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| - As an ethnic not-Indian-in-any-way, I may not be qualified to give a fully-encompassing review of Indian cuisine, but I know what I like.
Over the past two years I've been on a journey trying to explore all the best Indian eateries Montreal has to offer, and contrary to some of the previous reviews, this place is not it, in my opinion.
I ordered the Vegetarian Thali which comes with a choice of 2 curries; I chose Shahi Paneer (cheese in cream sauce) and Daal (lentils), and I asked for no rice or salad so they gave me an extra naan.
Shahi Paneer is my guilty pleasure when it comes to Indian food; it's basically Indian cottage cheese (paneer) cut into cubes, cooked in a cream sauce (usually the butter chicken sauce) (shahi). Yummm!
Daal is lentils cooked in onions, ginger, garlic, and tomato curry. I'm not a super lentil lover, but I like to try to have at least a few vegetables :-P.
Usually I get my balance of rich, creamy, delicious Shahi Paneer, and more savoury, healthy Daal. Unfortunately, this time I was disappointed by both. The Daal was spicy but not overly so, so far so good, but there was no real substance to the flavour. The texture reminded me of over-boiled vegetables, just mushy and tasteless. The Shahi Paneer, on the other hand, had none of the creaminess I've come to expect, and instead reminded me of the texture of ketchup.
I was really glad I didn't go for the rice and salad after this, and was looking forward to the naan, but as soon as I saw it, warning bells started going off in my head. I'm guessing due to the cramped quarters, they don't have room for a real tandoor oven. The naan was really thin, and had a bad taste of oil that I've had before with store bought naan. I'm pretty sure it was warmed up on a pan.
I finished with some Kulfi for dessert, this was also store bought, but at least the quality was decent.
The price of the entire meal was $13, which is perfectly reasonable, but I can say I've had far superior meals at other Indian restaurants for the same price.
Namasté looks cozy, but also quite cramped, and I really enjoyed the decor, but sadly the gustatory experience left me wanting. I'm rounding up 2.5 stars to 3, because it wasn't *bad*, just disappointing.
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