Cafe India, Nashua, NH

Cafe India

6 Elm St., Nashua, NH

The thing that I despise most about blogging is the formatting, and how the posting applet works differently in different browsers. Google Chrome won't let me resize images. Internet Explorer won't cut and paste images. Chrome keeps giving me an error every time I try to clear formatting. Internet Explorer randomly double-spaces my posts. I know what you're thinking, that I haven't mentioned Firefox yet. That's because when at home, I blog on my dad's computer, which doesn't have Firefox. My 2004 Compaq PC runs very slowly because I have 20-some-odd gigabytes of music on it and its six years old. Right now, I don't have the money to afford a new computer (preferably a laptop) and a new, properly functioning iPod. I'm knee deep in non-working, outdated electronics...

On to the buffet...

Looks like we have some rather unique Indian cuisine on our hands. Im gonna guess Northern. It can't be South Indian.

The Offerings:

Chutneys/Sauces:

-tamarind: Of course it was my go to sauce. It was thick and slightly chunky in texture, much like the kind at The Pongal. The flavor, however, was milder.
-mint: Didn't try it.
-onion: Didn't try it. It looked like what I saw at India Palace.
-raitha: Didn't try it.
-pickle: Didn't try it.

Salad:

-fruit salad: There was not green salad, only fruit salad. The kind you would see at a summer cookout, but with apples chunks. Why not?

Bread:

-naan: From what I remember, it was slightly oily and soft, like Italian pizza dough. Once again they served it to the table. We're 3 for 4 on this method of naan serving. I asked the waitress for two baskets and she shood her head 'no' and told me that my friend and I would only be recieving one basket at a time. I felt shut down. However, I realized I had misunderstood her when she brought twice the amount of naan in one basket. Problem solved.

Soup:

-lentil soup: No fancy Indian names here. Just a plain English name which explained the soup in a nutshell. Lentils in a slightly spicy broth.

Appetizers:

left: veg. pakora. right: basmati rice

-vegetable pakora: These were the largest pakora I've ever seen; more cusion for the pushin'. Good move, Cafe India.

Entrees:

(pardon the greasy lens) left: katta mitta baignan. right: kadai paneer

left: veg. vindaloo. right: dal

left: tandoori chicken. right: goat

-katta mitta baignan: First time I've seen or heard of this dish. Below the label, it explained that 'katta mitta' meant 'sweet and sour'. So in English terms, sweet and sour eggplant. This dish was definitely sweet. The sour owed more in part to that tangy curry flavor of most Indian dishes. May I also note that the pieces of eggplant where quite big compared to how I've seen vegetables prepared in curry in prior adventures. My buffet accomplice, and I both agreed that it was delicious.

-kadai paneer: Also another buffet first sighting. I've seen this as a boil-in-bag, instant meal in Indian Groceries. It was pretty much sauteed peppers and onions, a little bit of sauce, and paneer (Indian cheese cubes). It was good, but doesn't stand out in my mind, and that's what counts to me. I want to lie awake in bed at night thinking about how good a certain dish is, and crave it badly

-vegetable vindaloo: This was nothing like what I saw at India Palace. The sauce was bright red and chunky. It looked like tomato sauce. There was corn and broccoli in it. It was more tangy than sweet. It seemed similar in flavor to the katta mitta baignan, only milder. I liked how they were generous in topping this dish with cilantro. I love cilantro. I don't know if this is unfair to say, but I didn't like the texture of the corn and broccoli. Something about the dish seemed American to me. There are plenty of places I can go in NH for American food.
-dal: Finally, a dal with flavour. Even Ashley noticed this. It was sweet and tangy. I love when and Indian dish is sweet and tangy. I suppose this goes with Cafe India's theme of having off-kilter dishes. It works to their advantage with this one; not so much with that veg. vindaloo though :-/
-tandoori chicken: This was right on; moist and rich in spice.
-goat curry: There were bones in it! Nooooo! I suppose this is merely a preference thing again. Perhaps I'm lazy, but bones to me means more work having to pull the meat from the bone, as chewing and/or swallowing bone does nothing good for me. The sauce was tasty. It was your typical brown curry sauce that
-chicken korma: I've heard about this dish, and finally I found it. The sauce was like candy: creamy and sweet. There were bits of cashew in the sauce too; amazing. The chicken was moist too, but I found that if the piece was big enough, it warranted for a slightly dry and flavorless center. I wish there was some was to make all chicken as flavorful as that of chicken tikka masala or butter chicken. Perhaps this is because for these two dishes, the chicken is usually cooked on a kebab and pre-mariniated. Maybe once again we're diving into the realm of personal preference.

Desert:

left: chicken korma. right: gulab jamun

-gulab jamun: Ah, so we meet again. Honestly Sir Jamun, I liked you better at Priya. You were more syrupy and larger. At Cafe India you were smaller, the syrup was thinner, and you were drier. The syrup was yellow. I don't know how or if it affected the flavor at all.

-kheer: This kheer looked promising. There was ground pistachio on top of it almond slivers and golden raisins scattered within, but it totally dropped the ball in flavor. It was bland as hell.

Price: $10.85 (including N.H. meals tax) If it's below $11 w/ tax.

Final Score: 3.9/5

Cafe India definitely wins points for the originality of its entrees. It really drove it home with a couple, namely the dal and katta mitta baignan. However, the other dishes were kind of forgettable, and where's the salad? Pongal had both fruit salad and green salad. You've got some explaining to do, Cafe India. Making a lasting impression on the avid Indian Buffetier (I hope I just coined a new term: 'buffetier') is what counts in my book.

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