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I've been on a quest to discover my favorite Indian lunch buffet in Madison, and I think I found it. Out of the places I've been to, OM provides the second most variety (Swagat has an even bigger spread), but it wasn't by much. Om still has quite the selection of curries, breads, pakora, biryani, chutneys and things that go well with sambar. You can really try a huge variety of flavors and textures at the buffet if you've got the room for it. If things get too spicy for you, OM also has a variety of desserts including gulab jamun, the sweet fried dough balls soaking in honey and saffron that seem to be a standard at Indian lunch buffets.
In addition to the food being pretty good, the atmosphere is also nice. The place is clean and modern interior with cream-colored walls and dark wood furnitures, but what's really great is the open kitchen. There's something about watching the chefs having fun and applying a variety of techniques with lots of spices that gets me appetized and ready to go. To me, this is where OM wins out over the other buffets.
Personally, I found the buffet food to not be spicy enough for my pain-loving, masochistic tongue, so I got some biryani for take out on a separate occasion. I ordered the house special biryani at maximum spiciness. This was great! It was tangy and spicy with every meat under the sun including steak, goat, lamb, shrimp and eggs. The complex spiciness was mellowed out with refreshing coriander, lime, and raita. Another thing that stood out to me was the shrimp; they were jumbo, sweet, and cooked to perfection. They definitely didn't throw in some pre-peeled and pre-cooked stuff.
While I still miss going to Indian restaurants on Devon in Chicago, I love eating from OM, and they'll be my Indian restaurant of choice going forward.
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