Reviewer's Summary: Bad Food; Good Sweets; Careless Service
Every visit to an Indian restaurant in the U.S. is a perilous journey into the unknown.
You never know what to expect with Indian restaurants in the U.S.
Sometimes they never open because a grandchild was born (really) or they landed a big catering order. They often open later than their scheduled hours, close early. Many items listed on the menu are not available. Prices listed on the menu are different from that on the web site. And even reviews and word of mouth are no sure indicators of the quality of food that awaits you because the kitchen's performance is so erratic.
Even by these bizarre qualities of Indian restaurants, our recent visit to Sukhadia's in Midtown Manhattan was quite an adventure.
After visiting Sukhadia's, we came out more knowledgable about digital cameras than about Indian food.
No kidding.
You see, upon seeing the Sony digital camera in our hand, our waiter Shyam got excited and launched off into a boring monologue about his new Canon SD900 digital camera...how he saved $100 on the SD900 camera by buying it in a sale...its nice 10 megapixels...its image stabilization feature (Shyam, you are wrong. The SD800 has it but not the SD900 you purchased)... how Canon digital cameras are better than Sony digital cameras...merits of SD900 vs the older SD800 model. Yada yada yada yada.
But amidst all the irritating blabbering about his new SD900 camera, Shyam forgot to provide us with either decent food or basic service at the restaurant.
Our food repeatedly (yes, the tea cup and sweets platter too lacked spoons) did not come with spoons, the table was not cleared, water glasses not filled etc etc.
Gosh, if we were running the show at Sukhadia's, we'd have packed this garrulous nincompoop camera buff to one of Stalin's Gulags.
Before getting caught into the quicksand of Sukhadia's lengthy monologue on digital cameras, we managed to reel off an order for Chole Bhatura ($8.95), Mysore Masala Dosa ($9.95) and some Masala Chai ($2.95).
Dosa is a South Indian vegetarian crepe and most North Indian restaurants are clueless in the art of making a Dosa. And Sukhadia's was no exception to the rule.
The folks at Sukhadia's certainly did not get our order of Mysore Masala Dosa right. The potato filling inside was stale and the Sambar was nothing more than insipid, watery Dal. we didn't have much luck with the accompanying Chutney either. It was way too bland.
Chole Batura is a large puffy bread with spicy chick peas served with yogurt and pickle. It's a popular dish in North and Western parts of India. While we didn't have any complaints about the bread, the chick peas that came with it was a disaster. Again, way too bland. We are certain that the chef did not add any chilli powder or chillies.
When we brought this to Sukhadia's attention, he volunteered to fix it. Unfortunately after tasting what he brought back, we realized that we'd been fixed well and proper. The Chole (chick peas curry that comes with the order) that returned to our table from the kitchen was a fiery brownish-red mass with enough chilli powder in it for the entire Indian army.
Clearly, the bozos in Sukhadia's kitchen have no sense of proportion.
In tears - from the fiery Chole - and cursing ourselves for picking this dumpster of a restaurant, we decided to seek refuge in virgin terrain.
We sprang for the Gathia Jalebi ($6.95), a popular snack in Gujarat comprising of Fafda, a Jalebi sweet and fried green Chillies and a dish we'd never been exposed to before.
After that horrid Chole Bathura and Masala Dosa, the Gathia Jalebi was welcome. Hey, after the unedifying chole Bathura and Masala Dosa we'd have given passing grades to any dish for just showing up.
Sukhadia's is a name well known in Edison (New Jersey), Chicago and New York for its sweets. After all, Sukhadia's have been sweetmakers for generations in their native state of Gujarat.
So it was with heightened anticipation that we drifted towards desserts.
We ordered a platter of sweets ($4.95). Boy, were we glad we did. The platter includes Malai Sandwich, Malai Jamun, Halwa Son, Kesar Peda and Boondi Laddu.
Oh boy, Oh boy.
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive; but to have a sweet tooth at Sukhadia's was very heaven (thank you, Wordsworth).
We enjoyed - make that loved - all of the sweets in our platter before us but the Malai Sandwich added a new dimension to the term "Excellent."
Sweet Nirvana, indeed.
Such was Sukhadia's carelessness that he did not include the sweets platter in our check. Perhaps it was his way of thanking us for listening to his camera spiel. We'll never know why because he'd disappeared from the scene by then.
Like most Indian restaurants, Sukhadia's also offers catering services for various events. We might not hire them to cater our event but if we see an ad for a Camera Salesman we'll be sure to call Shyam. - © NYIndia.us
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