the wonderful world of veena.

16 September 2013

memphis eats: curry bowl.

If you know anything about my father, you know that he loves his Indian lunch buffets. He has literally followed cooks across the city and to different restaurants to maintain access to his favourite dishes. A few years ago, he discovered a new Indian restaurant on Hacks Cross called Flavors, and I swear he ate there every Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday for a solid 3 months. There was one dish in particular - the Andhra chicken curry - that he practically salivated over. As per usual, I was skeptical at first, because I refuse to believe there is any better place than my beloved India Palace in Midtown. He eventually convinced me to try it out, and I admit I was impressed, especially with the aforementioned Andhra chicken curry.

Fast forward to earlier this year, when he discovered his favourite waiter and his beloved Andhra chicken curry had disappeared from Flavors. The man didn't know what to do. Being a loyal customer, he continued to go to Flavors for lunch once a week, but it just wasn't the same. He eventually ascertained that the waiter had left over some business issues, and with him he took his wife and sister-in-law, the main cooks and the secret behind that mouth-watering curry.

After some digging, he found out that the "Coming Soon" Indian restaurant - also on Hacks Cross - was being opened by the long-lost waiter and his family. Did that mean the Andhra chicken curry would soon be back in his life? You bet it did. When Curry Bowl opened this summer, he was there within 2 weeks of its opening to partake in its splendor.

He has been there numerous times in the past few months, as have my mother and brother, but I somehow never made it. For one, I've cut back on my Indian food intake the last few months while I've been training for my race, and I've also been out of town a lot on the weekends, so we never got to meet.

Until yesterday.

Today is my father's birthday [he's 71!], so my mother and I took him out for lunch yesterday. We told him to choose the restaurant, and he chose Curry Bowl. Having never been there, I didn't know what to expect, other than this Andhra chicken curry that I keep mentioning [yes, it's really that good].

Well, I was definitely impressed. The restaurant itself is a nice, clean, open space with a variety of tables and booths and can probably seat about 80-100 people. It's run by a very sweet family who remember repeat customers and really make you feel at home.

And the food.

In addition to the Andhra chicken curry - which I like to mix with the chicken dum biryani and raitha - the vada, aloo gobi, naan, nilgiri chicken, 555 chicken [their take on chicken 65], and gulab jamun were all exceptional. I wish my appetite were bigger, because the veg pulao, daal, curd rice, pickle, and kheer all looked great as well, and if I liked jelabi, I would say it looked pretty good, too. Definitely gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up from me.

And after some perusing of their website and their online menu, I discovered that they serve thalis after 3.30pm. While it hurts my soul to think of spending $15 on a thali, I'm almost desperate enough to do just that. And if the lunch was any indication, the thalis will be pretty awesome.

The deets:
Location: 4141 Hacks Cross, immediately south of where it goes under 385.
Parking: it's in a little shopping center, so there's a parking lot.
Serves: open daily from 8.30am - 10.30pm / breakfast from 8.30am - 10.30am, lunch from 11am - 3pm, thali, dinner, etc. 3.30pm - 10.30pm. lunch is a buffet, everything else is a la carte. they also cater, do to-go orders, and will rent the space for parties or other occasions.
Portion sizes: I have only been for the lunch buffet, so I'm not sure about the portions, but generally at Indian restaurants you can split one curry between two people, so I would assume it's the same.
Prices: the lunch buffet is $9.99 per person during the week and $11.99 per person on the weekends.
Methods of payment: accepts cash and credit.

Definitely go there if you get a chance, and try to see if the owner's granddaughter [she's about 3 or 4] will talk to you. She refuses to speak to my father, but she started spouting off in Telugu to me. Seems like she's pretty cool.
woo pig.
xx

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