| Hidden North Indian & Pakistani restaurant offers up tremendous food. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 6/15/2006
Rating: 9
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It's not often that we find new restaurants that set benchmarks for a particular cuisine. Well, today a new one was set and Kabab and Curry's is my new favorite Indian/Pakistani cuisine. Vikram is my spiritual food advisor to this cuisine had been telling me for months that I need to review Kabab and Curry's. He's my goto person whenever I have questions and even led jatbar to another favorite called Rajjot. This is actually my 3rd time trying to go to Kabab and Curry's. The 1st time, Vikram flaked on me. 2nd time Terry and I found out they are closed on Mondays.
The deal with Kabab and Curry's is the location and authentic food. For starters, it's hidden off El Camino Real and situated in what appears to be a converted apartment building turned magic restaurant that serves kick ass food. Parking is somewhat plentiful as you'll be leaving your car in front of someone's house.
It's 12:30, this place is beyond packed and loud. Open the door and you are immediately in the buffet line. I had no idea it was going to be a buffet place and even wondered where the heck the Kababs are. Just make your way through the buffet line and select from the 6-7 trays of hot food. Find an open table and a waiter wil drop off a pitcher of water and hopefully bring you a basket of freshly baked naan. If you decide the buffet line wasn't enough for you, walk up to the counter or ask the waiter to order some kababs. I completely forgot about the kababs since the food was super good.
With 2 trips to the buffet line, I ate just about everything
daal - awesome stuff, firm lentil beans in a spicy stew, much better than the stuff I had at Shalimar the other day. It's so much better than the other stuff I've seen in other buffet lines where the beans had no texture and mashed to oblivion. (picture #5)
malai kofta? - I don't really know the name of this but its (picture #6). It was in this yellowish-gravy thingy . It's hard to describe the taste since it's not really a curry but more of a creamy spicey mixture that just goes perfect your the basmati rice and naan. It had these little breaded balls in the gravy which were like vegetable meatballs. Whatever it was, it was my 2nd favorite of the dishes.
aloo palak - spinach and potatoes, very hearty indeed. to be honest, I don't recall this one having a lasting impression like the daal or lamb curry but I still enjoyed it (picture #8)
lamb curry - I didn't know this was lamb curry until Terry told me. I probably would have figured it out if I would have eaten the meat but all I was eating was the gravy over my rice...oh man, mixing this wit the yellow gravy...insta-voltron-delicious.
tandoori chicken - a bit of a revelation to me. who knew tandoori chicken can be this f*cking good! All those wasted years eating red food colored dry-ass chicken in those other Indian buffets. No wonder everyone was overloading this stuff on their plates. On my 1st trip to the buffet line, it was wiped clean. On my 2nd visit, they placed a fresh batch and OMG, it was the BEST tandoori chicken I have ever had. When I got back to the office I instant messaged Vikram and asked him what's the deal with the chicken. He had informed me that's how the chicken is suppose to taste like and all those other places you have been eating were crap. We laughed for a bit and I was completely blown away how juicy, tender, perfectly cooked, evenly spiced the chicken was. My favorite dish of the lunch. (picture #11 and 12)
weird cake dessert - never had anything like this before. It had the sweetness of an ice cream cake, the filling was as smooth as custard, the cake was kinda this blob of goodie sweetness with complex flavors. I don't know what I ate but I loved this dish too. (picture #10)
Service was great too. Waiters made sure our pitchers of waters were taken care of and they made sure our tables wouldn't be taken over when we pigging out in the buffet line. And the price? 8 dollars for all you can eat until you pass out from tandoori chicken, it's a steal. The restaurant atmosphere may be lacking in the elegance and decorations department but I will say the place is clean and more importantly, food is outstanding.
