Kat's 9 Lives

Guru Palace is a new addition to Tustin (or so the flyer says). They offer free delivery which is always a plus. Sometimes you just don't have the time to grab lunch or even leave to pick up. With gases sky rocketing, I need a place that delivers! Their lunch offer seemed pretty decent. For $8 they offer Tandoori Chicken, 1 Vegetable dish (no choice), Butter Chicken or Curry Chicken, Samosa, Rice, and Naan plus a choice of dessert.
Keep in mind, I am sure they offer a buffet at their restaurant for about the same price. So yes, it's a pretty good deal but if you eat there it's an even better deal! Most Indian restaurants offer an All You Can Eat Lunch Buffer under $10. Even though I have not been there myself, I am pretty sure they would be doing the same too. For now, I will settle for delivery because the portions are quite reasonable. They offered us Garlic Naan and I don't think they extra charged us for it either.
The Butter Chicken was super tasty in my opinion. It resembles Chicken Tikka Masala but in a richer sweeter and savory sauce minus tomatoes. I love dipping the naan into these creamy sauces for flavor. For me, it's best to pair the meal with some Mango Lassi. I thought it was very sweet and tasty. I will definitely have to get another one. Even though they took a while to deliver, it was worth the wait. I will probably order it again this week.
Guru Palace
17292 McFadden Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 832-9988

My friend had been raving about Masala Bowl and I had to try them out for myself. She said they make all their dishes fresh when you order. So keep in mind that there might be a little wait or if you are there for pick up to just call ahead. The people there are pretty friendly but I have to say... they are not the most competent. I have called in orders TWICE and both times there have been snafus! >_<# The first time they forgot an item in my order but luckily I check and told them. They were apologetic and gave me my missing item. Recently I ordered take out again and had someone else pick up the order. When she got back we had another mix up where they forgot one of the drinks, which happened to be mine! =*( I was very sad being Mango Lassi-less! At least the first time I got my Mango Lassi because I was the one who picked up the order. I think it was the owner or manager who was pretty nice and held open the door for me as I took out my drinks. It's a good sized drink and smoothly blended. You can substitute the drink for a $1 more on the combos, which is a nice treat.
On their menu they offer Samosa Bites that are mini versions of samosas filled with seasoned potatoes and peas. I haven't had their original samosas to tell you if they are different but the bites were wrapped in egg roll skins and fried. It was crispy and flavorful. Personally I love eating fried egg rolls but I do love the normal crispy skin on regular samosas. The good thing is you have a choice here depending on what you feel that day.
I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala combo made with a creamy tomato sauce and dry fenugreek leaves. My favorite thing to do with the sauce is dipping my Naan in there. The sauce is creamy and savory, which goes great with most carbs. If you order the combo, you get their regular naan and a fountain drink or you can do what I did by paying $1 more to substitute the mango lassi. In the dish they use chicken breast meat that were still tender and well seasoned. You can choose different meats, but I always like chicken with this sauce.
All in all the food was solid but I am a little perturbed that if I am not careful my order comes out wrong and I am not willing to drive back to pick up any items they left off. Will I be giving them another chance? Sure, but they are walking on thin ice if they keep messing up my orders. Originally if I wrote this review before my second order, it might have been a better review. Let's hope the third time is the charm.

Masala Bowl
14311 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 505-2695

What's a girl to do after an extremely long day of line waiting for the SF Street Food Festival? Well continue to eat of course!!! lol Nothing stops me! I went to Farolito for Agua Frescas, Anthony's Cookies for 1 1/2 dozen of fresh baked cookies, Happy Hour Sushi at Tokyo A Go Go, Crepes at Ti Couz, Ice Cream at Bombay Ice Cream, and then dinner at Thai House Express to finish off the night. This is just how I roll! =D I really need to think about investing in antacids in my purse!
Since Ms. Lin was able to find a great spot in the Mission District, we didn't really want to give it up! lol We kept trying to find more and more things to do. Across the street I saw Bombay Ice Cream. This trip to SF I have been sick most of the time and hadn't even had the chance to go to my favorite Bi-Rite Creamery. I took this as a sign that I needed to try Bombay Ice Cream since I haven't had any good ice cream this trip. The market adjoined was closed but the ice cream shop was empty. As soon as we walked in a guy approached us to help me order. They have a policy of trying only 2 samples so I had to choose wisely! The guy was super nice and helpful. He ended up giving me 3 samples and was very patient. I ended up ordering a pint with Mango Rose and a little bit of Rose Petal. The mango rose was just the right mix of mango and aromatic flavor of rose. I love the real rose petals in the rose petal ice cream and taste the freshness. They have a lot of unique flavors that blend fragrant spices, flowers, and fruits together. I really crave the delectable mango rose and rose petal ice cream! Wish they were down here so I can stock up in my freezer! =D I've just added a great new ice cream place to my repertoire.
Bombay Ice Cream
552 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 861-3995

