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Local Guides
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INDIAN GARDEN AN EDEN OF EATS
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by
Leanne Kemmler
March 31 – April 6, 2005 |
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Tipped off that the Indian Garden Restaurant, located on
a busy stretch of Main St. W., made good Indian food, the
MOTH (Man–of–the–house) and I headed over to
sample some lunch after a day of shopping.
We considered splashing out for one of the three
suggested meals for two (averaging about $30), but
noticed they offered a lunch special. As I’d just spent my
son’s inheritance on Easter candy, the $6.95 Meat Thali
(pronounced Tall–ee) and the $5.95 Vegetable Thali
were an economical solution. We ordered a plate of
Mixed Appetizers ($4.95) and a mango juice for the little
guy.
When the appetizers arrived, we were all pleasantly
surprised. There was a tasty, though dry, Sheek Kebab
(spiced ground beef), two Onion Bhajis (think latkes with
onions instead of potatoes) that sparked a serious
discussion about ordering another plate and a medium–
spiced Vegetable Samosa. Cucumber Raita (a cool
yogurt based dip) came on the side.
The Thali—a generic term meaning “dish”—arrived
soon after. If you like to snack on a lot of little dishes
instead one great big entrée, an Indian Thali is the
perfect choice. It comes with three items, a generous
serving of rice, freshly made Nan bread, chef salad and
a dessert. The items are chosen for you based on what
the chef has cooking and they change daily.
My Meat Thali came with Chicken Tandoori and
Meatballs, done up with a thick savoury sauce and Aloo
Ghobi, a curried mixture of potatoes and caulifower. The
bright red chicken had a lovely smoky taste from the
tandoori oven. The meatballs were particularly good.
The MOTH ordered the Vegetable Thali, which came
with three vegetable items. On this day those were Aloo
Ghobi, a Mixed Vegetable Curry and Sag Paneer.
Paneer is a homemade Indian Cheese which, in this
dish, was diced finely and served in a sauce with
spinach. The entire plate was accompanied by more
Cucumber Raita.
The Nan was so fresh and fragrant, another discussion
took place about requesting a second order. Nan is a flat
bread that is served warm, is soft and has a slightly
buttery flavour. Emergency spice tip: if you’ve eaten
something too spicy, don’t reach for your glass of water,
eat the Nan bread to stop the burning; water will spread
the spices around your mouth but bread will neutralize
them.
Our Thalis came with a dessert called Shamai. Like the
meatballs, it wasn’t on the menu, but was made
especially to be served with the Thali. It was a sweet,
milky pudding made from fine vermicelli noodles.
Because the desserts on the menu were so reasonably
priced ($3 or less), we decided to indulge ourselves and
asked for an order of Gulab Jamun and Mango Kulfi
(both $2.50). Gulab Jamun are little fried milk balls,
much like TimBits, that are soaked in sweet cardamon
syrup. Kulfi is a homemade Indian ice cream made from
pureed mango and condensed milk. Both were well
worth the splurge.
The atmosphere is clean and straight forward, with
white linen on the tables and red velvet in the booths
and Indian themed art along the walls. The only thing
that marred my experience was how sullen one of our
servers was—it made me feel uneasy. But, the low
priced, delicious meal made up for lack of enthusiasm in
the staff. V
INDIAN GARDEN RESTAURANT
1122 Main St. W., Hamilton
905.522.7790
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