Foods from Mukut
Comments
2013 Jul 31
Date of Visit: July 9, 2013
I had made a note of two Indian restaurants I wished to try on my most recent visit to Ottawa, both of which of which lie within a block of each other on Rideau Street. Unfortunately, the first of these, Passage to India, appeared to be closed for good when I checked it out but, undaunted, I proceeded on to Mukut instead…
The Food
Dal Soup ... Rating: 2 out of 5.
Onion Bhaji ... Rating 4 out of 5.
Chicken Tikka ... Rating 1 out of 5.
Overall
It is a real shame that the owners of this place appear to have made the regrettable business decision to ‘dumb-down’ their Indian food to appeal to western tastes as it is a very nice restaurant otherwise. For novices seeking to try out the flavors of India for the very first time, I suppose you could do worse than here (especially given the prices), but for aficionados of Indian cuisine, the place will probably be a disappointment. If the management were to reassess their menu and go ‘back to their roots’, as it were, they could probably command more expensive prices and build up a nice appreciative clientele as everything else about the place was great. Rating: 2 out of 5.
See a full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me
I had made a note of two Indian restaurants I wished to try on my most recent visit to Ottawa, both of which of which lie within a block of each other on Rideau Street. Unfortunately, the first of these, Passage to India, appeared to be closed for good when I checked it out but, undaunted, I proceeded on to Mukut instead…
The Food
Dal Soup ... Rating: 2 out of 5.
Onion Bhaji ... Rating 4 out of 5.
Chicken Tikka ... Rating 1 out of 5.
Overall
It is a real shame that the owners of this place appear to have made the regrettable business decision to ‘dumb-down’ their Indian food to appeal to western tastes as it is a very nice restaurant otherwise. For novices seeking to try out the flavors of India for the very first time, I suppose you could do worse than here (especially given the prices), but for aficionados of Indian cuisine, the place will probably be a disappointment. If the management were to reassess their menu and go ‘back to their roots’, as it were, they could probably command more expensive prices and build up a nice appreciative clientele as everything else about the place was great. Rating: 2 out of 5.
See a full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me
2011 Mar 7
Last night my girlfriend and I ordered an absolute feast from Mukut Indian restaurant. I am so pleased with this place because it is one of the only Indian places I know of that offer take out packages. I find that at other places it is very easy to bloat your bill and end up paying much more than the food is worth.
Anyways, yesterday I ordered the Taj Mahal package which included: Sheek Kabab, 2 Samosa’s, Half a tandoori chicken, Shrimp Pasanda, Sag Paneer, Palao rice, iceburg salad, Naan, papadum and chapatti. After taxes this is 42 dollars. Keep in mind that this is 4 meals. My girlfriend and I pigged out yesterday, and ate as much as we could and there was enough food left over for both of our lunches. I’m enjoying my Shrimp Pasanda right now. So this works out to about 10 dollars a meal. Great value!
Anyways, yesterday I ordered the Taj Mahal package which included: Sheek Kabab, 2 Samosa’s, Half a tandoori chicken, Shrimp Pasanda, Sag Paneer, Palao rice, iceburg salad, Naan, papadum and chapatti. After taxes this is 42 dollars. Keep in mind that this is 4 meals. My girlfriend and I pigged out yesterday, and ate as much as we could and there was enough food left over for both of our lunches. I’m enjoying my Shrimp Pasanda right now. So this works out to about 10 dollars a meal. Great value!
2011 Mar 7
The food itself is fantastic. The real winner this time was the Shrimp Pasanda. This is going to be included in my Indian food orders no matter where I dine. It is nice and sweet, with a fair dosage of heat. The raisins are a nice touch. The flavour is very complex, and they were generous with the amount of shrimp. The sauce was awesome for dipping everything in.
The Saag paneer was good as always. They are heavy on the garlic and again they do not skimp on the paneer cheese. The samosas were nothing special but good nonetheless. The sheek kabaab is very similar to South African Boervors in a way. I’m not sure what meat is used in it. I think it is beef.
The tandoori chicken was a bit on the dry side, but you know, that awesome charcoal, red flavour, balanced it out and I covered it in Shrimp Pasanda sauce so it turned out fantastic. The naan, chapatti and papdums were great too. The only thing that was meh, was the iceburg salad – since it was just lettuce with a sweet mustard dressing. It was a nice fresh counter balance to the stews, but ultimately boring. The salad isn’t indicated on the menu, so again, it was a freebee.
All in all, this is a feast bursting with substance and flavour, at a relatively decent price.
Highly recommended.
The Saag paneer was good as always. They are heavy on the garlic and again they do not skimp on the paneer cheese. The samosas were nothing special but good nonetheless. The sheek kabaab is very similar to South African Boervors in a way. I’m not sure what meat is used in it. I think it is beef.
The tandoori chicken was a bit on the dry side, but you know, that awesome charcoal, red flavour, balanced it out and I covered it in Shrimp Pasanda sauce so it turned out fantastic. The naan, chapatti and papdums were great too. The only thing that was meh, was the iceburg salad – since it was just lettuce with a sweet mustard dressing. It was a nice fresh counter balance to the stews, but ultimately boring. The salad isn’t indicated on the menu, so again, it was a freebee.
