Indian beer

Curry in a hurry

3. Reviews (International)

Empress of India, Waterloo, Canada

Let me tell you, turnip tastes good curried. Sliced and cooked in a Jalfriezi-style with turmeric, onions and green peppers, it’s time to take a bow Empress of India chef.

And taking a bow for food at the end of a buffet shift takes some doing. Buffet food never usually scores, let’s be honest, but it works for me if it’s Indian and I have plenty of time to try ‘just a little bit’ of everything. Getting there with ten minutes to spare, ain’t so good.

You could argue the food should be as good at the end as it is at the start or you could argue getting there late is my own silly fault.

I blame the long King Road (in all its East, West, South and North guises) that links Kitchener and Waterloo, which meant me getting off the bus way past the Empress and heading into a bar (purely for directions you’ll understand).

Ten minutes before buffet closing means dried-out looking food, no restocking and almost no desserts left, and curry in a hurry. So it’s to the chef’s credit the food was still pretty decent.

Following on from the turnip was a tasty Chicken Korma, even though it was actually a Chicken Curry (the waitress admitted ‘this is supposed to be a korma’) and good, moist pillau rice.

And even though time was pushed there was still enough for nicely marinated Chicken Tandoori thighs, a crunchy Vegetable Curry, curried chick peas and slices of nan to mop it all up. Only the bony Lamb Curry didn’t appeal. Good work chef.

The lunchtime buffet (Mon-Fri) comes in at $11.99, but by time you’ve added a Kingfisher ($4.85), taxes and tip that’s flown over $20.

Empress of India, 103 King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 2X5, Canada. Tel: +1 519 883 1314. Open: Mon-Sat 11.30am-2pm and 5pm -10pm (10.30pm Fri-Sat), Sun 4pm-9pm.

* Now moved to 34 King Street South.

Empress of India snapshot

Food ① ② ③

Decor ① ② ③

Value ① ② ③ ④

Atmosphere (Wednesday lunchtime) ①

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④

Empress of India on Urbanspoon

Goes down fast

Uncategorized

Always good to discover a new beer made for spicy food, so… presenting for those of you not from Canada… Cheetah. At 5% abv, there is a lager and a dark beer, the former with a nice tang and the latter a bit smoother. Both do what they aim to, which is to go down well with Indian food – they were tested with a Lamb Vindaloo. The beers are brewed in Toronto. Not sure what cheetahs have got to do with Indian food or Toronto, mind you.

Mongoose outlets

Uncategorized

After stumbling across the new Mongoose beer (see review on October 15, 2010) in Cambridge, Wells & Young’s has sent a list of outlets that sell the beer in southeast and east London. This list includes two of the GCC’s favourites, the Moghul Tandoori (see review January 8, 2010 and February 17, 2010) and Memsaheb on Thames (see review on October 15, 2010) as well as the excellent Mala in St Katherine’s Dock. Time to try a beer methinks…

  • Mogul Tandoori, Greenwich, SE10 9BJ
  • Shard Indian Restaurant, Southwark, SE1 2TH
  • Coriander Restaurant, Kennington, SE11 5HY
  • Surma Curry House, East Dulwich, SE22 8HY
  • Memsaheb on Thames, E14 SUU
  • Bhangra Beat, South Woodford, E18 1NG
  • Mala, St Katherine’s Dock, E1W 1UH

New Indian beers

Uncategorized

Three cheers to anyone who produces beer that’s what I say. And an extra cheer to anyone who produces beer to go with Indian food. So cheer, cheer, cheer, cheer to the newest addition of ‘Indian’ beers in the UK – Mongoose.

It’s been out a while now but I’ve only just managed to find a pint of it.

Wells & Young’s (who used to make Cobra) launched the beer earlier this year to take on Cobra and Kingfisher in the Indian beer market. It won’t be lost on you that the mongoose and the cobra are well-known fighters. Cheeky name indeed.

A lager, Mongoose has got  a much smoother taste than its super crisp competitors so the beer will go particularly well with creamy dishes like Korma, Pasanda and, of course, the old favourite Chicken Tikka Masala.

Meanwhile, another new beer, Monsoon, brewed in Christchurch, New Zealand, is also set to enter the same market, the excellent Curry Council in Manchester reports.