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| - Well, I had high hopes for this restaurant. I wanted to love it. I really did. Its right down the street from my pad. But, unfortunately, the restaurant is suffering from an identity crisis. I guess I was suprised to find that KJ"s curry bowl had a variety of foods that did not scream "curry". I came at 3 pm, so I'm not sure if I got a lunch menu or a dinner menu. The curry was on the back page which is surprising. Then, there was an array of other ethnic cuisines---too many to be cohesive. There is gumbo, burritos, quesadillas, chicken curries, stirfries, teriyaki bowls, etc. Needless to say it was a real variety.
We started with a chicken satay with peanut sauce. Then, my mom ordered a cheese quesadilla and I ordered chicken curry (medium).
The satay:
pros--- had a great thai peanut sauce (although i would like a bit more sweetness to balance out the soy sauce flavor--maybe a tad bit of honey or brown sugar?)
cons---oh wow. the chicken was awful. its thigh meat, that has a weird aftertaste. I would suggest a marinade for the meat if they are going to cook it like that---something odd that left a bad taste in my mouth kept me from eating more than one piece. We left the other meat to rest and ate the salad (hungrily) with the sauce.
The quesadilla: well how can you screw this up? they did a good job of making a yummy four cheese quesadilla and i appreciated the queso dipping sauce.
The Chicken Curry:
pros--- the sauce is fantastic! I wish KJ's would highlight these types of things instead of having such an immense menu.....in fact, i would suggest a satay with the sauce they used for the curry! Yumm. The flavors of the curry really were something to be coming for. Also loved that they gave a brown rice and white rice option.
cons--unfortunately the chicken was the problem again. Still the odd thigh meat that doesnt taste quite right (although admittedly tasted better drowning in the gravy). I would say that if they would use a better cut of meat and threw in some vegggies (maybe mushrooms? bellpeppers or cauliflower), it would taste more varied and look much more appetizing. The $10 price tag on the chicken curry was WAY too much for the small portion I had. I would suggest a tag of $6.99 at most.
For a treat, the chef sent us some yummy mango ice cream! that was nice!
I guess what I think is important and one of the most important things is that a restaurant needs to have a cohesive menu and have an identity. KJ's leaves you wanting to know who they are appealing to. I would suggest this restaurant do what they do best! SRILANKAN cuisine. Not louisiana gumbo or burritos. No where in Madison is there a place you can get AUTHENTIC sri lankan food.
They would be better suited to have less to choose from on their menu, better quality ingredients, better prep (marinating chicken satay for example can help with thigh meat), get rid of four of the five cuisine types listed, and some little tweaks to make presentation more restaurant appealing.
Five main dishes that are winners would be all that would keep me coming back. Trust in the quality of good meat and some good curry!
We would love to have another curry joint to go to and places like Sa bai thong can show you how good curry can appeal to many! don't need to sell out to too many people to get a following. The star was the gravy and that is the eastern vibe KJ's should continue with!
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