This is my third attempt trying to write this post.
I don't know why it's so hard.
Normally it isn't.
But with these few dishes... somehow the words won't flow.
Could it be because I don't know the name of the restaurant where I had my meal at?
Or could it be that whilst I think there's a difference in taste between this butter chicken and other butter chickens, I cannot tell the actual reason why?
This is the place we came to after having a rather late lunch (elsewhere) in the afternoon.
And because we decided we'd rather have something light (but solid) instead of snacks and sandwiches, plain basmati rice, butter chicken and mutton soup became our thing.
I wish I knew the name of this place at Race Course Road.
By right I should have known, but for some complicated reason, goodness knows what, or why, despite looking at Google Maps up and down- perhaps I was too preoccupied or whatever- I cannot remember where it was we had this lovely meal.
The name of the restaurant might elude me, however, one thing that really sticks out (for me) about this place is just how homely it is, and how homecooked everything seemed to be.
Far from being made to feel like it had come out of a working kitchen, their dishes, their placemats, and even their crockery, made me feel like somebody's grandmother had just entered the kitchen and brought everything out for me.
It started with the pappadums- big solid crackers in a metal basket that we happily took a piece each, and, after we asked, they generously gave us two more.
After that came the soup, a rich, flavorful semi-clear concoction that had a big piece of bone, a couple cubes of meat, but with the roundedness rich on the tongue and the throat.
I pretty much liked the soup.
It's a little hard to describe, but unlike the thicker versions that we get at the Indian-Muslim stalls, this one was a little bit similar to how the Chinese do it- clear- with tiny wee bits of meat at the bottom of the bowl, vegetables floating about here and there, and a thin, sheer layer of oil right on top.
Best part of the meal, however, had to be the butter chicken and the plain basmati rice.
Butter chicken (alongside with palak paneer) has to be one of my happy favorites when it comes to Indian cuisine.
It's like a go-to; whenever we dont' feel like having mutton briyani or any other meat dish, we order the butter chicken.
And this dish generally never fails.
Sometimes it's a bit sweeter.
Sometimes it's a bit paler.
But for most of it the dish is delightful, satisfactory and fulfilling.
Here at this place the dish came served in a cute little square shaped dish.
At first I thought it looked rather small, but no, it wasn't.
It just was very compact, with a thick, saffron-colored gravy enveloping huge chunks of tender chicken pieces bobbing about inside.
I wish I could have finished the gravy.
But to finish the gravy, one has to have it with the plain basmati rice- and we were getting rather full.
So we decided to take the gravy little spoonful by spoonful, eating it bit by bit until we felt we had enough.
Maybe next time we'll try asking if we can take away the gravy along with us.
Then we'll have a box of butter chicken gravy, and a box of plain basmati rice for another meal another time, another day.