So... I am guilty of occasionally visiting a wrong restaurant due to being careless and just… never bother looking at the restaurant's exterior. This was the case when I wanted to visit Royal Tandoori a couple of weeks ago but ended up at Indian Star (I did not even know I was at Indian Star and geotagged the restaurant as Royal Tandoori on Instagram LOL). My interest in visiting Royal Tandoori is because most of the comments on Urbanspoon emphasizes the restaurant's use of spiciness, and I love spicy food. I guess to me, spiciness can equal to great food especially for Indian cuisine! 
Coming on a Sunday evening, the restaurant was… not very busy and when we requested for a booth seat prior to a couple of hours before closing, the waitress declined as those seats are reserved for last minute diners of groups of four. Fortunately though after ordering, the waitress asked if we wanted to move as the secret to getting a booth seat is to order for four. The interior has comfortable seating arrangements and the only issue may be there are less than ten tables available, despite having more take out orders than diners. Plus, another table as well as us were the only ones in the restaurant for the entire time.
LAMB VINDALOO, BUTTER NAAN, PRAWN MASALA, EGGPLANT BHARTHA, BUTTER CHICKEN AND RICE.
BUTTER NAAN, BREAD OF FINE FLOUR ($1.99).
Although the nann tastes soft and has a nice elasticity, the bread could have been baked longer for some blistering.
BUTTER CHICKEN, CHICKEN MARINATED AND PREPARED IN TANDOOR COOKED WITH HERBS, TOMATOES, CREAM AND BUTTER SAUCE ($13.95).
The butter chicken tastes more tomatoey than creamy and although the consistency is not too watery, the curry does not taste very buttery at all. Also, the butter chicken tastes really heavy on the salt. There are people who have complained about the saltiness in Indian cuisine and fortunately for me, have never experienced it before, until now. As for the chicken, there is a decent amount of medium sized chunks of moist white meat.
RICE ($3.00) X 2.
We did not find rice on the menu but of course, any Indian cuisine restaurant should have rice. The rice tastes perfectly cooked (unlike Indian Star's) and tasty. Since I rarely have rice at a Chinese restaurant, it freaks me out knowing how much rice I can eat at an Indian cuisine restaurant LOL. Basically we both had a whole order of rice, each.
EGGPLANT BHARTHA, EGGPLANT ROASTED IN CLAY OVEN, MASHED AND SEASONED WITH HERBS AND COOKED WITH TOMATOES, ONIONS, PEAS AND SPICES ($10.95).
The eggplant bhartha has a smooth and creamy consistency with a good amount of peas. Also as requested, the bharta has a nice, flavourful and strong spiciness which does not mask the taste of the spices. However, when eaten with the naan, the peas provide a sweet taste which was enjoyable. This is my favourite out of the bunch and is coming from a straight up carnivore!
PRAWN MASALA, PRAWNS COOKED WITH DICED GREEN PEPPER AND DICED ONION IN CURRY SAUCE ($13.99).
There are a few butterflied prawns but unfortunately the masala has way too much green pepper and onion! Also, I am not a fan of this variation and would have preferred one… less dry. As for the prawns, they are slightly overcooked as well as dry and do not taste bouncy. And for the spices, although somewhat flavourful, the green pepper and onion overwhelms the taste. For an unfair comparison, Tasty Indian's prawn masala tastes a lot better.
LAMB VINDALOO, LAMB COOKED IN A TANGY/SOUR CURRY SAUCE AND POTATOES ($13.95).
The lamb vindaloo tastes flavourful with a good amount of spices and although there was a mild hint of tartness, the taste could have been tangier. Also again as requested, "hot" has a level of a strong medium spiciness that lingers in the mouth. As for the meat, the vindaloo has slices of sautéed lamb rather than chunks and does not taste too chewy, despite preferring chunks more.
Overall we tipped 15% because the waitress was friendly and the owner came by to ask how everything was. As for the food, I would not revisit and despite how requesting "hot" resulted in an actual spiciness, there are better Indian cuisine restaurants.
POSITIVES
- Average eats
- Friendly staff and owner
NEGATIVES
- Restaurant could be more clean (there were bits of stuff floating in my drink)
LITTLE THINGS
- My friend got a "buy one entree and get a second free (up to $9.00) value coupon! However, there is a better deal as an Instagrammer mentioned an app called "MobileBandit" which currently offers a $30.00 worth of food for $15.00
- Despite Indian Star's undercooked rice (twice) and lack of spiciness, I prefer that restaurant more
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment