London Sizzler. A turn for the worst in 2008.

Perhaps it was our raving review of this place that has led to their smashing success? In any case, their success and popularity seem to have come at a cost: SERVICE! Ghopaul and I have never actually walked out of a restaurant before, but last night, our group of eleven diners, walked out of London Sizzler after waiting nearly 2 hours for our food. To add insult to injury (or rather, hunger), the group next to us who had ordered their food after we did was served first. The unapologetic response of the wait staff and the management further fanned our hunger-induced fury.

Alas, their success has gone to their heads!

The utter disappointment of last night's experience was coupled with the enormous embarrassment that Ghopaul and I felt towards our friends and guests to whom we had raved on and on about the greatness of this restaurant!

Sadly, we must revise our review of London Sizzler. Unless you have the patience of Mother Theresa, I would stay away from this restaurant. And definitely, DO NOT TAKE COMPANY HERE!

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:

Cash

A slick movie with B-rated Bollywood stars about lost diamonds being pursued by hip, cool diamond thieves in Africa!

Hey, sounds kinda familiar? Once crowned as "the hidden jewel" among Indian restaurant in Houston, London Sizzlers too has been lost. We are officially stripping London Sizzler of that title. Perhaps Houston-diners will now have to search for a new hidden diamond. Or perhaps, this lost diamond will one day be recovered. But I wouldn't hold your breath!

Maharajah Restaurant & Party Hall

Yes, this is the same Maharajah that used to be located on Bissonnet. It is now conveniently located just down the street from Bollywood 6 Cinema on Hwy 6, making it the perfect pre-movie dinner spot! They're known for their excellent lunch buffets, but Ghopaul and I usually order the Maharajah Dinner for Two. It's more like dinner for FOUR! And at $29.95, it is probably the best Indian food bargain in town!

Maharajah Dinner for Two:
-Plate of chicken pokharas: These crispy strips of white meat chicken are coated with a savory, golden batter and fried to a crisp.
-Sizzling plate of chicken tandoori: The chicken is tender and full of flavor!
-A plate of yummy, fresh naan bread
-Your choice of goat or lamb curry, Ghopaul's favorite!
-Saag Paneer, which is creamy but not heavy, and has just the right balance of spices.
-Chicken Maharajah, which has a creamy, spicy tomato sauce-YUM!
-A generous plate of Pulao. Very fragrant and yummy!
-And even Gulab Jamun-the perfect ending to a fantastic meal!

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:

Monsoon Wedding

Like this movie, The Maharajah Restaurant is all about family, food, and coming together in celebration. The party hall adjacent to the regular restaurant provides an affordable and comfortable space for a bash. Though the setting is not as posh or elaborate as in the movie, one could easily imagine Alice and Dubey (a touching, side love story plot in the movie between the house keeper and the wedding planner) throwing a post-wedding celebration here! What it lacks in glamour and glitz, it more than makes up for with sincerity, relaxed atmosphere, and good food.

Why else would Ghopaul and Rani choose The Maharajah to host their post-matrimony celebration?

Maharajah Restaurant & Party Hall
3711 Hwy 6 S
Houston, Texas 77082
281.531.6644

Yatra

Yatra, the latest *hip* addition to Houston's Desi food scene, is less of a culinary *journey* than a road journey. Yatra sits smack in the middle of Downtown Houston, perhaps in an effort to distinguish itself from its Indian restaurant peers...or perhaps to avoid the usual Hilcroft diners. In any case, the prime real estate seems to translate to upscale prices and small, hip portion sizes. Neither of which I find appealing. But we'll let you judge for yourself. Here's the list of what we had:

Saag Paneer – Two words: greasy and bland.

Shrimp Vindaloo – apart from the small portions, this dish was quite good. Nice heat and spices and lots of tomato flavor.

Chicken Tikka Masala – The biggest disappointment of the night. It had the consistency of the tomato basil soup at La Madeline...but with peppers for added heat, but not much heat.

The Roganjosh and the Thai Chicken curry (which perhaps should have been a red flag) were both dull and bland.

I firmly believe that a sign of good Indian food when the food makes you sweat. Just a little bit. Here, not a bead of perspiration even on Gopaul's forehead.

Bottom line, Yatra is more about looking hip than about food. So if you're searching for great, authentic Indian food, you should probably journey on.

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi

Salman Khan + Goa = nice packaging, but there really isn't much else to this film. Pretty actress, beautiful beach, hip music, and yet another love triangle (this time with two guys interested in the same beautiful girl). None of the characters have much charm, Salman adds his usual greasiness, and the plot, well, it's rather unimaginative and hard to swallow.


Yatra Brasserie
706 Main Street
Houston, TX 77002

La Sani

The name of this restaurant (loosely) translates into “Like No Other”, and we can say without any hesitation that La Sani has disappointed like no other (so far).

We arrived during lunchtime on a Sunday and decided to try their buffet as our faux-blonde pigtailed waitress didn’t have much input as to what to recommend from the menu. As the buffet was not extensive, we decided to try a little bit of all the available foods. The $9.99/person lunch buffet was a strange mix of bad chinese food and oily pools of curries reminescent of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Here's what we found on the buffet:

Chicken Corn Soup – It’s egg drop soup with small chunks of chicken. Uninspiring.
Grilled Chicken Boti – A little on the cool side (temperature wise), this chicken had a nice black pepper tone to it. It was decent, but didn’t hold a candle to the chicken karahi (below).
Mutton Pulao – This rice dish had a good undertone of beef mutton which is cooked along with the rice. The rice made an excellent complement to the chicken dishes, but the mutton was much too gamey.
Chicken Karahi – The unexpected star of the buffet! Not overly cooked and very tender. Tasty, but greasy!
Nihari – While standing at the buffet, we asked one of the patrons about this dish: "Excuse me, is this beef?" "Yes, no wait. No. I think so." Not sure what to think, we went ahead and tried it. While this item was tender, it was unclear whether we were eating chunks of beef, lamb or goat.
Goat Keema (minced) – Very strong flavors of black pepper and coriander. Also doubles as a breath freshener.
Chicken Chow Mein – The taste was funky. Never mind that chicken chow mein is being served at a Pakistani restaurant… it just tasted wrong.
Aloo Bhujia – A greasy, fried potato dish that worked very well with the dry, cold chicken boti.
Chana Masala - Surprisingly mild and dull.
Naan - Warm and fresh, but unremarkable.
Fruit Trifle – A mysterious gelatinous goop consisting of canned fruit cocktail and an unknown substance.

We expected more from this one time 2003 Best of Houston Pakistani restaurant winner, but we were let down. The disappointment continued to the very end with their Lipton tea posing as chai.

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:
Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?
A C grade movie starring the greasy, over-rated Salman Khan who, despite his hunky looks or perhaps due to his hunky looks, can't seem to manage to break out of playing the same character over and over again. Here, Salman Khan plays a heart-throb heart doctor (* rolling my eyes * OH please! *) caught in a Bollywood-style love triangle. Like the disappointing buffet, I watched this film at Bollywood 6 Cinema feeling miserable and trapped til the end.

La Sani
9621 Bissonnet St
Houston, TX 77036
(713) 270-4040

London Sizzler

Hidden away on the side of a shopping center at the corner of Hillcroft and 59 (also called Southwest Freeway) is London Sizzler… one of the crown jewels of Indian Restaurants in Houston.

Rani and I (Ghopaul) have been going to London Sizzler since the early days of dating (we’re married now with seven lovely kids) and we’ve always enjoyed the excellent fare. For this experience, we invited a couple of our friends to join us and partake in a feast of food!

We started with an order of Mogo with chili sauce (on the side!) that was very good and quickly inhaled. Next, we ordered Bombay Nachos, which were decent, but we struggled to find anything "Bombay" about them. They were just regular nachos with tandoori-style chicken on top.

Undeterred, we ordered chicken puri, which was savory and not too spicy. Here, the puri was the size of a corn-tortilla, and you end up eating it pretty much like a soft taco. This too went very quickly so we ordered the shrimp puri. Again, excellent appetizers that seemed to disappear before the plate had a chance to cool down.

From there, our main course arrived:
Saag Paneer - Perfectly creamy and delicately spicy. We really like their version of Saag Paneer because it is lighter than the usual North Indian fare.
Chicken Samosas - We got two orders so all four of us could try one. Nice crunch, not greasy. Could have eaten another batch of four!
Lamb Kebab Roll - Basically, this is a shawarma without many of the pickled veggies that the traditional shawarma features. Still, it’s a nice twist and makes for a great addition to our meal.
Tandoori Naan - Tasted fresh and light.
Masala Chai- Our favorite ending to a lovely, spicy meal.

For drinks, we enjoyed the excellent selection of beers on tap such as Boddingtons (Manchester), Newcastle Brown Ale (Newcastle – duh!), Stella Artois (Belgian). Plus, London Sizzler features lots of great music from all the Bollywood hits as well as a separate space for watching sports and a traditional bar room in the back along with well maintained fish tanks.

Our total tab for all four people was $90.54. Quite a bargain, right?!

On a side note, here is a list of dishes we usually get and HIGHLY recommend:

Pili Pili: A unique fiery blend of spices with East-African influence, pili pili is served on a sizzling plate, and is perhaps their signature dish. Available with chicken, shrimp, or lamb (our favorite), this dish is not for the weak hearted or the sissy-stomached. Even for veteran spice-lovers like myself who have endured years of kimchee training, this dish will make you sweat!