As always, I did a lot of research online where would be a great place to try with the family. Ironically when I told my Dad about this place he pulls out the Chinese newspaper to show me another place for Himalayan food it was the same place, Himalayan Cuisine. From then on, I knew that it wouldn't be a good sign! haha Still we decided to try out their Recession Lunch deal for $5.99 while we were in Vegas. Since we had a car AND a GPS ^_- we found this place easily off the strip. It's located in a small strip mall. The decor inside was colorful and laid back.
At first I thought this place could have potential but then I saw that the water had little specks inside. Okay, I am not drinking that because it looks dirty either from the glass or the container they keep the water in. Before I even noticed this, I had already ordered my signature Mango Lassi. Although I don't know if that was much better but at least I couldn't see anything and I stuck to only drinking that for the entire meal. Luckily my parents can eat without drinking any fluids and was able to make it through until we got to the car where we had tons of bottled water. =P (P.S. I was still playing around with the panda and the photos looked so cute with it that I chose them ^_^)
So here is the low down on their "Recession Lunch". They write out the day's selection and they have levels to this lunch deal. The $5.99 deal is where you only choose one dish. If you want to get an appetizer or soup of the day with a dish then it's more. They also have another tier where you can get 2 dishes plus an appetizer or the soup for even more. In reality, it wasn't that great of a deal for being in Vegas. I decided to just order 2 full lunches and try a Himalayan specialty. Since I have heard Ms. Lin talk about Himalayan Momos, I decided to try them. It's 6 pieces of dumplings filled with Ground Lamb Keema for $8.99. Boy did I make a mistake. Maybe it's just this place but they were not good. Himalayan cuisine is suppose to be rich culinary mix of Nepal, Tibet, and India. The seasoning was not done right to help alleviate the gamy flavor of the ground lamb and the skin was reminiscent to Chinese dumplings, but nowhere near as good.
I wanted to try the Vegetable Samosa with Mildly Spiced Potatoes and Green Peas. This was very similar to the samosas in Indian cuisine. They give the typical Tamarind and Mint Chutney sauce. The crust was not bad but the flavor was just alright. I like the ones that TP's Dad makes much better! ^_^
Shame on me for being greedy and wanting to try out their Tomato Soup. Granted, my panda looks so adorable hanging over the plate wanting to get his paws on the soup and salad. lol The soup is "thick" slow cooked Tomatoes blended with Himalayan Spices and diced Paneer Cheese. Or so that was what the description SAID! Booo! Where was my paneer!! =*( If you can't tell, it's a very very flat and small soup with sad veggies next to it. The soup was very very very thin and light like a broth. I was hoping for a thick flavorful soup reminiscent of Tikka Masala, but this was definitely not it. This was kind of a waste of the extra charge IMHO.
For our main course we both chose the Chicken Tandoori and Chicken Makhani since they were the only 2 meat dishes in the entire selection! Why would I pay for vegetarian dishes? lol The choices were really limited. I thought the Chicken Tandoori was pretty flavorful and tender. The outer pieces were much better in flavor because it didn't really soak in on the bigger pieces of meat. You only get 2 small pieces of meat. The Chicken Makhani was very similar to Chicken Tikka Masala. This was very flavorful and went perfectly with the Rice and Naan... BUT... where was the meat? If you look at the picture, all you can see is the sauce... which was delicious, but where's the substance?? They weren't kidding that it's a recession! Even the food has receded to somewhere else. I thought the Naan was really nice and well done. It was one of the best parts of the meal.
All in all you don't get that much food for the price. For everything we paid around $35-$40 for a "Recession Lunch" that was not very filling. If this is a real measure to Himalayan cuisine... then I don't know... so I will assume it was just a fluke. Some of the food was not bad but some were just not worth it. You really get what you paid for, although I feel the prices weren't that cheap. >_<# It's not hard to do better in Vegas I must say.

Himalayan Cuisine
730 E Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 894-9334

Since I was still stuck in SF by myself, I decided to try Mehfil because I knew they delivered as well. They were highly rated for Indian food so I had been interested in giving them a try. I like that they have an interactive menu online where you can order everything. One thing that really concerned me was that they asked for a ton of detailed information that shouldn't even be necessary. At first I was a little worried that they were trying to steal my credit card number since my Discover card was stolen a month before. Soon after I placed my order, they called me to tell me that they ran out of the Gulab Jamun and I was really sad that I didn't get to try it out. The delivery did take a really long time to arrive and again... they never even give you a time range on how long it takes for the delivery.
I had decided to try the Lamb-Do-Piyaza because it said that Do-piyaza means two onions and that it would be Lamb cubes cooked with Onions, Raw Mangoes, Ginger, and Garlic. Little did I know that this was a curry based dish. I was hoping for a well-seasoned grilled meat dish. It was flavorful but I could not taste anything to do with mangoes. This was really just Mehhhhhhh for me. It was not special that I would ever want to have again, but not bad enough that I wouldn't give this place another try. Every dish comes with Basmati Rice, which was nicely colored.
Being greedy as always, I ordered the Paneer Pakora as an appetizer. It's home-made Cottage Cheese marinated in Chickpea Batter, Spices, and Herbs. How can you go wrong with fried cheese? That was my thought but this was not good. I really like paneer but they just didn't do it right. Maybe it needed to be thick cubes? The paneer was just flat and square with a rubbery texture. They do pack a variety of sauces for you to dip them, but they were only just alright too.
I ordered a Mango Lassi and Mango Juice as well. It's my habit to order Mango Lassis wherever I go. They must not use real mangoes for their Lassi because it just tasted like the mango juice I ordered. I should have just gotten the mango juice, L'ooza, sold at Whole Foods. Still, the drinks were good but I wished they used real mangoes.
For dessert they only had the Rabri. It's cooked by boiling Milk for about 3 to 4 hours. When the milk gets thick add Sugar, Saffron, Honey and Pine Water. Then boil again and served cold. I really really liked this. The amount they give is really really really really REALLY small! I felt a little jipped for $3 because it was stored in a glorified sauce container. Was there even 2 ounces of dessert in that tiny cup? Good thing for them that it was very tasty or I would never want to try them again.
Mehfil
600 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 974-5510

