Friday, July 23, 2010

Cafe Nirvana - Charlotte, NC

Café Nirvana is located in a small shopping area on Old 521 just inside the North Carolina border. It is a medium sized restaurant serving Indian cuisine, including a lunch buffet served on Saturdays and Sundays.

We arrived for the buffet on a Sunday, the place was packed and we waited about 15 minutes for a table. I don’t mind waiting for tables in restaurants as long as I am given a reasonable time frame of the wait and am reassured they haven’t forgotten about me.

When we sat down in one of the booths located around the edge of restaurant, we were brought glasses of ice water and a basket of freshly baked naan bread. This bread is like a pita in texture but a little thicker and is delicious. We helped ourselves to the buffet, starting with a selection of fried delights such as samosas (fried pastries with filling), crispy pastry discs and a variety of dips and sauces to go with the naan.

Once we had worked our way through those, we returned to take our pick of entries which included a couple of different types of rice (one plain, one mixed with vegetables and spices) as well as a range of different curries, both vegetarian and including meats. My personal favorites were the chicken tikka masala, a slow cooked chicken a mild sauce along with the vegetable mix and the lamb curry. None of the sauces were particularly spicy; a common misconception with Indian cuisine and all had a lot of flavor.

We couldn’t leave without sampling the small range of desserts on offer. We tried a small selection including a fruit salad in a very light cream sauce, a small fried doughnut type dessert in light syrup and some kind of cake with was delicious.

This restaurant provides a great mix of authentic Indian dishes and for those who have not eaten a great deal of this genre I would highly recommend the buffet so you can try a little of everything. The desserts are worth saving room for.

I would also praise the staff who despite being very busy, were attentive and pleasant.

I give Café Nirvana 5 out of 5 stars.

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