We have ourselves Indian again tonight. Just a bit beyond the Garden City Shopping Centre, this is one of the more elusive finds. Apparently, it is really popular with the Indian locals. Like a lot of these local Indian places, what is first and foremost with their delivery is the food; service is always nice, and genuienly friendly and any following aspects may be optional. Well, there was good food here and the service is as good as it could be in the circumsances. So, let us get onto the review.
Another WWE Pay-per-view event (or one available on WWE Network) meant that it was time again to get the usual delivery for dinner/lunch and watch it while eating. This time around, it was the one that really kick-started me into watching the WWE religiously, and that was the gimmicky Money in the Bank event (which is one of my favourites, by the way - I love the gimmicky ones). So off it was once again to order some delivery; this time, it was curry again - Indian curry - and the service was prompt in arriving earlier than expected and they even checked by phone beforehand to see if that was correct. Small things but those aspects can make a noted difference with a simple delivery.
Well, this is another Indian place more or less. You've got a range of starters to begin with, that are separated into vegetarian and non-vegetarain, with plenty of tandoori options peppered thorughout both sections. Next are the curries, with are then into chicken, vegetarian, lamb and seafood. Several lots of rice - including biriyanis - are also available, as are naan breads, all sorts of accompaniments on the side, plus drinks and desserts. This is close to stock standard really. That is what it is.
Starting off the meal, it was a couple of entrees. Both of these are quite normal to order when getting Indian, and in defence, it is because they are often so good. These were the onion bhaji and samosas. If possible, I do prefer a keema mince samosa to the vegetarian ones, but these were not available on the menu, so vegetarian it was. The samosas were.... okay. Maybe the filling was a bit on the vague side, though I did note some potato in it. For the most part, it could have had some spice thrown in, or have bigger, more distinct items. The shell they were encased in was crispy and solid, so there is that. It is only up from here folks.
As usual, the onion bhaji proved itself for why it so often gets ordered. Sometimes, the Indian place might give a set number (such as say, two or four or whatnot), but on the menu, they stated it in a vague term as "handful". Often that means quite an amount, and there might have been maybe three big ones with a whole lot of shavings and such in there - and that is the absolute opposite of complaining there. It was sweet, very hot, had that lovely greasy mouth feel, and at several points, I got a real sharp hit of what I presumed to be curry leaves. That means they used a good marsala on this one. Colour me quite impressed. As well as those two, because it was a big one tonight, some chicken tikka was ordered. This was really tender, and the flavours were smoky. It was served with a couple of garnishes - lettuce, some onion and that, along with a mint sauce.
Like it has been said before, something about getting one curry from a place always seems a bit lacking to me. I don't feel that I can truly give comprehension about how the curries work with only one curry, and one reason could be how having several at once often is contrasting for flavour, heat, texture et al among the different curries ordered. Often I like to mix up the intensities of heat a bit. This is what I did, with a lamb korma getting the medium treatment, and the malai kofta getting the hot treatment. Additionally, cannot have a curry without bread I reckon so that was getting a naan - doing another off-the-cuff choice, I went with a keema naan (lamb mince - yum).
Both of the curries were tasty. The lamb in the korma was tender and plentiful, with big chunks of it throughout. As with the sauce, it was nutty, thick, creamy and did fairly well at a medium level. While still having the essence of a korma (generally a mild curry), it added a bit of heat and character that made it more memorable. As with the malai kofta, those koftas were giant - nevermind it meant only a few of them, those suckers could be broken up and mixed into the sauce even further. They were a mixture of potato and cottage cheese, plus at many points, I definitely detected some sultanas in the mix. This gave it a sweet taste along with the creaminess of the sauce, and the smoothness of the cottage cheese. Those koftas were slightly crispy as well. Then onto the naan bread - some are bigger than others, and some are much bigger than others. This was definitely a big one. It was soft, the mince meat was tender and well spiced, and there was the buttery texture throughout it. Best of all, it was the right amount for a decent meal to pick up the bits of meat (or cheese) and then wipe up afterwards with the straggling sauce.
How could I go and bypass a lassi? This one was better than most of them that I have had. The texture was thick, smooth and creamy with the flavour being just the right amount of sweet. That is all really, a pleasant drink to have on the side.
As a bit of a sweet, I additionally got some gulab jamun. They are really doughnuts down to the bone, and rolling them in a sweet, sugar-rose syrup just makes them delightful. They were soft and moreish, with the only legitimate criticism being that there were too few.
Simla is another one place that is good and reliable in what it gets, hence a standard 4.0 rating. This is because the whole place was basically just good, and did everything quite right. It was not anything that stood out in the field, and there was definitely nothing too much wrong with any of the food. What it ultimately was, was simply a competently made, and very generously portioned, meal of curry with all the sides. It filled me up, and there were leftovers.
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