I'm not Indian but I feel like I might have been one in a past life, since I crave the food and must have it once a month at the very least. I'm vegetarian who doesn't eat onion, garlic, and other related spices... or hing, for that matter. Essentially, I follow a Jain diet. This is why Indian restaurants tend to be safe for me. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't really like Indian food so I took the time to go have some by myself for lunch. First, I called in, because it turns out there are no purely vegetarian Indian restaurants in Bloomington. :( I needed to make sure that I could go there and order something. Turns out that although I could not take advantage of their lunch buffet, I could order off the menu. And off I went towards my next lunch!
I walked in and told them I was a party of one, but that I would need the menu. The lady looked slightly put off at that (trust me, if I could eat the buffet, I would) but handed me the menu and pointed me to the table in the corner. The tables were set up with wine glasses and silverware complete with fabric napkins. A little on the fancier side. My water went in one of those wine glasses. I was going to sit on the side with my back towards the wall, but it turns out there was an open grate in the floor and when you pull out the chair, one of the legs falls into said grate... so I switched sides. I sat there for a while (maybe close to 4 or even 5 minutes) and no help came. I ended up going up myself and asked them what exactly on the menu they could make without onion or garlic. From then on, I was designated a Main Person who took care of me (the woman who directed me to my table would always tell me to wait and get the other lady, who I assume is the manager). I was told I could have the Saag Paneer or the Paneer Tikka Masala. Both were under my favorites, but I hadn't had Saag Paneer in a while, so I chose that with level 2 (regular) heat. It came with a side of Cumin Basmati Rice. I also ordered a Mango Lassi with it, but was later informed they ran out of lassi so I got the Mango Shake instead (it's essentially Mango blended with milk).
The portions were pretty large for $10.95, since the curry/gravy is on the heavier side due to the cream that is added in it. I found it slightly saltier than usual, but that was what my rice was for. I wonder if they make their own paneer or maybe the paneer up here is different - it was softer than what I was used to (similar to firm but unpressed tofu) but as I chewed, I started getting the paneer taste. The heat level was also perfect; not too spicy and it took me at least 5 minutes before my nose felt like it was running (no matter what, as long as something's hot or spicy, my nose will run so it's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when"). I ended up ordering some naan (wonderfully soft and slightly crisp on some parts on the bottom, but I saw some puddles of oil/butter on top... I could have done without that) as well since I'm more of a naan/chapati/roti person than a rice person. Plus, I knew I would have leftovers and my husband loves his rice so I needed to leave some rice for him. I asked for a little more to take home but though I was offered/reminded one last time in the end, I never got it. I didn't want to keep pushing so I left it at that. Plus, he could have my naan, I guess.
I'm always iffy with sweet Indian drinks and desserts because I find that they tend to be too sweet. However, I did enjoy my shake quite a bit - it wasn't too sweet at all! I'm a bit bummed I didn't get my lassi, though. How can you not have lassi?
Conclusion:
Food was good and definitely hit the spot. Shake was great. Portions were decent, except for the rice-to-curry/gravy proportion. Sad that they didn't have lassi and that there weren't many options for me, but at least I got my Saag Paneer fix. I didn't really study the buffet selections since I couldn't eat most of it (I saw enough to know that most of it contained meat and the remainder probably had onion/garlic). Why torture myself needlessly?
Place was decently sized, well lit, and had a steady stream of customers and it seemed to be fairly clean, other than a rather large fly that designated the corner where my table was as his territory. At least I had a lunch buddy of sorts?
Service was fairly good for the most part except for the slow bit at the beginning, but it would have been nice if a little more rice (I didn't need a full serving/bowl) was added to my to-go box. read more