Thursday, June 5, 2014

First Ever Restaurant Review: Saffron

Some friends of mine recently traveled to South Asia. They got a big group of us together to try an Indian restaurant in Madison called Saffron. I was so excited to try it, and it definitely didn't disappoint.
Sidebar-I've never reviewed a restaurant before. I have zero clue what I'm doing. Am I supposed to rate this thing? Like 3 out of 5 carrots? Who decides these things? I wish there were rules. 

Our party had 11 adults and 3 kids under 3, so we weren't the easiest table ever.  We started with bread-Cheese Naan, Paneer Naan, and Garlic Naan. I thought I would like the garlic version the best because let me tell you-I LOVE garlic. I generally double what any recipe calls for without even thinking about it. I can never have enough.
Except on Naan.
The Garlic Naan had raw garlic on it, which is an altogether different flavor that sauteed or roasted garlic. It's much sharper and spicier. Not my favorite.
The Cheese and Paneer tasted pretty similar to me, and were both great. Go with the Cheese Naan-everyone, even the pickiest eater at the table that didn't order an entree, liked it. We ended up getting extra baskets of it.

For my entree, I ordered Chicken Curry-mild (you can order anything with curry mild, medium, or spicy). I thought it was delicious! They served me a beautiful plate of basmati rice, which I can't WAIT to try and recreate now. It had flecks of brightly colored herbs in it, and I could've just eaten a whole plate of it plain! Then I spooned my chicken curry on top of it and ate until I couldn't eat anymore! It was exactly what I wanted-plenty of curry flavor with no heat. The mild was perfect! As full as I was from that, I still made room to sample some of my friends' entrees too:

Chicken Tikka Masala- My friend Laurie ordered this medium. It was the best thing I tried there. She kept dipping her naan in the deep orange sauce she had left in the bowl!

Lamb Shish Kebab-This was the only food on the table everyone didn't love. It came out on a sizzling pan like fajitas, but the flavor and texture on the lamb were very odd. If you're thinking you are ordering skewered chunks of lamb meat, you aren't.  Don't get this.

We had a very sweet team of waitresses. They were patient with our crazy table and our dozens of questions. My meal was about $15 before tip. Worth every penny!  I will definitely be visiting Saffron again. My recommendation is to go with the Tikka Masala! I absolutely will be ordering it on my second visit

I give it 4 out of 5 carrots or something less cheesy..stars just seem so overdone.The only thing that could've improved was service time. We had a reservation or I wouldn't have even thought about it taking a little while to feed that cray cray group.

PS You probably already know, but you're gonna want to wash all of your clothes immediately. The smell of curry sort of sticks with you. I wouldn't wear anything dry clean only.

1 comment:

  1. Awesome. I haven't been here yet but I keep hearing good things. Will have to try it soon!

    Also, I'm making it my goal to be your most frequent commenter. So far I'm definitely winning. :)

    ReplyDelete