Narayanni's Restaurant

We received an uninspiring flyer in the mailbox today. I know, this is not unusual for anyone. But, this flyer was advertising the opening of a new Indian restaurant within walking distance of our house, we didn't have a plan for supper, and our usual cheap and mediocre takeaway Indian restaurant has recently closed its doors. All these events conspired, so off we went, in the rain to try a new place. Narayanni's Restaurant (10131 81 Avenue) is situated in a restored heritage building just off Whyte Avenue. They have done great things inside, and it looks like no expense was spared in doing the renovations and restoration. The floor tiles and front door caught my eye, and Steve noticed the updating done to the windows, while keeping original windows in place.

I have certain measures that I use to judge restaurants. One is the cleanliness of the washroom. They passed this with flying colours. Fresh bouquets of flowers decorated the vanity, and the water from the taps was so hot, that I think my hands got sanitized during the washing.

Being that it was the first night that they were open to the public, they had only the buffet available. At $16.95 per person, it was more than we had originally wanted to spend on dinner, but it seems that we can always make an excuse for a celebration meal! And with juice, salad, mains, dessert and chai included, it seemed reasonable enough to stay. It seemed that we may have been the only paying customers that evening, as everyone else had a rapport with the staff. There was a little girl who pointed at me and asked a server who I was. I guess she had only seen people she knew in the restaurant before. I introduced myself to her, and she to me, and I found out that the restaurant is named after her. Wow, what a way to make your granddaughter feel special!

When I asked our server for a tour of the dishes at the buffet, she gladly escorted us around the buffet. We learned that they cook solely South Indian cuisine, which lacks the cream based dishes (think butter chicken) and naan, but certainly does not lack flavour and a depth of spiciness that I have not encountered recently. The spice mixtures are made in house, the ingredients are locally sourced if possible and if I'm not mistaken, she said that the meat was free range and organic. Anyway, it was delicious. My favourite was the daal (lentil dish). Normally I'm not a huge fan, but this one was fantastic. There was a exotic combination of spices that I couldn't identify, and a richness and depth that I haven't tasted in daal before. The close second was the lamb curry. It did strike me as odd that there was greek salad on the buffet, and I found it quite salty.

For dessert, the in-house pastry chef had a tray of goodies to choose from. They were pretty, but too sweet for me (I guess that's why they are called sweets). The dessert that was new to me is called sojji. It is like lightly spiced cream of wheat, I thought I detected a hint of rosewater. It went well with the unsweetened chai to finish off dinner.

What a treat! We will be back again, hopefully they will be serving from a menu. Then perhaps I won't eat as much... :)