I was led under false pretenses to Cerritos/Artesia with TP and crew. We were suppose to meet up that Friday because I had to go to BlackMarket Bakery for my cake. Of course nothing went as planned and she asked if I would like to join her and her friends on an excursion to get some great Indian food. I thought why the heck not because TP always raves about the food up there and since I wouldn't have to drive. She totally tricked me! As soon as I saw the restaurant said Vegetarian I stopped and asked how come we are going here. They all answered that almost all South Indian cuisine is Vegetarian. I told them I did not sign up for this! =*( I decided to go with the flow, but I am making a black mark next to TP's name from now on! "Udupi cuisine is a world-renowned cuisine. It takes its name from Udupi, a place on the southwest coast of India in the state of Karnataka. Udupi cuisine includes an entire school of South Indian vegetarian cuisine. This is 'pure' vegetarian food. The ubiquitous Indian dish Masala Dosa has its origins in Udupi. Rasam, a spicy pepper water, is another essential part of the menu.Udupi's sambhar has its own unique taste."
For those of you who don't know me, I am a total CARNIVORE! Vegetables? Yuck! lol We were with 2 people who were vegetarians. I judge those who only eat veggies. They now have to try meat since I was open to eat their veggies! lol At least I got my Mango Lassi to start off the night. It was sweet and flavorful.
We decided to share the Assorted Hord'oueres containing Medhu Vada, Samosa, Cutlet, Mysore Bonda, and Vege Pakoras. My favorite part was the Vegetable Pakoras which are sliced Vegetables Breaded and Deep Fried. Anything fried tastes better! Even veggies. =P The Samosas are Crispy Crust stuffed with Spiced Potatoes and Peas. This was not bad, but I still like TP's homemade samosas better. Medhu Vada is Lentil Flour Deep Fried in the shape of Donuts. I thought this was not too bad, but apparently everyone else did not like this. You dip everything in the Sambhar provided to add more flavor. The sauces give the food an extra kick. The Cutlet is Minced Mixed Vegetables with Spices and Deep Fried. This was not bad in flavor and had a different texture from the rest of the pack. Mysore Bonda is Golden Brown round Lentil Dumplings. Leave it to South Indians making supposedly healthy food unhealthy by frying everything. =P
Luckily I stopped TP from ordering 4 order of the Udupi Palace Special because there was just way too much food. The special comes with Idli, Medhu-Vada, and your choice of any Dosa or Uthapam. TP loves the Idli and since we already had the Medhu-Vada we decided to just substitute Idli. It's Steamed Rice and Lentil Patties. Everything apparently comes with Sambhar and the Coconut Sauce. Little did we know that she is the only one who likes Idli. Lets just say she had plenty to take home that night. It really had no taste and a mushi texture. TP told me to soak it in the Sambhar for flavor, but even after that... nope sorry. We all gave up, but that is okay since TP can have the rest!
Everything was shared and we decided to try the Butter Masala Dosa. It's a thin Crispy Crepe made of Rice and Lentil Flour stuffed with Mildly Spiced Mashed Potatoes made with Butter Ghee. This definitely was something different. It really is like a crepe in many senses. The potatoes inside are seasoned well. I think while I was at the restaurant I was not very pleased with the food, service, and ambiance. After having the leftovers I think that this place isn't as bad as it seemed. At least the flavor was good and it's something different. TP ordered the Tomato & Peas Uthapam. It's a large Indian style Pancake made with Rice and Lentil Flour. This really came out like a pancake with veggies stuck in the batter. I think the dosas were better and had more flavor because of the mashed potatoes stuffed inside. The pancakes were too one-dimensional in taste and texture for my liking.
The only main dish we were able to finish was the Special Rava Masala Dosa. It's made of Cream of Wheat and Rice Flour with Onions and Potatoes then stuffed with Spiced Mashed Potatoes. I liked this texture and presentation best because it's different from the other dishes. There was a lot more flavor in the crisp skin with the onions and potatoes that was only enhanced by the mashed potatoes inside. They should really put more mashed potatoes inside to make the whole dish better because it becomes lacking when it's only the skin.
All in all the food was decent and prices were reasonable. The service was questionable, but you can't really expect too much from places like these. They really should have turned on the AC because TP and I were dying of heat. Luckily I had leftovers that I ate later that night or I wouldn't have given this place a good review. I mulled over the food again and gave it another chance. If only it had meat! This still was not what I expected when TP said we were going for Indian food in Artesia. Next time she better get me some meat! ^_^

Udupi Palace

TP and I met up on Friday for lunch. We made plans to go out Friday a while back and she almost completely forgot. Nonetheless, we were able to meet up and she decided to try Swaad Indian Cuisine. The best time to try out new Indian restaurants is going at lunch time because they usually have a buffet set up. This way you can get a feel for the restaurant without having to pay full price for all the dishes, which most likely wouldn't taste good. Despite the reviews online, I didn't feel that they were inattentive and rude. The interior seemed new and spacious.
They had a nice amount of choices in the buffet. I started out by ordering a Mango Lassi and it was actually quite good. It was sweet and flavorful. You could really taste the ripe mango flavor. I didn't like how they put ice in it though, because it waters the lassi down. That day I limped around the buffet set up. They had an interesting signature soup of Mango Corn Soup. The flavor was pretty good, it reminded me of the mango lassi. I just wished there weren't so many seasonings that ruined the texture for me somewhat.
There were some good and some bad dishes. I really liked the Paneer. Ever since TP has been promised to make me some, I have had a craving and I finally got to have them again. TP I am STILL waiting for some homemade paneer! ^_- The Tandori Chicken looked inedible and I for sure didn't even bother to have any. TP didn't like it and questioned if it was chicken. They had Lamb Curry and there was actually a lot of meat out. I liked the flavor and the meat was tender. I found it interesting that they had Goat/Mutton, so I had to give it a try.
All in all the food was decent. It was nothing fabulous nor horrible, but it was more expensive than I thought it would be. Lunch was $10 and then plus tax & tip. I was hoping that they had good desserts because they had the Milk Balls soaked in Honey. Unfortunately it was WAY overcooked and tough. **Warning** The picture might be deceiving because I made edits to look good, but it does not mean that the dessert was good. I wish that we had 4 people to go with because I know they have coupons out there for buy 3 lunch buffets and get one free. >_<#

