Was hungry for a South Indian meal and decided to plump for a buffet, Hoysala in Somerset was my port of call. This place has been operating for a few years now and is pretty well known in the South Indian populace in NJ.
They had a dinner buffer on offer, had to wait for about 15 mins to get seated. This place also rents out their premises for parties and such, there was a kids birthday party event on that day, hence the larger crowd I suppose.
The buffet is a good spread with vegetarian and meat dishes. I was surprised to find pork on the menu. One rarely finds pork on the menu in Indian restaurants. This place serves primarily a South Indian menu and does a pretty good job at it. The buffet trays were constantly replenished. There were hot idli's, dosa's and uthappam's in the spread. They were also serving hot poori's tableside. If you weren't aware poori's are deep fried wheat dough pancakes, eaten in every region in India.
The deep fried chicken was a little too greasy for my taste. The vegetarian dishes were quite good, the bisibelebath was as good as any other I have had. The biriyani was just ok. I am yet to find a South Indian restaurant that serves good biriyani.
Overall a pretty good experience, if South Indian cuisine is on your map, this place is a must visit.
-CouldEatAHorse
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Review - Dosa Grill - Rt27, North Brunswick
This is a busy place in Central NJ serving South Indian food for the most part.
We decided to try the Vegetarian Lunch Buffet at this popular place on Rt 27. When we pulled in found that the parking lot was full and it looked like most of them were for Dosa Grill. There was a small crowd milling around near the entrance. We decided to go in and toss our hat in the ring for a lunch buffet. We had a table in 5 minutes. No complaints there.
The place is spartan with basic furniture and not much else. All the tables were occupied and there were a few folks seated inside waiting their turn. There was line 12 souls deep to the buffet area. There did not seem to be enough plates or cups for liquids at the head of the buffet line. The 'idli' tray was empty. We loaded our plates with some 'medhu vadas', 'vegetarian noodles', spiced rice and some sambar. The sambar was good, vegetarian noodles could have done with less oil and the spiced rice had some chunks of caked up spice in it. The vadas were ok, not bad, not great either. The service guys seemed to be busy trying to keep pace with refilling food in the stations. I saw just three or four guys in the service area doing everything from taking orders to clearing plates, speak of multitasking ! It was clear that they did not have enough staff to service the crowds that were in.
They serve dosas as part of the Lunch Buffet menu, I asked for the Masala dosa which arrived after 10 mins. The dosa was nicely browned and crispy with an adequate amount of potato filling in it. It was a good dosa overall, not the best but it was served as part of a buffet meal I have no complaints.
We tried the other items on the menu - Beans poriyal, Paruppu Kootu, kozhambu, beetroot halwa, fruit custard, thayir saadam, Rasam and Aviyal. There were 3 items that stood out - the Rasam, beans poriyal, kootu and Aviyal were darn good, pretty comparable in taste and quality to any good restaurant in South India.
The naan - less said the better, beetroot halwa was extremely sweet, rich and heavy.The thayir saadam was ok.The fruit custard was canned fruit swimming in a viscous 'Brown and Polson' corn powder and milk solution.
The coffee is served south indian style was acceptable. It comes with milk and it takes a south indian palate to appreciate this.
Overall from the menu about half the items on the buffet stations were pretty good, the rest middling and a couple of bad ones. Service is almost non-existent. Crowded, busy and an average 10 minute wait time. The menu is primarily South Indian which is very different from the run-of-the-mill Indian restaurants (serving the customary red tandoor chicken, naan, cottage cheese in spinach).
I would visit again but will choose a day that is not very busy, maybe a weekday or a snow day !
If South Indian cuisine is not your thing then this is not the place for you.
-Couldeatahorse.
We decided to try the Vegetarian Lunch Buffet at this popular place on Rt 27. When we pulled in found that the parking lot was full and it looked like most of them were for Dosa Grill. There was a small crowd milling around near the entrance. We decided to go in and toss our hat in the ring for a lunch buffet. We had a table in 5 minutes. No complaints there.
The place is spartan with basic furniture and not much else. All the tables were occupied and there were a few folks seated inside waiting their turn. There was line 12 souls deep to the buffet area. There did not seem to be enough plates or cups for liquids at the head of the buffet line. The 'idli' tray was empty. We loaded our plates with some 'medhu vadas', 'vegetarian noodles', spiced rice and some sambar. The sambar was good, vegetarian noodles could have done with less oil and the spiced rice had some chunks of caked up spice in it. The vadas were ok, not bad, not great either. The service guys seemed to be busy trying to keep pace with refilling food in the stations. I saw just three or four guys in the service area doing everything from taking orders to clearing plates, speak of multitasking ! It was clear that they did not have enough staff to service the crowds that were in.
They serve dosas as part of the Lunch Buffet menu, I asked for the Masala dosa which arrived after 10 mins. The dosa was nicely browned and crispy with an adequate amount of potato filling in it. It was a good dosa overall, not the best but it was served as part of a buffet meal I have no complaints.
We tried the other items on the menu - Beans poriyal, Paruppu Kootu, kozhambu, beetroot halwa, fruit custard, thayir saadam, Rasam and Aviyal. There were 3 items that stood out - the Rasam, beans poriyal, kootu and Aviyal were darn good, pretty comparable in taste and quality to any good restaurant in South India.
