Passage to India
Foods from Passage to India
Comments

2011 Jul 20
I see what ilikerealfood is saying about Indian cooking being time comsuming and labour intensive and needing high turnover, etc. I suppose that's why we are seeing so many Indian restaurants becoming buffet style. Just want to say that I think that it is a shame that economics come into play in this way and have a negative influence on the quality (freshness, variety, etc.) of meals restaurant can likely serve. While in certain circumstances, a restaurant can pull off a good quality, fresh buffet, overall my aunt's expression of calling them "barfets" is often not far off the mark!

2011 Jul 19
I have certainly had good Indian food in Ottawa - Mukut for example is fantastic.

I guess I'm talking in general about price/quality ratio, freshness and authenticity. Most Indian I have had in Ottawa is extremely over priced - mukut included. I suppose it is because I am from Brampton, where you can get a huge - and authentic - channa masala, biyrani, naan and a samosa for about 10 dollars.

I have noticed that since Indian dishes are time consuming and labour intensive, unless a restaurant has a high turnover of customers (not the case for Passage to India), there is a strong likelihood the food was made sometime within the last week (or worse, but I don't want to think about that).

This just reminds me of the horrible images of Ramsey scolding restaurateurs for serving old, reheated food.

2011 Jul 19
Sorry to hear about this bad experience. Haven't been to this restaurant in years. Just wanted to ask about your opening comment about Ottawa lacking GOOD Indian restaurants. Maybe this would be a good topic for the forum. Ottawa certainly has a fair number of Indian restaurants. IMO too many are buffet style. Also have to say that for me, Indian food is a bit like sex, even when it is bad it is good. But then again from ilikerealfood's comments, this does not seem to be the case, fishy smelling shrimp curry is not a good thing. Unfortunately, we haven't been out to Indian restaurants as much as we used to since we had children as they tend not to be all that child friendly. But I have a few favourites, I'll post under the forum site.

2011 Jul 18
Ottawa really doesn't have good Indian food. My experience tonight further solidifies my point. I have had good indian dishes here and there, but meh, I'm waiting for the curry house that blows me away.

Picked up takeout tonight from Passage to India. Not impressed and I will not be back.

I ordered a combo for 1 person which included a shrimp curry, vegetable curry, onion bahji, rice, papadum and desert. I kindly asked to substitute the desert for anything else - such as an extra papadum, naan etc. The guy serving me said, "no problem".

On my way out, the owner was trying to upsell his empty restaurant by saying how great the food is.

When I got home I realized that they didn't include the papadum (which was part of the combo) nor did they give me a substitution for the desert that I asked for. They just ignored my request. They also didn't include an onion bahji.

The curries were awful. I would bet all the money in my wallet that my meal was not cooked today. The shrimp curry had a fishy smell, and was literally swimming in oil. The shrimps had their tail in tact and they had an off taste. Disgusting. The vegetable curry - although edible - wasn't fresh or very tasty.

The rice was standard.

$23 for lies and utter crap. This is the worst Indian food I have probably ever had - there is no wonder why the restaurant is always empty!

Save your money folks.

Visiting the parents in Caledon (just north of Brampton) this weekend, so I will indulge in real pakistani/indian food. Can't wait :)

2009 Jul 10
Indian comfort food. A little sweet as standard so if you know what you're doing ask for extra "spice". Saag paneer is one of the best I've tried. Also great aloo gobi and tarka daal. If you don't poo-poo butter chicken, i also think it's the best in town.

Not high brow or out there, just solid mid-priced stuff yourself food.