone... try again. I went to bed.
So we just headed there without a reservation. In the end, after five people cancelled within the last couple of hours before lunch, and one joined, it was just me and one other person, venturing into the completely empty place (seven other people came in over the course of the lunch hour). During lunch, I got a FB message from the owner asking if I was ever going to call, and if we were still coming - I didn't see it until after we left, but responded that two of us had been there, had lunch, and I'd tried to call but gotten no answer... after a pause, he came back with, "oops, sorry, I gave you the wrong phone number". Why not just take the damn reservation while we were chatting online?
The menu is reasonably extensive, and includes various chicken, lamb, and prawn dishes in different curries and tandoors and tikka masalas and kormas and all the others that we typically see. Plus a couple that seemed to be in-house inventions, like "Cilly Chicken" (which we pronounced as Silly Chicken, but the waiter corrected us to Chili Chicken - oh, okay, that makes more sense), and "Chicken do Díaz", which sounds like something Argentine, but the waiter touted highly as the best chicken dish. Then again, with the "do" rather than "de", it would be Portuguese - maybe it's a real dish from the Goa area which is heavily Portuguese influenced? There are a whopping three vegetarian dishes on the whole menu - a dahl made with lentils, a panak paneer (spinach and cheese) and some sort of mushroom curry.
We ordered some eggplant pakoras (they were out of cauliflower ones) and vegetable samosas, which at 30 pesos per order for, respectively, four and two of them, is a complete steal, that's less than a dollar, and, they were quite good, though the pakoras could have been left in the fryer another 30 seconds to crisp a little more. The naan, available in "all sorts of flavors" (none of them listed on the menu, but apparently in garlic, onion, green onion, cilantro, and/or mint) were not quite what we think of as naan, but more like a soft pizza dough - puffy and doughy, and not brushed with ghee, clarified butter, which we're used to seeing. And, the variety makes sense, because the onion (which we ordered) wasn't cooked into the dough, but just sprinkled on top - so I guess they can just sprinkle anything. Personally, I'd pass on the naan, and only had one bite, but my companion ate it all. The trio of dipping sauces - a mint sauce (rather than the more common, at least to me, cilantro) was good, as was the chili paste. The chutney was syrupy sweet, and we left it alone after one try.
With just two of us, we couldn't sample much of the menu, but a lamb vindaloo and the much hyped chicken from whomever Díaz is hit the table shortly. We'd made a point of asking for spicy. The waiter made a point that nothing they served was spicy, but they could make it so. We made a point of saying, "not Argentine spicy, but actually spicy". He made a point of saying, "okay, Indian spicy". Neither dish was spicy. Both were delicious, a great blend of spices and herbs, but no heat whatsoever. So we ordered another ramekin of chili paste - it's not the same, but at least gave a bit more of a kick. The vindaloo had the oddity of having fried potatoes scattered on top of it rather than potatoes cooked into the curry. An Argentine affectation? The "basmati" rice was good, though I don't think it was really basmati, it just didn't have that fragrance, and I know the real stuff is hard to get here - most of what is sold as basmati, just isn't. All main dishes run about 280-290 pesos ($8) including their accompanying rice.
Overall, pretty place, though very dim and weird lighting (different colored bulbs in the various overhead lamps - white, blue, green, yellow). Friendly service. Very good food, not wow, but certainly better than a few of the places I've been to in town. Quite reasonable. If I lived up at that way, I'd certainly eat there again, and more than once.