As you can tell, the entire buffet was a success. Kabab and Curry's hit a home run for lunch and I wanted to pass out. I ate so much food I had to recline the seat in Terry's car. Don't miss out on a wonderful lunch at Kabab and Curry's, a jatbar favorite.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 724
Reviewed: 6/15/2006
Rating: 9
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I wasn't really in the mood for Indian food. Again, the name fooled me. I thought there would be a menu and it would include Kebabs. I walk in and am in a huge line. It took me a minute or two until I noticed that it was the line for the buffet. They don't mess around here. You immediately enter and are in line for food. Right on.
I did notice that the tables were pretty much filled up. Luckily it looks like they had an overflow room. The buffet was relatively small, but all of the dishes looked tasty. I tried a bit of everything, except for the tandoori chicken. There was a lamb dish that I tried, but didn't scoop in any chunks of the meat.
I also grabbed a bowl of the dessert and brought it to my table.
The rice was a solid basmati that was flavorful. Not mindblowing, but pretty good. The dahl was good. It seemed to have more ingredients than the standard one I have had and was more flavorful. The paneer was among the best I have had. There put a bunch of potatoes in it, which kind of dampened it, but they were easy enough to pick out. I first thought the yellow stuff (still don't know the name for it) contained meat. But it turns out it was kind of a tofu or falafel chunky mixture. It was irresistible and thick. Mmmmm. The carrots, cauliflower and green beans mixture was good enough, tasted about as well as it looks. Not my favorite dish, but veggies are always a good thing. And finally (for me) there was the lamb curry, which it doesn't appear like Jason got a closeup picture of. The curry was tasty, and I made sure not to scoop in any of the meat into m plate. It probably was the least favorite of the dishes I tried though.
Then it came to the dessert. I don't know what it was. It was kind of a birthday-cake-peach-cobbler thingy that was really good. I ate that up quickly.
Since it was buffet, I coudln't just get one serving, so braved the long line again and got repeats of everything but the veggies and the lamb. I made sure to get another helping of the dessert as well.
A basket of Naan was brought to the table. This stuff was legit. Fresh out of the oven, tasted like a well-done pizza dough, thick and doughy. Thumbs up here as well.
While eating, my score was still up in the air. Would it be an 8, 8.5? I was thikning the buffet would cost a good 9 to 11 bucks. It was a great surprise to see the bill come out to $8 each. Woohoo!
Kabab and Currys is now my benchmark for Bay Area indian restaurants. Solid stuff! Congratulations!!
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Reviewer: Stevetacular
Total Reviews: 25
Reviewed: 12/6/2006
Rating: 9
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As a foreword, I would like to say that I have little to no experience with Indian food, but I absolutely loved the food at Kabab and Currys. So, what's up with all these places that look sorta run down, but have awesome food I've been going to lately? I mean looking from the outside and then going in I could tell this place wasn't the Ritz, and the buffet didn't look all that appealing.
My friend and I arrived at around 1:40 (just 50 minutes before the end of the lunch buffet), and when we got in it was decently filled up. A waiter came up to us and asked us if we were there for the lunch buffet, and we said yeah. My first trip up and got a little bit of everything (except for the steamed vegetables, they were out and didn't seem like they were going to refill the tray) because I was a bit of a novice about Indian food.
I must say everything here tasted well spiced and very good. The naan that came out was also very good. The mixture of the rice, the curry, and the lentil stew was awesome. The chicken tandoori was out of sight and blew most other places that claim to have hot wings out of this world. My friend and I were thankful that they kept a pitcher of water out for our table. The only weird thing was the dessert because it was some sort of pudding type dessert. It had raisins in it, and it had gelatinous noodles in it. Whatever it was I couldn't really tell if it was good or bad.
The mistake I made here was assuming this was like an Asian buffet where you're obligated to get thirds (or fourths...or fifths). It was a mistake because when my friend and I walked out our stomachs told us we were in for trouble. It doesn't matter though, it was all worth it. For $8 this place was a great dining experience. |
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 165
Reviewed: 1/25/2007
Rating: 7.5
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Directions: When driving from Scott Blvd, take a right when you see Taco Bell. If you pass the small street, take the next right, all the streets are connected there.
