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| - I visited here with my immediate family and grandparents who are visiting from India. The GPs were immediately taken by the name, wondering what the liberation from samsara and attaining moksha had to do with buffets. "Canadians throw around these terms carelessly," explained my parents.[1] They all snorted in a way that conveyed "we hope this place doesn't suck". Tough crowd.
Vedantically accurate or not, Nirvana is a spacious and well-decorated restaurant situated near Hurontario and Highway 401. It seems well-suited for groups; there were round tables that could easily accommodate eight or more people. And it's pretty opulent. There are sculptures and artwork galore. We snagged a circular table for six beneath a chandelier centred in a coffered octagonal ceiling. That's just how I roll.
We got the Executive Lunch Special ($13.99), which is simply malai kofta served in a briefcase. I'm kidding. Actually, the ELS is pitched as a "buffet at your table"; they bring you three dishes (specify vegetarian or meat), daal, raita (yogurt), a generous basket of naan, yellow rice, and galub jamun for dessert. This is perfect for the sedentary buffet-goer with poor decision-making skills. They just bring you some of their choices (which change frequently apparently), and it doesn't even take that long. Within minutes our table was covered with copper containers. To start there were vegetable fritters and boneless lime-chicken. The green-tinged chicken was a great start to the meal and there was a lot of it. I would recommend you try it with the brown chutney.
For the mains we got paneer makhni, aloo gobi, curry chicken as well as the aforementioned daal, rice (this was good), and naan. The consensus around the table was that everything was Fine. That's it. The dishes had a perceptible mix of flavours, but it wasn't a sensory explosion and certainly not an out-of-body religious experience. Spicy and mouth-watering this food most definitely was not.
Oh, and the galub jamuns were ovoid which is a dealbreaker for me.
That said, it's a pretty killer deal for a whackload of edibles and the service was very accommodating. I probably won't make a special trip out here, but if I happen to be in this (Godforsaken) portion of the GTA again, I'd stop by, especially with a group.
Obligatory Title Pun: Come as you are/as you were/as an ALOO GOBI.[2]
Menu Readability: I'm sure it's splendid, in that it's leather-bound and all that, but I actually forgot to look. (I was hungry, mkay?)
Need to mention: Even though it's not a buffet (more like a tonne of food at your table) they treat it as such and you cannot box any leftovers. Lame!
What this place teaches me about myself: I could be the brown Weird Al. (Weird Ali?)
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[1] I imagine it's the same as a Canadian finding a restaurant in India called Canuck T. McMapleSyrup's Hockey-Beer Em-pour-ium and Beaver Dam.
[2] Or: "Here we are now/entertain us/I want CHHOLE/and DAHI BARAS."
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