Taste of India - St. Louis Park, MN

FireRetarded called me up to see if I wanted to do lunch. I don’t turn down lunch that often, so I actually rolled out of bed and got ready for Taste of India. I took me some winding to get over to it, since it’s sort of buried in the interchange system around 100 and 394 – but I found it.

It’s a buffet style restaurant during lunch, so we hopped up and got in line. The buffet really isn’t very large, but still has enough to fill your plate at least once… The flow of the buffet leaves a bit to be desired. There are two sides, but one is pushed up close to the wall, so once you’re in there, you’re not getting out. It’s like a one way dead end. I trapped FireRetarded back there until I was done scooping copious amounts of food onto my plate.

Like most Indian food places I have been to, I can’t remember a single thing I ate (except for Tandoori Chicken). The food here is pretty mild in comparison to a lot of Indian places I’ve been in the Twin Cities. It’s not bland or anything, just not bright and spicy like Biryani or anything. I do love the deep fried and chickpea-battered vegetables you can find at most places - Bhajia. These seemed pretty good to me. There was also a spinach and garbanzo bean dish called Chana Saag that was really good as well. I had to go up for a second plate since the first one didn’t quite fill me up.

And we won’t talk about how FireRetarded pansied out after a plate and a half. It would be too embarrassing for him if people knew about his tiny stomach and inability to clean his plate at a buffet. (I’m totally kidding, FR. I was just starving…) I didn’t see any desserts on the buffet, so no rice pudding or syrupy donuts were available. I didn’t need any, but I do like to see them on there, just in case I have room for a tiny bit more than what I got on my plate the first two or three trips.

Top 5 things about Taste of India
1. Chicken in the orange colored sauce – whatever it was was great
2. Bhajia – deep fried chickpea battered veggies
3. Chana Saag
4. Beef Curry was great
5. Lots of vegetarian stuff on the buffet for those of you so inclined

Bottom 5 things
1. I think Gerd might have liked this place due to its mild flavors. It would have treated her insides better than the spicier stuff at other places. Plus she loved FireRetarded and would have made the lunch even more awesome
2. No desserty things
3. The “pickles” were actually carrots and peppers that had been pickled – just to warn you
4. The buffet wasn’t terribly large
5. FireRetarded’s Nancy stomach – just kidding, daddio

www.tasteofindiaonline.com