Saturday, August 06, 2005
Rushi
Ah yes... the other day we finally made our long-awaited trip way up to Rushi to try their lunch buffet. I had been there on two other occasions for dinner, and it's ranged from blah to excellent, depending on the order. I'd say the buffet had a similar range, but overall, it was good... No bad things, some great things.
Quick overview of previous visits: Dosa good! Sambar bad! Coconut chutney excellent! Chili paneer (Indian-Chinese) excellent! Paneer tikka good but supposedly not authentic!
It should be noted that the people there are really nice. Ramgopal (sp?) (from Vijayawada), who I think owns the place with his wife, said he would offer my Goan friend a free Goan dish as long as she gave an honest opinion of the food. Pretty cool, eh? They serve lots of things from all over the Indian Map (they're from Andhra Pradesh state), so they're looking for input on the stuff they didn't totally grow up with. Also, most of the items on the buffet have a little sign with a listing of the main ingredients as well as whether they have dairy, egg, meat, etc. Big brownie points for that!
Enough of the playing around. On to the hard data.
Naan: Ok to decent. About as good as Masala Wok's.
Potato stuff (?): Pretty good... unfortunately didn't get the name.
Papad: Standard. Kind of like the one at Madras Pavilion.
Matar Paneer: Went back for seconds. Paneer was ok here, but overall the dish was decent.
Lemon Rice: Mmmmm! Lemon-y and Peanut-y! Nice...
Chili Gobi: I got four servings of this. It was AWESOME. Kind of like a different version of Madras Pavilion's Gobi Manchurian. I came close to smuggling some home, but it didn't work out. VERY SPICY.
Misc noodles: Blah. Not worth the scooping action. Well... better than that. Kind of low-to-medium flavor generic Chinese-ish noodles.
Chicken Wrap: Supposedly pretty good (not Indian at all).
Chicken Tikka Masala: Supposedly almost, but not quite as good as Masala Wok's (which has its own religion now)
Coconut Chutney: Not the same as the insanely good one I had last time, but still ok.
Dal: This tasted like what comes out when I make dal at home but forget to put in half the ingredients.
Chana Masala: Ah yes also went back for seconds on this! Seemingly a bit too clovy for my taste, but I still liked it.
Boondi (Bondi?): Yummy appetizer/snack. I think I had two of these. I believe I've gotten the name wrong somehow. Help anyone?
Taro chips: Meh. Though it's a great concept, execution wasn't special here. I'd rather have had any random potato chips.
Idli + Sambar: Didn't get these since I tried them on another visit.
Mango Lassi: I'm not the biggest fan of mango lassi in general... Though I have nothing against mangoes, I vastly prefer just sweet lassi. The one here didn't change that philosophy.
Strawberry ice cream: Wow. This was unexpectedly delicious. Tasted and looked homemade even.
As long as I find a couple of things at a buffet that I really like, I'm very happy.... so if you're like me that way, don't worry too much about the number of "ok" items there.
All right... so I'd say it's worth a trip! Locally owned place, and REALLY nice people. Tell Ramgopal that Paul sent you...
Quick overview of previous visits: Dosa good! Sambar bad! Coconut chutney excellent! Chili paneer (Indian-Chinese) excellent! Paneer tikka good but supposedly not authentic!
It should be noted that the people there are really nice. Ramgopal (sp?) (from Vijayawada), who I think owns the place with his wife, said he would offer my Goan friend a free Goan dish as long as she gave an honest opinion of the food. Pretty cool, eh? They serve lots of things from all over the Indian Map (they're from Andhra Pradesh state), so they're looking for input on the stuff they didn't totally grow up with. Also, most of the items on the buffet have a little sign with a listing of the main ingredients as well as whether they have dairy, egg, meat, etc. Big brownie points for that!
Enough of the playing around. On to the hard data.
Naan: Ok to decent. About as good as Masala Wok's.
Potato stuff (?): Pretty good... unfortunately didn't get the name.
Papad: Standard. Kind of like the one at Madras Pavilion.
Matar Paneer: Went back for seconds. Paneer was ok here, but overall the dish was decent.
Lemon Rice: Mmmmm! Lemon-y and Peanut-y! Nice...
Chili Gobi: I got four servings of this. It was AWESOME. Kind of like a different version of Madras Pavilion's Gobi Manchurian. I came close to smuggling some home, but it didn't work out. VERY SPICY.
Misc noodles: Blah. Not worth the scooping action. Well... better than that. Kind of low-to-medium flavor generic Chinese-ish noodles.
Chicken Wrap: Supposedly pretty good (not Indian at all).
Chicken Tikka Masala: Supposedly almost, but not quite as good as Masala Wok's (which has its own religion now)
Coconut Chutney: Not the same as the insanely good one I had last time, but still ok.
Dal: This tasted like what comes out when I make dal at home but forget to put in half the ingredients.
Chana Masala: Ah yes also went back for seconds on this! Seemingly a bit too clovy for my taste, but I still liked it.
Boondi (Bondi?): Yummy appetizer/snack. I think I had two of these. I believe I've gotten the name wrong somehow. Help anyone?
Taro chips: Meh. Though it's a great concept, execution wasn't special here. I'd rather have had any random potato chips.
Idli + Sambar: Didn't get these since I tried them on another visit.
Mango Lassi: I'm not the biggest fan of mango lassi in general... Though I have nothing against mangoes, I vastly prefer just sweet lassi. The one here didn't change that philosophy.
Strawberry ice cream: Wow. This was unexpectedly delicious. Tasted and looked homemade even.
As long as I find a couple of things at a buffet that I really like, I'm very happy.... so if you're like me that way, don't worry too much about the number of "ok" items there.
All right... so I'd say it's worth a trip! Locally owned place, and REALLY nice people. Tell Ramgopal that Paul sent you...