All in all, this is a feast bursting with substance and flavour, at a relatively decent price.
Highly recommended.
2010 Jun 18
I have just discovered Mukut....and I am a big fan!
Since they now have online ordering and we are moving, we have ordered from them twice. Both times have been fantastic.
We have tried 2 different "dinner for two"s which I think could easily feed 3-4 people as we were stuffed and had lots left over for lunch.
I have never been a huge fan of tandoori chicken but I have to say theirs was very tasty and well prepared. In fact, all of the dishes were very fresh, nicely spiced and not oily at all - you can tell they put a lot of care into their food.
Favorites included: tandoori chicken, naan (yum!), onion baji, aloo peas, lamb curry and the mixed vegetable curry.
Since they now have online ordering and we are moving, we have ordered from them twice. Both times have been fantastic.
We have tried 2 different "dinner for two"s which I think could easily feed 3-4 people as we were stuffed and had lots left over for lunch.
I have never been a huge fan of tandoori chicken but I have to say theirs was very tasty and well prepared. In fact, all of the dishes were very fresh, nicely spiced and not oily at all - you can tell they put a lot of care into their food.
Favorites included: tandoori chicken, naan (yum!), onion baji, aloo peas, lamb curry and the mixed vegetable curry.
2010 Jun 12
This evening I had a real craving for Indian food. My one pet peeve is that Indian food is always so expensive, and I don't know why. My go to place is Moni Mahal which is a ridiculously huge buffet for around 10 dollars at lunch.(which is 'imo' the only affordable Indian joint around). But today, I decided to try a place I have been eying for a while, Mukut. It burned down a year or two ago, and I am happy they have been able to rebuild afterwords.
I ordered a vegetarian combo for pick up. The combo consisted of: 6 Onion Bhaji, Mixed Vegetable curry, Tarka Dall(which I substituted for Channa Masala), Palao Rice, Chapati, a papadum and Gulab Jamun. This rang it at 18 bucks after tax. I found this rather expensive considering the meal primarily consisted of potatoes, chickpeas, rice and onions, but the prices are completely consistent with other Indian restos in Ottawa. I do have to say however that it was a lot of food, and I will be eating a hearty lunch tomorrow.
I was pleased to see that at 5 oclock - the opening time for Mukut dinner service - that the place was already half full. Passage to India, a block down the road was empty at 5, and when I was walking home at about 5:45 they were still empty.
All that I have to say about the food is that it was fantastic (echoing the sentiments of "bigmouth"). Hands down the best Channa Masala I have ever had. Full of flavor, nice and sweet, not overly oily, just perfect. My girlfriend who is not a big fan of Indian food, agreed that it was bursting with complex flavors. I found that the tomato flavor was very prominent. It was was not very spicy (although I love a very spicy channa), the garum masala was definitely a prominent flavor along with the tomato and the sweetness of sugar or something else.
The mixed vegetable curry was equally amazing. I can't even describe the flavours, other than being a completely balanced mix of curry, savory and sweet. Delicious! The palao rice was some very nice basmatti with some red specs in it. Not sure what that is all about, but it was standard delicious basmatti.
The bhaji's were great, nice and crispy, not overly greasy. mhm, very good :). The chapati was ok, not as good as naan, (or are they the same thing?) it tasted fine with the curries. To top it off they included some kind of sauce/chutney. It was sort of like a really sweet thousand islands dressing. Not crazy about it, but a nice dip for the bhaji's.
Oh I almost forgot, the meal also included 2 Gulab Jamun. This is a sweet cake ball swimming in a dangerously sweet syrup. Never had this before, so I'm not sure what it is supposed to taste like. It was tasty, but really soggy and super sweet. Not something I would order again, but I am not a big fan of sweets to begin with, let alone the odd Indian sweets.
The papadum was standard, unfortunately it shattered in the bag on the way home. Oh well.. still tasty. All of this was 18 bucks, which isn't really that bad in terms of price considering two of us ate, and there is some left over for tomorrow.
The only thing missing, was some salad. They should have included a little bit of green, even if it was iceburg-y, garden salad type stuff. Luckily I had some nice spring mix lying in my fridge so I whipped up a nice balsamic/olive oil dressing to give me the green crunch that I needed so bad.
The real winners here are the curries. The Channa Masala and the Vegetable curry are to die for and the Bhaji are a nice little treat. In the future I will order things separately and not in a combo since I wasn't big on the sweet balls.
I tried to put all the food I received on a plate, as you can see in this picture. However there was a substantial amount left over that cannot be seen. Over all, this place is a keeper.
I can't wait to try some meat dishes.
Highly recommended!
