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I live and work near the Addison area which means I often find myself driving up and down Belt Line Road searching for something to yummy AND DIFFERENT to eat all the time. A girl can only take so many trio salads from Corner Bakery. Nothing wrong with Corner Bakery, for the record.
Moving forward, I am always excited to learn about new restaurants in my hood that I can try out for lunch or dinner, especially when it’s a cultural experience like the new Bombay Sizzlers. They have another restaurant in Irving, but this location has only been open for a few weeks and also offers authentic Mumbai-style dishes.
One thing I particularly enjoy doing is exposing friends to new culinary experiences. It gives them a chance to try something different and gives me an opportunity to see how their “virgin” palate responds to the different spices and flavors. So, I invited my co-worker, who has never tried Indian food, to sample Bombay’s menu.
During lunch, customers have the choice of either the buffet or they can order from the lunch menu. I tend to always opt for a buffet because it obviously offers more choices.
The buffet was somewhat small in size, but included options for appetizers, lunch items and finally desert. I piled served a little bit of everything on my plate – Chicken Manchaurian Dry, mix veggie pokado, chicken blyrani, Chicken Malai Methi and jasmin rice.
My favorite item was definitely definitely the Chicken Manchaurian Dry and the Paneer Masala, which prompted my return to the buffet two times. I sopped up the sauce with the provided garlic-butter naan. My coworker was also raving about the same dishes and was fascinated by the tofu-like texture of the paneer. And then I realized, I mean remembered, that paneer is cheese. Whoops.
The former dish perplexed me a smidge because it tasted like General Tsos chicken. Yes, the same chicken you order from Chinese restaurant. So, I brought my inquiry to Chef Vishesh Shah who told me that it was normal for Indian food to include spices from other Asian countries such as China and Vietnam. Ah! That makes perfect sense.
In addition to the buffet items, Chef Shah also served us one of the restaurant specialties Chicken Tikka Sizzle. It indeed came to our table sizzling like an order of fajitas. The chicken and vegetables were very moist, but somewhat lacked the intense flavor punch I desired. So, I squeezed a little bit of lime on top hoping it would brighten the flavor.
For everyone’s favorite part, fresh fruit, sooj halwa and a mango custard are served on the buffet for dessert. The sooj halwa is a cake-like dessert topped with nuts and dried fruit. The cardamon provided so much warmth and spice to the dessert and was the perfect finale to my Indian lunch. I thought it was the most interesting dish I had tried in a while until the chef brought out rose petal and pistachio ice cream.
I know what you’re thinking. What about the lactose intolerance? I truthfully was just going to let my coworker sample the ice cream as I was afraid the paneer had already set me over the edge, but when I saw her face, I couldn’t help but pick up my spoon and try just a smidge.
Whoa. Before I could even taste the ice cream, the rose smell just overcame me and it tasted like Valentine’s Day exploded in my mouth, sweet but incredibly aromatic. My palate was tiny bit overwhelmed. It turns out that real rose petals are infused with sugar to make the ice cream. Talk about creative. I don’t foresee myself ever ordering a big bowl of that rose petal ice cream, but I would definitely encourage everyone to at least try it once. Why stop to smell the roses when you can eat them?
Bombay Sizzlers had only been open for a few weeks when I ate my lunch, but dozens of patrons had already found their way to the restaurant, and I can see why. The food is good, ambiance is welcoming and service is friendly. The lunch buffet is $10.95 during the week, $12.95 on weekends, and they are also open for dinner. And if you’re saying to yourself, “of course you found it to be interesting Vicky D, you’re a food nerd” – even my coworker left full and happy with her experience. Mission accomplished.
(Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary weekend lunch buffet in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.)
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