My husband and I went to the India Grill on Naamans Road in Wilmington, DE, to sample their lunch buffet. I have had a huge craving for Asian food since my return from Japan and thought that his would be a great time to check out a new restaurant. The location is in a strip mall, beside a liquor store and a Wawa. It is quite unimposing from the front and the interior décor is quite minimalist. There are a number of booths and tables in a brightly lit atmosphere. They have paper tablecloths that move with you when you leave the booth, which is quite annoying. Other than that, I have no complaints about the inside.
The buffet had about seven-eight dishes, plus two soups, a few types of bread, and a large salad with accompaniments. They also serve you a basket of naan at your table. I grabbed a spoonful of the different vegetarian items to give everything a taste. I’ll start with the salad – it was fresh, but it was overloaded with red onions. The accompaniments around the salad were OK, but I didn’t find anything that I loved. I bypassed the Tomato Soup for the Mulligatawny Soup - an East Indian soup with a lentil base, vegetables, and curry seasoning. It was delicious and I sopped up the remaining broth with naan! The curry seasoning gave it some heat and it was a good mix of beans and veggies. I got seconds on the soup.
For my main plate, I sampled Baigan Bharta, Aloo Gobi, Dal Makni, some basmati rice, and topped it off with a Mixed Vegetable Pakora. Descriptions are below for each of these, including my assessment.
· Baigan Bharta - roasted eggplant sauteed with onions, tomatoes, green peas, cilantro, and spices
o Yummy! It has a bit of heat that made me grab for my water glass more than once and is delicious on its own or with rice or naan. They used baby eggplant, which I’ve never had before. Each bite was full of flavor (though I didn’t get much cilantro). As with a number of curry dishes, it was a bit mushy, but that didn’t matter to me. I went back for seconds!
· Aloo Gobi - potatoes and cauliflower cooked with onions and tomatoes in gravy
o Bland…I thought that I would really like this, but I wasn’t impressed. I ate two bites and then pushed it to the side. Just not my taste.
· Dal Makni - black lentils cooked and mixed with onions and tomatoes in a creamy base
o Again, a bit bland. I ate a little more of this dish than the Aloo Gobi, but it still wasn’t that good.
· Mixed Vegetable Pakora - mixed vegetable fritters battered with chickpea flour
o I grabbed this fried fritter to try something new. I was disappointed, again, bland. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of fried food to begin with. If it’s fried and doesn’t wow with me flavor, I won’t continue to eat it.
Overall, I found the lunch buffet OK (especially for $9.99), but I want to try other lunch/dinner buffets for a better comparison. On to the next as Jay from Ghost Hunters says!