I ordered a vegetarian combo for pick up. The combo consisted of: 6 Onion Bhaji, Mixed Vegetable curry, Tarka Dall(which I substituted for Channa Masala), Palao Rice, Chapati, a papadum and Gulab Jamun. This rang it at 18 bucks after tax. I found this rather expensive considering the meal primarily consisted of potatoes, chickpeas, rice and onions, but the prices are completely consistent with other Indian restos in Ottawa. I do have to say however that it was a lot of food, and I will be eating a hearty lunch tomorrow.
I was pleased to see that at 5 oclock - the opening time for Mukut dinner service - that the place was already half full. Passage to India, a block down the road was empty at 5, and when I was walking home at about 5:45 they were still empty.
All that I have to say about the food is that it was fantastic (echoing the sentiments of "bigmouth"). Hands down the best Channa Masala I have ever had. Full of flavor, nice and sweet, not overly oily, just perfect. My girlfriend who is not a big fan of Indian food, agreed that it was bursting with complex flavors. I found that the tomato flavor was very prominent. It was was not very spicy (although I love a very spicy channa), the garum masala was definitely a prominent flavor along with the tomato and the sweetness of sugar or something else.
The mixed vegetable curry was equally amazing. I can't even describe the flavours, other than being a completely balanced mix of curry, savory and sweet. Delicious! The palao rice was some very nice basmatti with some red specs in it. Not sure what that is all about, but it was standard delicious basmatti.
The bhaji's were great, nice and crispy, not overly greasy. mhm, very good :). The chapati was ok, not as good as naan, (or are they the same thing?) it tasted fine with the curries. To top it off they included some kind of sauce/chutney. It was sort of like a really sweet thousand islands dressing. Not crazy about it, but a nice dip for the bhaji's.
Oh I almost forgot, the meal also included 2 Gulab Jamun. This is a sweet cake ball swimming in a dangerously sweet syrup. Never had this before, so I'm not sure what it is supposed to taste like. It was tasty, but really soggy and super sweet. Not something I would order again, but I am not a big fan of sweets to begin with, let alone the odd Indian sweets.
The papadum was standard, unfortunately it shattered in the bag on the way home. Oh well.. still tasty. All of this was 18 bucks, which isn't really that bad in terms of price considering two of us ate, and there is some left over for tomorrow.
The only thing missing, was some salad. They should have included a little bit of green, even if it was iceburg-y, garden salad type stuff. Luckily I had some nice spring mix lying in my fridge so I whipped up a nice balsamic/olive oil dressing to give me the green crunch that I needed so bad.
The real winners here are the curries. The Channa Masala and the Vegetable curry are to die for and the Bhaji are a nice little treat. In the future I will order things separately and not in a combo since I wasn't big on the sweet balls.
I tried to put all the food I received on a plate, as you can see in this picture. However there was a substantial amount left over that cannot be seen. Over all, this place is a keeper.
I can't wait to try some meat dishes.
Highly recommended!
2008 Apr 14
I'm surprised there are no postings for Mukut.
As far as I know, it's been around for a long while!
The food here is fantastic. Over the years, I have eaten here a small handful of times -- most recently, last Friday.
The blend of spices, flavours and textures is just right. The menu has quite a nice selection -- from meats, to seafoods, to vegetarian dishes.
Last week we indulged in tandoori chicken, curry lamb, a beef dish, saga paneer (spinach and cheese), naan, yogurt with cucumber, and ... I forget the name -- the waffle like crisps made with lentils. It was simply delicious! The naan was fresh and hot out of the oven -- perfect for sopping up the sauces.
The dishes seems small but they are quite filling.
It is also quite affordable -- for the three of us, the bill was only about $60 before tip.
As far as I know, it's been around for a long while!
The food here is fantastic. Over the years, I have eaten here a small handful of times -- most recently, last Friday.
The blend of spices, flavours and textures is just right. The menu has quite a nice selection -- from meats, to seafoods, to vegetarian dishes.
Last week we indulged in tandoori chicken, curry lamb, a beef dish, saga paneer (spinach and cheese), naan, yogurt with cucumber, and ... I forget the name -- the waffle like crisps made with lentils. It was simply delicious! The naan was fresh and hot out of the oven -- perfect for sopping up the sauces.
The dishes seems small but they are quite filling.
It is also quite affordable -- for the three of us, the bill was only about $60 before tip.
southshoregirl
We love their food. Ordered Shrinp Curry, Butter Chicken, Lamb Korma, Chana Masala, Vegetable Biryani, Basmati Rice, Nan.
Chapattis are delivered with the drinks and are complimentary.
All of the dishes were great. Highlights for me were the Lamb Korma and the Nan Bread. Every time we order that Nan we are delighted with it - hot, crispy on the edges, puffy and a bit Smokey. The Lamb Korma was full of tender chunks of lamb in a slightly sweet sauce. The butter chicken also featured large chunks of chicken in a mild butter sauce. The shrimp curry was mild by request - one person needed to avoid spice. It would have been improved with a little more heat! My vegetarian husband was delighted with the Chana Masala and Veg Biryani.
All the servings looked small when we saw them, but in reality 5 dishes plus Nan & rice was perfect for 5 people. We ate everything and nobody went away hungry.