Stamford CT - Cooking in Westchester

Thali – Worth the trek across the border

October 24, 2011 Leave a Comment

If I watched popular TV, I would understand exactly what this poster at the front of the restaurant was all about. Nonetheless, it did catch my eye on this second visit to Chef Prasad’s competetion. The first visit was on a rare day when we had stopped by to pick up some weekday lunch. Thali literally refers to a plate and the plating of Indian food is done by arranging a lot of dishes to make the meal. Actually, if you are interested you might want to take a look at this post by Monica Bhide and her collection of Indian Thalis. Anyhow, essentially at this restaurant it is all about Indian food done right. It focuses on good regional Indian cuisine, which is where I think the heart of good Indian food rests.

This time round, we visited with some friends mostly on a whim to stop by their buffet table. The Indian weekend buffet is a strange thing – it can on occasion make you wonder why it was invented and when done right it offers a wonderful cornocopia of tastes that can offer a little something for everyone. This is what the food at Thali did. The food had some really interesting dishes, what stood out for me was the really nicely flavored lemon rice, a lightly spiced coconut shrimp, a flavorful and not too rich chicken curry and a really delicate assortment of desserts. They had other great staples like creamy lentils and the kadhi.

They had a bread pudding, that is one of my favorite desserts. It is not something one associates with India, but growing up it was one of my favorite desserts and I still love it when it is well made.

Possibly with the food, their decor begining with the lentil and spice studded tables are worth mentioning. We were a little rushed this time round, so I shall be back very soon and if you are in the area, I think this restaurant is worth a venture.

Thali

87 Main Stree, New Canaan, CT 06840

Filed Under Restaurant Reviews Tagged With Eating Out, Fairfield County, Indian Food, Restaurant Reviews, Stamford CT

Chinese Mirch

August 15, 2010 Leave a Comment

There are several fusion variations of food, that are naturally inherent in Indian cooking – a combination of cross border influences and of course cross cultural migration. The Indo-Chinese cuisine in my assessment is probably the most popular (certainly in India) of these hybrids.

While we do not have any Indo-Chinese food in Westchester ( we only barely got a Ethiopian place, and now I want it all!), just across the border in Stamford, CT we have a couple of interesting finds. We stopped by Chinese Mirch (translates to Chinese Chili, mirch is Chili in Hindi) just on the spur of things to try out a thing or two, the place certainly does not disappoint. The décor of red and black is festive yet modern and the red is a nice change from the brick red or earthier tones that are more Indian.
We had gone earlier in the evening, and the place was really just warming up, however the staff were warm and spurred into action to accommodate us. We tried a few of their dishes and liked most of them. Their rock shrimp is quite addictive I could probably eat platters of these crisp little sweet shrimp nuggets every day. The rock shrimp was served with two dipping sauces – a sweet sauce and a more savory chili garlic sauce, both the sauces were nice and varied on the palate but not overly spicy. We also had an order of the crispy orka, which essentially had cut the vegetable into thin long shoestring pieces and coated with batter and fried them. This was good but could have been a little lighter on the batter.
Now, the restaurant takes its chili ratings seriously. We had the chili basil fish that was labeled with three chilies and I have to tell you that this fish was spicy! Very flavorful though! Lastly, we also had an order of their chicken Manchurian, this dish while flavor and well done was a little disappointing, in that it lacked the crispy punch usually associated with the dish. All in all, we liked the place a lot and if you have not tried Indo-Chinese food, take a drive to Stamford and I do not think you will be disappointed.
BTW, out of sheer co-incidence I stopped by their NYC branch for a takeout! While the food here was just as good the space was more constricted but not cramped.

As Liz ( I know she only does) would say, the 411 on Chinese Mirch is,