Back at Amaya

After first going to Amaya the Indian Room back in March I've returned twice, the second time being this past Saturday. This time I went with Taku and Gabe. It had recently been both my and Taku's birthdays. So it was another excuse to get together, eat some great food and catch up.

I really like this restaurant. The food is absolutely delicious. For me, it's a bit on the pricey side. But the $40 Groupon I purchased softened the blow.

My favourites include the Lasooni cauliflower starter (I know, it sounds weird, but it's great), the curried coastal fish and the organic butter chicken. We had all those plus the Laal Maas (spicy lamb curry) with a basket of naan and side of Basmati rice.

It was good to meet up with Taku again. It seems I only see him once a year on our birthdays. Other than that we keep up-to-date by following each others Facebook feeds. That's how it goes in this technological age I suppose.

Amaya - The Indian Room (Round 2)

After going to the Amaya The Indian Room the first time I was impressed enough to go again. Though, the $40 Groupon I bought for $20 was added incentive.

Learning my lesson from our first visit I made early reservations for 5:30 on Saturday. The last time I went with my friends we had 7:00 p.m. reservations, but were asked if we could push them back to 8:30 (though we weren't actually seated until around 9:00).

I asked my friend to meet me at my condo at 5:00 which would give us plenty of time to drive over and find parking. I must admit I totally lost track of time during the day. When my friend called me to say she was downstairs at my condo I was still over at my parents' house thinning out the lilac bushes in the backyard.

Needless to say I rushed home as quickly as possible making it there by around 5:20. I dropped my friend off at the restaurant at around 5:30 and went to look for street parking. So we were pretty much on time I'd say. Though I wasn't in so much of a relaxed state upon my arrival.

The restaurant wasn't full. In fact, besides us, there were only two or three other tables taken. I overestimated how busy they'd be I guess. Perhaps a 6:00 p.m. reservation would have sufficed. Next time then... I still have one more Groupon to use.

Just like last time, dinner was great. We decided to try some new dishes. We got Lasooni Cauliflower  ($8.00) as a starter along with Coastal Fish Curry ($16.00) and Punjabi Chicken (($16.00) as mains. We also got one order of Basmati Rice ($3.00) and one piece of plain Roti ($2.50).

The cauliflower dish was on the sweet side. I liked it. It was different. I thought the fish curry was quite tasty. The Punjabi Chicken was too spicy for my tastes (though the server only rated it medium spicy). Next time I'd get two orders of rice. I think it's a better value than the one piece of plain Roti.

Amaya - The Indian Room

My friends and I had dinner at Amaya - The Indian Room on Bayview, south of Eglinton on Saturday. One of them had a Groupon voucher for the place.

It's not too far from where I live. I was going to walk, but one of my friends picked me up on her way down.

Even in the dead of winter it's a busy restaurant. Especially on a Saturday. We tried to make reservations for 7:00, but were pushed back to 8:30. We actually didn't get seated until closer to 9:00.

It's fairly nice looking inside. The north wall is covered with unfinished planks of dark wood. It gives it a rustic look which contrast the modern fixtures.

We ordered Laal Maas - spicy, spring lamb curry with tomato and onions, $17; Organic Chicken in British-style tikka masala, $19; Chicken Biryani a mixed rice dish made with spices, rice and chicken; and Saag Paneer - spinach, mustard and shishito peppers with paneer, $12; with a basket of Naan, $9. The food was delicious.

Dinner at India's Taste Restaurant

My friend and I went to India's Taste restaurant for dinner on Sunday. It's an all day buffet restaurant located on Denison Street, east of Woodbine Avenue. Normally Indian restaurants, if they offer buffets, only have them at lunchtime. So this was kind of cool.

It was my first time eating there. My friend had been before though. It's not a fancy place; far from it. No matter... I had a hankering for Indian food, so satisfying that need was all I cared about.

We arrived kind of late - at a few minutes after 9:00 p.m. The sign on the door said the restaurant closed at 10:00 so we figured we had enough time. After all, what restaurant shuts its doors right at the stated time on the door?

The restaurant was quite busy when we took our seats. I guess it's a popular place. It's not a big restaurant. The selection at the buffet was alright. Now, even though I like Indian food, I don't know anything about it. I have no idea what anything is. Normally I just try a bit of everything and see how it goes.

My friend and I filled up our first plates with food and returned to our seats to eat. I'm normally a slow eater so it took me a fair amount of time to finish what I had. My philosophy is - dining is a pursuit to be savored and enjoyed. It's a leisure activity.

While I was filling my second plate with food my friend came up to me and said the server came up to her as mentioned the buffet would be closing in five minutes. Panicking we rushed to fill a few plates with food and dessert before it all disappeared. We figured if we had our food we could sit and enjoy the rest of our meal. Well... it didn't exactly turn out that way.

Not long after patrons started getting up and leaving (I assume they were regulars who knew what was going on). The staff then started cleaning up and putting chairs on the tables. We figured our time there was now very limited. That's when we started stuffing everything on our plates into our mouthes as quickly as we could.

Sure enough the restaurant closed right at 10:00. The lights were turned out and everyone was ushered out to the parking lot. We finished most of what we took, but being short on time didn't completely clean our plates. Both of us had sore tummies from stuffing ourselves in such a short period of time.

I believe the restaurant could have (or should have) opened a bit longer for it's patrons. I mean, who in their right mind closes right at the hour they say on the door? Next time we'll know... if we want to eat there we'd better arrive at least a couple of hours before closing.