Masala Sizzler: A notch below the Pili Pili in spiciness, the Masala Sizzler is our second favorite! But don't let its second place rank fool you - it is spicy, and it is gooooood! Available with chicken, lamb, shrimp or fish (our favorite!)

Bhindi Bhaji: This fried okra dish is one of the best in Houston. It's a perfect balance of slimy-goodness and savory spices with a touch of tomato!

Chicken Tandoori: I (Gohpaul) use this dish as my litmus test for Indian restaurants, and I am pleased to report that London Sizzler gets high marks on the Tandoori. For meat lovers, try The London Sizzler... it's a great way to sample all of their Tandoori dishes and isn't too spicy for the uninitiated.

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ~ Featuring the magical on-screen couple, Kajol and Sharukh Khan, the bulk of the movie takes place in ....**LONDON** of course! This star-studded film about a family torn apart by love, separated by a few continents, is filled with sassy dance numbers and great Bollywood music. While the movie is young, hip and fresh, it still focuses on family values...kind of like London Sizzler, which has a young, hip feel to the place, but totally family-friendly. Don't forget to count the number of times the Heroine changes her costume in the dance score!

London Sizzler
6690 Southwest Freeway
Houston, TX 77074
713-783-2754

Eastern Grill

Dubbed by its regulars as "The Muslim McDonald's" this cozy hole in the wall eatery serves up Halal burgers alongside authentic South Asian dishes. However, finding this hidden gem may be a task for those not familiar with the Alief area of Houston.

Okay, okay. So Eastern Grill is Pakistani and not Indian, but before 1947, it didn’t matter. After a quick scan of the menu, the distinction between the two countries was blurred further with all-American dishes like the full pound hamburger (Halal of course)! So we thought to try a little bit of everything.

Our lunch started with an order of their egg rolls, which featured a wonderful twist. On the outside, they looked like regular egg rolls, but inside, they were stuffed with cabbage, carrots, chicken, and spices - different and very tasty. The tamarind-based sauce was tart, spicy and sweet.

Next we ordered a half-pound cheese burger with everything on it. We requested the "spicy version" which adds chopped jalapeños on top of the burger. The meat patty was thick and tasted as good as something your Uncle Bob would make on the grill in the backyard. Ghopaul thinks they used an onion soup mix to give the burgers their backyard bar-be-cue flavor. We were told that the full pound burgers are served on a special large bun!

We also ordered the enormous $4.99 platter of chicken briyani, which was flavorful, spicy and not greasy like the usual Pakistani fare.

The meal was topped off with a wonderful chai that was right on! The chai featured such bold tea flavor that we didn't miss the masala. The total bill for our feast (we ended up taking a large portion of the chicken briyani home) was about $11 and worth every penny.

Neither one of us could believe that Eastern grill has been around for four years… and they cater! The owner told us that they recently served 500 plates of briyani to a party at Funplex, which explains the huge VAT of rice we saw in the back.

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:
Where’s The Party Yaar? ~ No further explanation is needed to justify this pairing with their burgers, fries, and goat briyani!

Eastern Grill
6788 Synott Road
Houston, Texas 77083
(281) 575-8185

Pavani

Ghopaul and I (Rani) had been curious to try Pavani's as it had been recommended by several of our friends. So one night we braved the spaghetti bowl of roads around HWY 59 & BWY 8, crisscrossing various feeder roads, until we found ourselves standing in front of – what looked liked – a very closed Pavani’s.

However once we entered, the aroma of curry leaves and mustard seeds welcomed us to stay. It was one of the "ahhhhhh" moments… like when a bright light suddenly shines down on you while a chorus of angels sings above. As we walked into the main dining area we discovered an impressive dinner buffet of mainly Southern Indian food that stretched along the entire length of the back wall!

Daal fry, spicy okra, fried potatoes, sambar, idly, pokora, briyani, chicken tandoori, chicken tika masala, goat curry, and on and on!

The food was excellent, especially the fried potatoes and the daal! The simple vegetarian dishes were definitely Pavani’s strongest suits. The naan was fresh and flavorful and the Tandoori chicken was perfectly cooked and not dry. Pavani’s also featured a couple of great Indian beers to complement the meal.

With all of these strong points, it was hard to find something less than stunning on the buffet. Two items seemed to be lacking: the chicken tika masala was too heavy with cream and the ground lamb dish seemed to have lost its flavor… or perhaps the lamb flavor was lost among the other spices of the dish.

But most of all, we loved the unpretentious, warm atmosphere at Pavani's. Their focus was definitely on serving up good, fresh food. And the matronly woman in the sari working the front just added to the authenticity of this eatery!

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge ~ A romantic anecdote of second-generation Indians living in Britain who are strongly attached to the traditional values of Indian culture.

Pavani Indian Cuisine
10554 Southwest Fwy
Houston, Texas 77074
(713) 272-8259