Aashaina

Today I'm going to jump on the food blogging bandwagon and review a restaurant for the first time.  However, I don't think I would have had the desire to do so if it wasn't for the outstanding experience we had.

Friend Jen and I had been saying for weeks that we needed an Indian food fix.  The difficulty is that there are a lot of places to choose from, many of which are within a two-mile radius.  I wanted to try a new place, as the last place I tried was a little disappointing.  Therefore, I began scouring the web for reviews.  I'm really glad I did so, rather than picking a place at random.

The web was kind enough to tell me about a new(ish) place at Townsend Park Square (I don't know if that's the official term for that section of Central/Washington/Henry Johnson/Lark, but that's what I call it) called Aashaina. The vast majority of the reviews were very positive, and I also found out that the place was BYOB.  I suggested we pick this place, and grab a bottle of wine on the way.

I did a little research online to find out which wine would pair well with Indian food, and we decided to go with a Gewürztraminer (pronounced: guh-VOORTS-truh-MEE-nur, say that five times fast) from Covey Run ($8.99).  If you're not familiar, it's similar to a Riesling.  It's a crisp white with a good balance of tartness and natural sweetness.

the wine and menu 

When we walked in, I was a little taken-aback by the intimacy of the place.  They have a buffet set up along the back and right walls in an L shape (they do a lunch buffet every day, and a dinner buffet every Friday and Saturday- alas, we were there on a Thursday), and there are maybe half a dozen or so tables.  Only three of the tables were occupied, so we picked a nice seat by the window.

A friendly waiter came to the table, and consented to our drinking the wine.  He even brought us a bottle opener and some glasses.  We commenced to examining the menu to decide what to try.  We settled on a couple of appetizers to share:  The Vegetable Pakora @ $2.85, which are deep fried vegetables, and the Samosa Chaat @ $3.85, which is a yogurt sauce with boiled chickpeas, potatoes and chunks of samosa (which are deep fried vegetable patties).

While we were waiting for our appetizers, a woman stopped by our table when she was on her way out.  Out of the blue, she asked if we had been there before.  When we replied that we had not, she launched into a speech of such praise of the place, and that set the bar pretty high.  I mean, how often does a stranger stop at your table just to rave about the food?

After a very brief wait, the appetizers arrived.  The Pakora was delightful. It had an incredible aroma similar to fried onions, and was almost like calamari in appearance.  I wasn't exactly sure what vegetable was even in there, but I didn't care.  The Chaat was a nice surprise.  It came out in a bowl like a stew, but was cold.  The yogurt sauce was a little sweet and a little sour, and the light crispness of the samosa chunks was really nice.  We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.  I had to stop myself from stuffing my face, as we still had entrées and naan coming.

the naan, rice, and entrees

After a short while, our food came.  The naan was in a sizable basket, and we each got a large plate of rice.  The entrees (I had the Chicken Tikka Masala, she had the Chicken Korma) came in a cute little tin bowl, so we were free to ladle the dishes as we saw fit.  Jen was a little surprised that her korma came out in a creamy base, as in her experience it's usually in a tomato sauce.  I tasted it, and it was barely distinguishable from my tikka masala.  But while it was unexpected and different from what she was used to, she thoroughly enjoyed it.  My tikka masala was out of this world.  The naan was naan, but it was good.

After eating a good sized helping, I had to stop.  I was stuffed.  And I had enough rice and tikka masala left to take home another whole portion (which Chris gobbled about 10 minutes after I got home).  We lingered and chatted and drank the wine, and by the time we were ready to leave, we were the last ones there.  Our server (I feel like he may have been the owner) chatted with us a bit; wanted to know how we heard of the place, what our names were, etc.  He told me that in his language, my name-- or a word that sounds like it-- means "gift" or "reward."  I though that was nice.  In fact, the whole experience wasn't just nice, it was perfect.   I arrived home with a happy glow that wasn't just the wine.

So please, go to Aashiana.  Bring some wine or a six pack and enjoy a fantastic meal and good conversation with a loved one.  I want this place to be around for a long time.

The grand total for the meal, including the wine, was $40-- which we split right down the middle.