Text 3863, 85 rader
Skriven 2013-08-23 15:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: royal taj 8/1 55
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Nancy B was coming through town, so the Shipps arranged for us
all to meet for dinner at the Trip Advisor #1 restaurant in
Columbia, the Royal Taj, where they had been for lunch buffet
but not for the more formal dinner service.

I got picked up at Burtonsville, the usual, which I'd gotten to
from Dulles by an assortment of trains and buses, and off we
went. The restaurant is in the same mall as Jason's, of which
Gail and Dale are fond, and the burger joint where they had
once upon a time taken the Sacerdotes. A happening place. The
Taj is a largish square room, maybe 50% larger than your average
neighborhood Indian restaurant, but otherwise pretty cookie
cutter - carved wood, your dark exotic Asian atmosphere, etc.

On this date the restaurant was pretty full with a party that
took up most of the main room; we were shunted into a small
subsidiary room right near the entrance (separated by a wooden
screen) and the bar. The service was not damaged by the large
party, because they were accommodated buffet-style, so there
were plenty of staff to attend to us and the other diners in
our area.

Tasty pappadums with the trilogy started us off: good.

We started with a mixed appetizer platter - veggie samosas,
some onion bhaji, and other fried things, all of which came
from the same Indian food factory and tasted pretty good
though on the standard side - augmented with another two
lamb samosas, probably the best thing, but then I am partial
to lamb.

Nancy had masala chai; I had a big Kingfisher to myself; the
Shipps contented themselves with water.

It took a little while to decide what to get from the rather
extensive menu. Dale and Gail went for the chicken methi,
something one doesn't usually see; Nancy's and my choices
were more common; hers the mixed tandoori and mine my staple
of baingan bharta.

The methi dish is a rather mild stewy plate seasoned abundantly
with fenugreek leaves; I liked it quite a lot, despite its
being made with white meat. That's because I had sauce and no
chicken.

I wasn't super thrilled by the tandoori, finding the meats
undermarinated and on the dry side. A seekh kebab (skinless
lamb sausage with cumin, coriander, turmeric) was tasty though
not very juicy; there were two kinds of chicken, neither of
which thrilled me; and I didn't taste the shrimp. Plus in my
opinion it was rather overpriced.

Baingan bharta was standard, a vegan version with peas: that's
to say good, no surprises. Luckily we'd kept the onion relish,
which livened up things a bit.

Good but very plain basmati rice.

We ate well, and I'd be happy to go back but wouldn't make the
special trip. Though we were stuffed to the gills, the management
came by with a free dessert of gulab jamun in an all-too-neutral
syrup. I figure the party in the big room, which had left by
this time, had not eaten much of it, so it was being given away
instead of thrown away. Good choice, but it would have been
better if the syrup had been flavored with cardamom, or cinnamon,
or rosewater, or virtually anything at all.

Back at the house Dale opened the Far Eastern Shore Winery Silver
Swan that had been forgotten for the picnic. Though billed as an
ice wine, it was less concentrated and less sweet than a real ice
wine and would have been overmatched by the Caywood. By itself,
it was much more approachable, and one could imagine drinking a
whole glass of it, whereas a thimbleful of the Caywood sufficed
for most tastes. The Far Eastern had pleasant pineapple and mango,
lychee, and possibly melon notes; it was semi-sticky and moderately
sweet. Moderate finish of boiled sweet and generic grapiness. 

It was late, and Nancy and I spent the night at the Shipp B&B&L&D:
midday next day, she went southward toward xxcarol's, and Dale and
Gail got me to BWI, whence I ended up going God knows where.
Boston, actually.

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