Ottawa Foodies

2

This place hasnt let me down yet.

It's not fancy. It's cheap. It's real good.
Sometimes they dont have what you first wanted to order, so just try something else. It's all good.

Expect their kids to be walking around, playing with balls, or just being kids.
It's part of the charm.

Just ask them what to get, they will bring you whatever is best that day.

Almost all their food is gluten free, except for the Naan ...which didnt look that great anyway.

Deep fried chic pea balls = yumm

4

$10 Thali Combo (1 meat, 2 veg curries, rice, nan bread, chutney and dessert).

BEFORE !!

The new patio.

2

Raj's new location. Just over the bridge from his old spot.

He has new items on the menu including lamb.

The new place has eat in tables and a liquor licence. Also open later.

"Best Butter Chicken in Ottawa" ??? .. you decide.

4

Placed a delivery order yesterday for:
4 Samosas
2 Naan
1 Large Cumin Rice
1 Lage Butter Chicken
1 Larger Chicken Vindaloo

(42$)

Upon calling I was informed that they didn’t have any Raita left, which was disappointing. Nonetheless, I placed my order, which arrived quickly (30mins). Once the deliveryman arrived, he informed me that he didn’t carry any change. This forced me to turn my apartment apart in order to find some pocket change because I wasn’t inclined on giving a 18$ tip. I wish they had informed me I needed the exact amount when I called…

now for the food:

The butter chicken and the cumin rice where excellent. One of the best butter chicken I’ve had in Ottawa. The rest was very disappointing.

The samosas where cold and not unlike the one I could find at a corner store. I assume that these are remade and they didn’t have the common sense to warm them up. So I ended up putting them in the toaster oven.. Not a huge deal but still a pain. There was also no sauce provided for them.

Naan where definitively store bought but I expected that from the previous comment on FO.

As for the Chicken Vindaloo, it was barely eatable; it was really oily and had no complexity. It was also way to spicy. Both my SO and I enjoy really spicy food but we could barely finish a quarter of it…

I have gone here from time to time as I live nearby and the samosas are cheap ($1 each).

Vegetarian samosa are generally good and quite spicy - handy to have a few in the fridge to heat up for lunch or a light dinner.

Also like their gulab jamun dessert - not always the same - some times they cook the Indian "cheese balls" so they are very dark brown, other times they are lighter in colour. I like the sweet, honey like, rose water syrup the balls are "marinated" in.

Place is not fancy - very basic "hole in the wall" - I haven't tried other food they serve and likely won't. The Owner is very nice. If you stick to the samosas and gulab jamun and you'll be fine. If you haven't tried gulab jamun - I highly recommend you try it - here or any other place serving Indian food, yum!

3

I've been hesitating to post my comments here because my experience was kind of a WTF based on what other people have said.

I have four positive things to say:
* Prices are low given the quantities compared to other Indian restaurants in Ottawa.
* I only had to wait 8 minutes longer than they predicted when I called in the order. (Better than most places.)
* It's a true hole in the wall, which always holds some appeal to me.
* The Cumin Rice was nicely done and tasty. Since it's the foundation of the meal, this is important.

However:
* The grubbiness of the place is pretty much rock bottom. For me, this would be excusable if the food were great.
* They have no tandoor (hence, no house made naan or tandoori chicken).
* The sweets look good, but they aren't labelled. Bad for mithai neophytes like me!
* The food in general was sub-standard.

Here's what we ordered:

* 4 Vegetable Samosa (see comments elsewhere)
* 2 Lg Cumin Rice - was good!
* 2 Lg Butter Chicken (see comments elsewhere)
* 1 Lg Chick Pea Curry - pictured here. The taste was just not good. We threw some of it away. :(
* 1 Lg Alu Gobi - The cauliflower was overcooked to pudding texture. I found the flavour to be okay, but the dish was very oily.

1

The naan they use here is ready made from grocers. You can find them all over the city at Indian Grocers, including Basics. You can get 10 for about $2-3

These are unlike the ones you get from authentic restaurants. The long oval ones are made in an tandoor (clay oven) and are usually fresh made to order. Yummmmm.....

I suggest ordering your naan from other restaurants and your dishes from here if you want a better dinner experience.

However, I am not a fan of Express as I find they use a little much oil and now for fast food they charge what is in line with most ot the other Indian restaurants in the city as they keep increasing their prices.

3

I thought the flavour was okay but my wife really didn't like it compared to other butter chickens in town. It was very, very greasy, and not in a good way. The meat was fine, although it did feature bits of gristle as others have mentioned.

At $11 for a large portion (pictured here), the price is unusually low. However, I'm happier paying 40% more to get a product that's 300% better at Little India Cafe.

I'll explain more. This is a super-rich butter chicken. You might like that, but when i eat something that rich it has to be spiced to match; otherwise, the balance is off! Butter chicken is usually thickened with almonds or cashews -- in this case, the almonds were inconsistently ground, which resulted in some pretty big nut chunks.

Just had another go at Raj's Murgh Makhani ... and yup it's still the best I've had in this city.

Check out there new(ish) business cards with pictures of Hindu Gods and Godesses and on the reverse, a calendar with Hindu 'holidays' and even X-mas day mentioned.

The one I got is Hanuman, the half monkey half human one.

Hey Zy,

Don't you remember me suggesting that you're Brewer Buddy's meeting could take place at The Elmdale Tavern with some take-out pizza's.

Click here: ---> www.ottawafoodies.com <---

Well in just happens to be in the same entry where I describe taking food from the Indian Express (especially Butter Chicken) just down the street to The Elmdale Tavern so it could be paired with Beau's Beer and some Johnny Cash on the 'ol juke box. (Punch in selection 3701 for 'Folsom Prison Blues'.)

Here is what Jules thinks of my idea about take-out food being consumed at The Elmdale:
"Thanks to Captain Caper for throwing out the idea of getting take out for the Elmdale House Tavern - genius."

ottawafoodies.com

Also see my entry from Nov 19, 2007.

ottawafoodies.com

I usually don't sing the praises unless it is really really really good. Or as they say out east "Right-Some-Good !!".

We've gotten take out here a few times in the last couple months, and the butter chicken is simply to die for.

I know... the place (Indian Express) looks like a hole in the wall.... but oh what Murgh Makhani !!

I've had this dish in about 6 resto's in Ottawa and two in England, and this is the BEST rendition I ever came across. The creamiest, most almond packed, orangiest, lip smacken', curry I ever unleashed on my tongue. Not a hot spicy one, more of a blend of subtle flavours.

OK, OK, the occasional (small) piece of chicken grissle can (and will) turn up, but a small price to pay for all that goodness. They use both white and dark chicken meat and enough 35% cream to harden every artery in even the most healtiest body. I refuse to look at my bathroom scale a day or two after feasting on this stuff.

Think I'm full of .... curry ? Check this out:

www.missingnotes.org


Anybody in OttawaFoodie-land know of a better Murgh Makhani in Ottawa ? Please share.

2

I enjoyed the taste of the Vegetable Samosa. Nicely seasoned, and a generous size. Possibly the best food value one can find for a dollar.

However, two things were disappointing:
* It was packaged cold from the counter, so we had to warm it in our oven.
* The pastry was incredibly dry. I'm sure the oven-warming didn't help this.