I have a soft spot in my heart for Indian food. One of my absolute best friends for over half of my life is Indian, and ever since I met her in the halls of Eastlake Middle School, I've been a fan of Indian food. (I had so many Indian friends in high school, I was called an honorary Indian. I take that as a compliment.)
If you're not familiar with Indian food, I'm sorry for your loss. Indian food offers up everything from flavorful rice to deep fried vegetables. I honestly think that since many Americans are all about spicy wings, they'd be just as jazzed up about spicy Indian food. But I digress...
Just about as soon as I was able to drive, my friends and I used to go to Saffron Patch. While many of my other friends may have been out drinking and doing bad things on Friday and Saturday nights, I was enjoying fine ethnic cuisine. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. Over the years, my love affair with Saffron Patch faded as I discovered other Indian restaurants around town. (why hello, Taj India palace in Richmond Heights) But I still have a soft spot for it in my heart.
I met up with a friend at Saffron Patch this past Monday for dinner and was pleased to learn that they feature a vegetarian dinner buffet. (I was also please to see that the restaurant looked just about the same as it did the last time I was there, about 6 years ago.) Although my favorite Indian dish is muttar paneer, a nice gluttonous mix of cheese cubes, curry sauce, and peas, I can never pass up an all vegetarian buffet. So I loaded up my plate.
Every Indian buffet features naan, perhaps the most glorious bread in the world, which is used to sop up sauce from most Indian entrees. This buffet also featured pakodas, or deep fried vegetable deliciousness, saffron rice, and a few other things with names I'll never remember. An interesting feature of the buffet was an American salad bar. Dunno about you, but I'm not sure lettuce slathered in ranch dressing goes with curry. But to each his own. This definitely wasn't the best Indian food I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst. I enjoyed the various entrees I tried, but nothing wowed me. But that happens sometimes with buffets. I frequent an Indian restaurant near my house for lunch, and some days I like the buffet offerings and some days I don't. But for a mere $14.95 for dinner, you can't beat the amount of food you can get from this nice vegetarian buffet. And it's a great way to try new types of Indian food that you might not try otherwise.
Do you like Indian food? Or more specifically, Indian buffets?
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