Summary: Excellent food quality, a bit expensive for dinner for price to portion size, service needs improvement; found an ant crawling within the rice.
I met an ex co-worker here for dinner. We havent seen each other in over 6 years and he let me select a place, since I havent reviewed anywhere in a while I went with Kabab and Currys. I was really hoping they would have buffet for dinner, but no such luck. We meet at 6pm and there are only a few tables taken. This place seems popular among families as the restaurant becomes busier at 7pm.
The table consists of a napkin, fork, knife, and an empty glass. Menus and a pitcher of water are brought to our table. The menu is slim, prices range between 3 dollars and something up to just under 10 dollars. There are actually no items over 10 dollars. There is not much to choose from, most items you can find at a buffet, such as chicken items, lamb dishes, Vegs, dessert, etc.
We decided to go with an order of the butter chicken (7.95), Tandoori fish (4 small sea bass pieces with half grilled potato). The fish is grilled with tandoori spices (9.85), Aloo Palak (6.95), a bowl of rice (3.95), 1 order of Nann ($1 each). My friend also ordered a soda with his meal. Total price was $27 with tip.
Our waiter brings us two plates, and we wait a bit longer for our rice, butter chicken, and Aloo Palak. The portions are small, about the size of those small lunch dishes you get at Thai restaurants. I would say come for the lunch buffet instead; you get more of the same good food for cheaper. The rice bowl is small as well. There was enough rice for one serving per person.
My friend waits for his soda, after they bring our remaining entrees; they bring him his diet drink. He requests his glass be filled with some ice. He waited another good 5 minutes before being able to drink his soda. Service was pretty much like this throughout the meal. We needed to flag down the waiter to take away our empty plates. When we tried to get our bill we were told to pay up front. I dont know how the guy at the cashier figures out which table ordered what but he does it some how.
The fish portions were disappointing for what we paid. It was a bit on the spicy side and a little dry. Naan was about the size of a large pancake. Would rather come for buffet and get these free instead of paying a $1 each.
Over all, their buttered chicken, aloo palak, and naan were good choices. If youre looking for large portions, come for the buffet lunch.
I did find an ant crawling from my rice onto my plate. I was a bit surprised but after that incident, I didnt see any more bugs crawling in my food or plate. I would probably rate this place an 8 for lunch but as for dinner I can only give a 7.5/10.
Pluses: Accepts credit cards, great curry and Veg items.
Minuses: Street parking, expensive dinner, need better service, small portions for dinner.
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Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 71
Reviewed: 4/11/2008
Rating: 8.5
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As Jason mentioned, the first thing to notice about K&C is that you can pretty much walk in and get immediately in line w/o being seated first (pretty convenient for those of us who like our instant gratification). The second thing to notice is how small the buffet is: only 6 items, plus rice, salad and one dessert. The third thing: almost everything is delicious, so the lack of variety doesn't matter as much.
When you first walk in and get in line the interior looks damn small until you realize there's a whole other “overflow” room that's out of sight. Still, when you get over to actual buffet area, it's a bit of a bottleneck between the customers and kitchen staff. Just pretend you are on a crowded Pakistani sidewalk and you'll be fine. Choose your items and find a seat (HINT: don't pick a spot between the buffet and the front door or you'll have a line of people shuffling right next to your table; I hate that). If you have any trouble with seating, the helpful waitstaff will locate a seat for you, usually with water in hand.
Once you have your food, naan is served fresh to the table. The quality varies. I have had very doughy naan here, but on occasion get naan with a little bit of crispiness (my favorite).
And for the most part the food is delicious. I've been here a few times now, and the following were some of the highlights:
-- Tandoori Chicken: Jason does not lie. This is the best I have ever had. Almost as tender as soft cheese. Amazing. The only drawback was the pieces were tiny with lots of bone and gristle inside. A popular item. Note how some customers really load up | | |