The naan - less said the better, beetroot halwa was extremely sweet, rich and heavy.The thayir saadam was ok.The fruit custard was canned fruit swimming in a viscous 'Brown and Polson' corn powder and milk solution.
Overall from the menu about half the items on the buffet stations were pretty good, the rest middling and a couple of bad ones. Service is almost non-existent. Crowded, busy and an average 10 minute wait time. The menu is primarily South Indian which is very different from the run-of-the-mill Indian restaurants (serving the customary red tandoor chicken, naan, cottage cheese in spinach).
I would visit again but will choose a day that is not very busy, maybe a weekday or a snow day !
If South Indian cuisine is not your thing then this is not the place for you.
-Couldeatahorse.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Review - Divine curry in Hillsborough, NJ
This place is tucked away in the bowels of Hillsborough, NJ. Located in Kingsbridge center near the public library/municipal offices.
This center isn't much of a happening place, most of the businesses seem to be closed or doing little business.
Decided to try the Lunch Buffet in this place. There was one other diner in the house when I popped in. The fella waiting on tables wanted to sell me his mango lassi and I declined. The buffet had about 5 vegetarian dishes and 2 chicken dishes and a lamb curry.
As appetizers they had some pakoras and bhajjis - which was quite a disgrace, they were oily and not fresh at all.
The red chicken a.k.a Tandoor chicken - was quite a disaster. It was leathery and a few hours old with no flavor or life in it. There were 2 rice dishes - biriyani offerings. They tasted similar one had chicken in it and the other had no chicken in it ! The biriyani dishes were prepared recently (inside of 3 hours !) I assumed and thus tasted much better. The rice was fluffy and the chicken was not dry.
Next the Lamb korma dish, I could tell that this dish was in and out of the freezer a couple of times and thawed more than once. The mutter chicken, which is chicken in butter and cream also had a similar tale to tell, had definitely made a few trips in and out of the cold storage. It was bland and heavy just the kind you would see in any middling/bad indian restaurant serving a lunch buffet.
The vegetable dishes did not fare much better except the cauliflower dish, which tasted like it was cooked the same day. The naan breads were ok, nothing out of the ordinary there.
For dessert there was the customary indian lunch buffet rice pudding and another dish called a 'fruit custard' that tasted like chunks of apple and grapes in sweetened cream.
Overall I was pretty disappointed, definitely would not go back again unless something changes.
--Caneatahorse.
This center isn't much of a happening place, most of the businesses seem to be closed or doing little business.
Decided to try the Lunch Buffet in this place. There was one other diner in the house when I popped in. The fella waiting on tables wanted to sell me his mango lassi and I declined. The buffet had about 5 vegetarian dishes and 2 chicken dishes and a lamb curry.
As appetizers they had some pakoras and bhajjis - which was quite a disgrace, they were oily and not fresh at all.
The red chicken a.k.a Tandoor chicken - was quite a disaster. It was leathery and a few hours old with no flavor or life in it. There were 2 rice dishes - biriyani offerings. They tasted similar one had chicken in it and the other had no chicken in it ! The biriyani dishes were prepared recently (inside of 3 hours !) I assumed and thus tasted much better. The rice was fluffy and the chicken was not dry.
Next the Lamb korma dish, I could tell that this dish was in and out of the freezer a couple of times and thawed more than once. The mutter chicken, which is chicken in butter and cream also had a similar tale to tell, had definitely made a few trips in and out of the cold storage. It was bland and heavy just the kind you would see in any middling/bad indian restaurant serving a lunch buffet.
The vegetable dishes did not fare much better except the cauliflower dish, which tasted like it was cooked the same day. The naan breads were ok, nothing out of the ordinary there.
For dessert there was the customary indian lunch buffet rice pudding and another dish called a 'fruit custard' that tasted like chunks of apple and grapes in sweetened cream.
Overall I was pretty disappointed, definitely would not go back again unless something changes.
--Caneatahorse.
Review - NarenJ Persian Grill in Warren, NJ
Went there on a Friday night, easy to locate. If you are travelling on 78E it's off the Warren exit.
The place was lightly crowded. They serve fresh bread that is essentially indian style naan with some cubes of cheese and some herbs. It was fresh and delicious. Ordered some mango lassi and another unsweetened buttermilk laden beverage. Both these beverages were good and the price was just right. Indian restaurants tend to overprice these beverages and mercilessly peddle them, charging 5 or 6 $ for a glass.
AFAIK - it shouldn't cost much to blend mango pulp from a can and yogurt !
Anyway, back to NarenJ - we ordered Lamb kebabs, a rice dish with chicken kebab and a chicken stew based dish.
The Kebab's were fresh and juicy, not overcooked, burnt or leathery...they tasted just right.
The rice was soft and fluffy with some orange zest, guessing it was basmati rice.
To enjoy the stew - it is probably an acquired taste....it has a tart, earthy, cooked for a long time taste to it.
I would think most western and asian palates might not take to it quickly, unless you are used to it.
Ohh.. BTW the falafel's were outstanding, freshly made and crunchy on the outside, little grainy on the inside.
Overall very enjoyable experience.... priced very reasonably.
Will definitely visit again. Recommend.
Sincerely.
- Couldeatahorse
NJ Eats reviews
On a whim decided to blog about my eatin experiences in NJ and all over....
Hope you will find these reviews useful.
Sincerely,
Couldeatahorse.
Hope you will find these reviews useful.
Sincerely,
Couldeatahorse.
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