| It’s an old cliché that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and apparently, you can’t judge a restaurant by its outside. Tucked inconspicuously in a large retail area in Falconridge, a co-worker and I spent 15 minutes looking for East Indian restaurant and sweet house Nirvana one weekday at lunch, before we finally had to call them to get directions.
What was hard to find and easy to miss on the outside did not prepare me in any way for what we discovered inside. I’ve never had the opportunity to visit India, never mind step inside a sultan’s castle. Bombay is the casual contemporary to Nirvana’s elegant fine dining.
The only word to properly describe the inside of Nirvana is palatial. From the eight-metre ceilings with carved domes and trumpets to the rich, opulent tapestries and brightly coloured sari fabric that adorns the walls and booths to the shining marble floors. The restaurant’s proprietors have spent time and energy turning this large space (it can accommodate up to 410 guests) into a virtual shrine to Indian culture.
The space is constructed with slatted walls to give the appearance of both private areas and open spaces. Heavy, dark wood furniture and linens enhance the rich aura, while elaborate touches like a working fountain in the centre of the room and a large intricate chandelier only enhance the feeling of luxuriousness. Indian artwork, paintings of royal figures and blue glass vases with gilded trim add texture to the room.
Since it was a weekday lunch, we chose to eat the classic buffet ($14.95). The price is slightly high for the area but the setting makes up for it. Our server brought us a plate of moist and hot leavened naan bread to start, and we headed up to the marble hutch where the dishes are laid out.
There were a decent number of selections from salads and chutneys, to entrées and desserts. The bhajia, vegetable pakoras, are coated in crispy lentil flour and make a great starter. Coated and cooked in hot spices, the juicy tandoori chicken is a bright pinkish red colour. The lamb curry is a tasty stew with small chunks of tender meat. The ever-popular butter chicken was featured, but I found it to be quite bland, with very little spice added to the tomato sauce, and the chicken wasn’t cooked in the tandoori style, as I prefer.
There were a couple of unique looking dishes like the eggs masala – intact hard-boiled eggs covered in a spicy sauce. The vegetable dishes were the most popular with diners, like the creamy matter paneer, peas cooked with Indian cheese and the hearty spiciness of the aloo gobi adraki, a well-cooked potato and cauliflower mixture in ginger and other spices. Overall, the buffet could have been kept a little hotter, but it was well stocked over the lunch hour.
From the sweets selection I enjoyed a rich, sugary butter square and the restaurant’s signature kheer, rice pudding with pistachios. It was a little over-indulgent for lunch, but it was Friday, so I felt deserving.
As we paid our bill, our server introduced himself as one of the restaurant’s owners. He explained that if you were eating in India, you could eat the same dish at a hundred different homes and each one would be a little bit different. These subtle differences in the recipes have been brought to North America and that is why each Indian restaurant does things a little bit differently.
He also expressed plans to offer unique appetizers and bring more music into the restaurant for an evening lounge appeal. Be sure to snag one of the semi-private areas with low booth seating, oversized cushions and great East Indian tapas made fresh for a royal treat.
Nirvana is located at 1009-5075 Falconridge Boulevard N.E.; phone, 590-9797. |
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