Whenever someone asks me what I want to eat, I usually say “I want to eat somewhere I’ve never been before” (10 or 20% of the time I’m down for repeats). Last night was the perfect example; my family and I decided to dine out just for a mini celebration. Even though I voiced my opinion and said I wanted Indian, it was a democracy and we ended up deciding on Greek, Kisamos specifically (even if we’ve already been there once before), in the iconic Steveston Village. However, we knew that Kisamos is a very busy hub especially on Saturday evenings. Our suspicions were confirmed as soon we drove past it. I silently did a “YES” while scrunching my fist and pulling my arm back; even if there was another Greek place down the street, I knew that with a simple “let’s just go to this Indian place”, they weren’t going to argue with me. La Tandoor Restaurant was closer and it meant we’d be eating sooner.
Outside La Tandoor Restaurant
My mom had initial qualms about eating here and started finding things she didn’t like about it; I think this is natural for all of us though. We start nitpicking and criticizing. BUT, I assured her it’s fine and it’s all in her head.
A taste of India!
It was quite a slow evening, and we were seated right away. Our server was a courteous gentleman who was very personable. We felt right at home in his humble restaurant.
A few minutes after we placed our orders, these inquisitive dips arrived at our table. I tried asking for the name of these dips twice, and I still didn’t get the proper name. I didn’t want to ask any more than twice because I didn’t want to seem rude. So I’ll just describe it
Didn't catch the names of these.. *sadface*
The sauce on the left tasted somewhat like a plum sauce; it was sweet and it reminded me of.. take a wild guess – plum sauce. That’s the best way I can describe it. In comparison, the sauce on the right is some kind of spicy sauce. Just a side note, I’m very sensitive to spice. My tolerance is really low and I need something to cut the heat – sour cream, milk, raita, anything – bring a tub out because I ain’t eating spicy without something to aid my sissy delicate taste buds. Anyway, the heat doesn’t hit you right away but when it does, you’ll know. Both sauces are a little watery, so it wasn’t a thick dip where we can dip our Papadums into and get a huge slob of it. Speaking of Papadums
Crispy Papadums!
I haven’t had many in my life so I’m no expert when it comes to judging the quality of good papadums, but ours seems a little more on the charred side. There was a lot more charcoal-y taste. It was also really brittle. I don’t like tasting too much charcoal on my grilled food, so I wasn’t quite a fan of this one. It was still decent though.
While we waited for our food to arrive, my attention was drawn to our water goblets. It’s not the usual glass that holds water, and what fascinated me about it is its shape and the material used. It’s great because it will keep cold liquids cool and hot liquids hot.
It's just a glass of water, no need to get excited Adrian.
As soon as my fascination with the goblets dissipated, food finally arrived. First dish to be served: Lamb Curry and Butter Chicken
Lamb Curry and Butter Chicken
Not enough lamb here
The lamb chunks were cooked pretty well, it wasn’t dry at all. The sauce was quite tasty and has the consistency of pureed peas. The only problem I have with this is that there is not enough lamb chunks. There’s probably a 4:1 sauce and lamb ratio. I can mix the sauce with the rice or just taste it on its own, but I needs me more of them lamb!
It was the same deal with the Butter Chicken
Tiny pieces, wish there were more
This was probably my favorite dish. For me, it had the right balance of sweet and savory. The sauce was rich and creamy. The only issue.. well 2 issues I have with this dish: not enough chicken. As with the lamb curry, did we honestly run out of chickens and lamb to cook? I don’t know. But I wish there was more chicken in there. I also thought the chicken was kind of dry.
Next dish to be served was the Lamb Biryani
Lamb Biryani
I guess this is a house special (well.. since the menu said so). It is boneless lamb pieces cooked with basmati rice, possibly with turmeric and curry powder to add color. I thought it was “ok”; there were slivers of caramelized onions that added some texture to it. I thought there was too much rice and not enough lamb chunks. It was also a little on the oily side. We also ordered a shrimp version of this.
The next dish that arrived was some sort of spicy beef dish. Remember how I said I’m really sensitive to spice? This bad boy was spicy. And we only ordered the medium. Thank the lord for the raita. My serving was swimming in it!
Shrimp Biryani and Beef Korma... something, I didn't catch the full name
Beef Korma something.. starts with an M. Can't believe I didn't catch it!
I will try to describe what I tasted beyond the spice that almost killed my taste buds:
- there was ground beef (obvs)
- there were peas in there
- a thick and chunky tomato sauce in which the entire dish was nested
- there might have been something else in there that added to the texture, I think beans? I’m not positive though
- and a bunch of other spices that I can’t identify
I was warned that it’s spicy even for the spice lovers in my family, so I drenched mine in raita.
I like the container where it was served in. Cute
This raita wasn’t as refreshing as the ones I’ve had previously. One of my favorite versions is my friend’s: hers had lots of cucumbers, so it was really refreshing. This didn’t have quite as much, so it wasn’t quite like my friend’s. Another side note: last night’s fond memory was when my younger brother ordered this without asking me. He usually asks me what to get when we eat something foreign, but because we’ve had Indian food in the past (and he’s had some spicy dishes without anything to counter balance the heat), he remembered that I always order raita, so he remembers what it is now. I’m so influential and proud of my lil bro.
We also got a variety of Naan breads including
Cheese in the naan
Cheese Naan Bread
Chicken inside the naan
Chicken Naan bread
Le naan bread
and Regular Naan Bread.
I feel like if I combined the chicken and cheese into one naan and then smother it with the lamb curry sauce or the butter chicken sauce, that it could be an Indian pizza or something. Both the flavored naans tasted vaguely like pizza, no joke. Anyway, it was quite tasty; the chicken was a little dry and the bread was charred a little too long, but I still liked it. I think this dish had enough chicken/cheese, but they could have interspersed it instead of just having it in 1 section.
After we devoured all that, we had room for dessert! I really can’t pass up the chance to have some Indian dessert. We asked about their selection, but apparently they didn’t have a lot left because they “ran out”. I don’t know if they only had enough for lunch service or have been out of supplies for days, so I just opted for the Mango Lassi (as I remember Michael Smith making his version). My little brother wanted the vanilla ice cream.
Mango Lassi
Vanilla ice cream
I like the Mango Lassi a whole lot. It was very refreshing after our exotic meal. The juice was quite thick, not quite like a shake but not liquid-y enough to just sip it fast enough. It also wasn’t very sweet at all, which was nice because if it had been, I wouldn’t have had as much as I did. The ice cream was delicious; I don’t know if they got a bucket from Safeway (hopefully not), but it was a bit sweeter than regular vanilla ice cream. I like the texture and it didn’t have the fat, rich taste at all.
About a third of the way finished. See the glass behind with 2 straws? Mom and Dad shared one! Mother really liked it
Overall the experience was ok. The food could be a lot better, but it wasn’t as bad as I read it would be. I think if I got my chicken, lamb and dessert selection I would’ve been much more happy.
My mom ended up loving the place in case you were wondering, so did the rest of them. As for me, I want to try other Indian restaurants so that I have something to compare it to.
Would I come back? Not jumping out of my seat “yes”, but possibly.
Tags: Indian, Indian Cuisine, La Tandoor Restaurant, Richmond, Steveston Village
Sweet to savory and everything in between 