India Bistro
1157 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC
Earlier this week, I blogged about the Pride Parade 2009 in Vancouver’s Downtown/West end. Since the parade started at noon and I was there before it started, that meant I was hungry by the time I decided to walk away. Originally, I wanted to eat in one of the several restaurants in Robson or Denman but that posed to issues: one was the fact it was still packed and the other is something related to what shokutsu mentioned: since I work in the area, most of these places would be places I could go for lunch on almost any day. So, instead, I went to Davie Street. The usual question: Where? For some odd reason, I wanted Indian and ended up in India Bistro.
I must admit it was not my first option. I was also curious of Mongolian Grill but given it was completely empty yet I saw some customers in India Bistro… That brings yet another problem, one of the reasons why I seldom go to Indian restaurants: more often than not, it is better to go in a group rather than on your own, as it will give you more dishes for you to try. Of course, there is plan B: a buffet. Yes, India Bistro offers buffet for lunch and that is what I ended up going for.
Although I am not a fan of buffets anymore, I can still apply two criteria I used to use to “evaluate” them: quantity and quality. Now, quantity is not referring to the amount of food you can put on a plate, rather the different offerings. In the few Indian buffets I have been to, there are usually 8 options (not counting salads, naan or papadum), usually rice, samosas, dhal, aloo gobi, pakora, curry, butter chicken and tandoori chicken, here in Indian Bistro, it is limited to six plus the salads. Specifically, we have here: rice pilaf, mixed vegetables, aloo chana, butter chicken, pakora and butter chicken. One thing they did have that was different from the others was a custard (no pictures of that, sorry!), rather than gulab jamun (that dessert that looks like a timbit). That begs question #2: given they have less food to take care of, would it be good?
Naan served with the meal.
Clockwise, from bottom-left, vegetable mix, aloo chana (not really visible), pakora, butter chicken on top of the rice and tandoori chicken.
I will be quick and straight to the point: it was bad. The mixed vegetables and the aloo chana was bland. The naan was crumbly and slightly dry. The pakora… Well, it was not hot, it was not crispy, which, from a fried food perspective, translates into epic fail. The rice served as a base for butter chicken sauce so it did its job. And, since I mentioned butter chicken, I will have to admit the sauce was one of the few good points of the meal – it was creamy, it was sweet. However, the chicken used was white meat which translates into dry pieces of meat. I am sure they chose to use white meat because that’s what people in North American prefers but, c’mon, they could do better! Finally, the biggest fail of the meal: the tandoori chicken. While I understand there will be some compromises here, the problem is what was served in the end: it had some odd smokey flavour to it. Now, I am not talking about BBQ type smoke; rather, I am talking something akin to a plastic-y taste to it.
Overall, while it is true that at $11, the damage is quite low, it does not take away the fact that it left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth (not literally). It does not help either my bias against buffet. Oh, well…
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“quantity is not referring to the amount of food you can put on a plate” – wouldn’t that make for some great fun; eating would end up like a game of Jenga or something.
That naan looks depressingly thin, no wonder it was crumbly and dry.
Raidar, that would be hilarious! Let stack some pieces maki or nigiri with some slices of pizza… However, I am not sure who would be doing the cleaning afterwards!
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