It's hard to imagine that I didn't like lamb at all not so long ago. Now I can't stop eating lamb chops, lamb loins, rack of lamb, and more! Yum Yum YUM! This was actually the first place I ate on the night of my arrival to SJC Airport. We went to Santana Row for dinner, but we arrived to early so we dilly dallied around. You will notice all the drink places we stopped off for. We thought that Amber opened at 5PM but they didn't open until 5:30PM. From the outside, Amber looked very modern and pretty. As you enter the decor that sticks out in my mind was the starry ceiling. It definitely was not your typical Indian decor, but I really liked the feeling and ambiance. The glittering lights adorned above and across on the walls by the bar really give off the feeling that you were off in your own universe. That is until a lot more people arrive and the volume level was cranked up sky high. Other than that I really enjoyed the stylish decor.
We started off the night with the Paneer, Feta & Spinach Phyllo appetizer. Baked cumin spiced paneer, spinach, & feta phyllo rolls that come with two types of sauces. They gave the typical mint and tamarind sauces for you to add flavor to the phyllo rolls. I didn't like their mint sauce because it was quite salty and their tamarind sauce was a little to pungent for my taste. The phyllo roll itself was very light in flavor so you would need sauces to really bring out the taste, but as I mentioned the sauces weren't great. Eventually I decided to just eat the appetizer with no sauce, but it was really bland. I definitely don't think I would get this again because it's not worth the price if it wasn't delectable at all.
Ms. Lin loves this place mainly for one dish and one dish only. It's the Frontier Kebab that really sold this place. Lamb chops prepared in a ginger and yogurt sauce. This was one of their signature dishes and rightly so. The meat was extremely tender and flavorful. Each bite was juicy and a perfect combination of savory delights. Even though it was made with ginger, you really can't taste the flavor of ginger. At first I was very skeptical because I despise the taste of ginger but I was pleasantly surprised about this dish. The lamb chops were laid atop raw onions on a hot sizzling platter. This dish comes with 4 pieces of lamb chops for the price of $28, which I guess is normal price. If you come down Santana Row, you should DEFINITELY come try this dish.
For our second dish we decided to try the Achari Lamb Pasanda Kebab, Achari spice flavored lamb picalla kebabs. Since Ms. Lin raved about the other lamb dish, I thought that we could get another dish that sounded similar. Alas, I wish we ordered two orders of the Frontier Kebab if I knew it was that good. This dish was decent, but not anything to die for. The best part was that it was boneless pieces of lamb, but they were a little bit dry. Overall the meat was tender, but nowhere near the tastiness of the other dish. At first I didn't like the Achari flavor. As the meat cooled off more and I took more bites this dish, it started to grow on me more. This dish might have tasted better if we didn't have the other dish, which was miles and miles beyond in flavor.
We ordered the Kulcha, leavened bread stuffed with Masala Potato. Somehow the server made a mistake on our order and brought us the Assorted Bread Basket. I was wondering why there were so many pieces of Kulcha and why they were all different. This was only decent, I didn't really like the bread that much.

All in all this place was fairly good. It really wasn't an authentic Indian restaurant. The best thing was that one lamb dish and that was what sold me. Had they charged me for the bread basket then I would give a really bad review because I didn't even like the bread. The server a little hesitantly changed the price on our bill. Overall this place was like a middle to high end Indian restaurant with a little touch of fusion. I would come back again for the Frontier Lamb and maybe try some other dishes. The ambiance and food did leave a good enough impression, although thinned my wallet. =P