Family Dinner (Leela Lounge)
When my family gets together, we generally eat Indian. To be honest, I'm not sure how it started, but it really is our go-to cusine. With O being a vegetarian, it's definitely one of the easier choices and so I decided to find a new Indian place for us to try when he was here. I hit on Leela Lounge and knowing that we'd be coming from an Oliver Twist matinee (Theater for a New Audience - along with CSC my two favorite theaters/companies), I figured it was pretty convenient too. The theater ended up being west of Columbus Circle (usually they perform on 42nd), but even with the after-show talk, we were still really early and so decided to walk (I love walking, even more so when I know that there's a good, filling meal at the end of it).
By the time we walked into Leela Lounge we were pretty hungry - which is me trying to explain why I thought ordering 4 appetizers and 2 mains was reasonable for 2 people. But before we even got to that, mango lassis sounded really good and so we each ordered one. They were a beautiful yellowy-orange color (and reasonably filling)
The appetizers sounded great, they weren't super pricey ($6 or 7 each) and I was really hungry. O is pretty agreeable and so we ordered the previously mentioned 4: Spinach and corn fritters, Vegetable pakora, Samosa and (basically) Indian jalepeno poppers.
The spinach and corn fritters were a bit of a disappointment. They tasted okay if you dipped them in enough of the mint chutney, but overall for someone who loves spinach as much as I do, they just didn't quite do it. The samosas on the other hand were wonderful! They had mushrooms, which is a nice little twist, but I think it was the quality of the crust that really did it for me. Definitely a keeper.
The vegetable pakoras were okay. I guess I prefer mine with whole chunks of vegetables deep fried. These had a variety of vegetables finely chopped. The batter was great, but overall I'll stick to the more traditional inside. One bite of the jalepenos though and I knew I had something that both my brother and my dad (even though he wasn't here, having just introduced him to 'regular' jalepeno poppers in Ft. Meyers, I thought of him) would love. They were stuffed with potato and peanut and chili. Very different from 'regular' poppers, but appealing to a similar taste. I'd go back for them. And in fact, may go back the next time my dad is in town.
All of our appetizers had been vegetarian, which wasn't a hardship for me at all. But I wasn't as enchanted with the vegetarian mains and so O and I decided to order separately. He went for the tofu in a peanut chili sauce. It was good, though perhaps a little sweeter than I had anticipated. I think it needed a bit more heat (we had ordered it spicy), but it worked very well when I had a couple of bites with my spicier dish.
I went for the Lamb Gosht. It was heavenly! The description in the menu did not do it justice. It was a fabulous curry, but I almost didn't order it because the menu description just didn't do it for me. I talked to the waiter though and we settled on it. I was so very happy.
We ended up leaving with two very full bags of leftovers (they do a marvelous job of packing up). I don't think we even ate half of what we were given (so we would still have had leftovers if we had been rational and ordered 2 appetizers). The Lamb Gosht was fabulous for lunch today though - I gave the rest of the stuff to O for his car ride, but I'm assuming that he enjoyed it as much as he did yesterday. All in all, good Indian, with a little variety from the standard, for a very decent price.
By the time we walked into Leela Lounge we were pretty hungry - which is me trying to explain why I thought ordering 4 appetizers and 2 mains was reasonable for 2 people. But before we even got to that, mango lassis sounded really good and so we each ordered one. They were a beautiful yellowy-orange color (and reasonably filling)
The appetizers sounded great, they weren't super pricey ($6 or 7 each) and I was really hungry. O is pretty agreeable and so we ordered the previously mentioned 4: Spinach and corn fritters, Vegetable pakora, Samosa and (basically) Indian jalepeno poppers.
The spinach and corn fritters were a bit of a disappointment. They tasted okay if you dipped them in enough of the mint chutney, but overall for someone who loves spinach as much as I do, they just didn't quite do it. The samosas on the other hand were wonderful! They had mushrooms, which is a nice little twist, but I think it was the quality of the crust that really did it for me. Definitely a keeper.
The vegetable pakoras were okay. I guess I prefer mine with whole chunks of vegetables deep fried. These had a variety of vegetables finely chopped. The batter was great, but overall I'll stick to the more traditional inside. One bite of the jalepenos though and I knew I had something that both my brother and my dad (even though he wasn't here, having just introduced him to 'regular' jalepeno poppers in Ft. Meyers, I thought of him) would love. They were stuffed with potato and peanut and chili. Very different from 'regular' poppers, but appealing to a similar taste. I'd go back for them. And in fact, may go back the next time my dad is in town.
All of our appetizers had been vegetarian, which wasn't a hardship for me at all. But I wasn't as enchanted with the vegetarian mains and so O and I decided to order separately. He went for the tofu in a peanut chili sauce. It was good, though perhaps a little sweeter than I had anticipated. I think it needed a bit more heat (we had ordered it spicy), but it worked very well when I had a couple of bites with my spicier dish.
I went for the Lamb Gosht. It was heavenly! The description in the menu did not do it justice. It was a fabulous curry, but I almost didn't order it because the menu description just didn't do it for me. I talked to the waiter though and we settled on it. I was so very happy.
We ended up leaving with two very full bags of leftovers (they do a marvelous job of packing up). I don't think we even ate half of what we were given (so we would still have had leftovers if we had been rational and ordered 2 appetizers). The Lamb Gosht was fabulous for lunch today though - I gave the rest of the stuff to O for his car ride, but I'm assuming that he enjoyed it as much as he did yesterday. All in all, good Indian, with a little variety from the standard, for a very decent price.
posted by Bee at 10:36 PM
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