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Himalaya Newark: Spoiled, Trashy Food; Stay Away
Among the scores of Indian restaurants we've visited in the U.S, Himalaya in Newark (Delaware) easily counts among the worst.
Sure, bad Indian restaurants are choc-a-bloc in the U.S. but rare is the Indian restaurant like Himalaya that's callous enough to serve you spoiled food.
In our lexicon, serving spoiled food to paying diners is a heinous crime.
Himalaya - Spoiled Food
The potato filling inside our Masala Dosa at Himalaya restaurant was without doubt spoiled. The foul smell of the spoiled potato filling was so overpowering that we wondered how the restaurant's kitchen missed it.
That was not the only spoiled item served to us by the callous swines in Himalaya's kitchen. The watery Green Chutney was also spoiled.
Besides the Masala Dosa with spoiled potato filling, we let our taste buds graze across a variety of vegetarian, non-vegetarian, South Indian and North Indian dishes at Himalaya.
Among the items we sampled were Vegetable Pakoras, Idli, Cabbage Poriyal, Peanut Chutney, Green Chutney, Malai Kofta, Sorakaya-Beerakaya Curry, Dal Tadka, Sambar, Goat Biryani, Tandoori Chicken, Chilli Chicken, Chicken Korma and Gajar Halwa. A lot, eh.
Crispy and Salty Assorted Vegetable Pakoras
Spinach Pakoras were warm, crisp and tasty but Onion Pakoras turned out to be oversalted. Apart from the irritation over the oversalted Pakoras, what irked us as well as some Caucasian diners was that the restaurant wait-staff never cared to refill the Vegetable Pakoras tray that had just a few pieces. Finally, the restaurant staff refilled the Vegetable Pakoras tray only after a Caucasian diner expressly asked for Pakoras.
Not replenishing buffet trays is a common, cheap trick a lot of Indian restaurants indulge in.
Soft Idlis, Flavorless Sambar, Watery Cold Tasteless Chutneys
Idli was soft and light but lukewarm. What ruined our Idli experience though was the flavorless Sambar and the watery, cold tasteless Peanut Chutney and the spoiled Green Chutney.
Himalaya's Sambar with drumstick, Italian green squash, onion, carrot in it was medium thick, almost cold and, most important, lacked the magic flavor of sambar spices.
Smelly Cabbage Poriyal
Cabbage-Carrot Poriyal was not fully cooked. More than the half-boiled texture of cabbage what repulsed us about this South Indian specialty was the smelly grated coconut that was added to it.
Set in a creamy, flavorless sauce, Malai Kofta was soggy. The Kofta ball was again not cooked/fried properly and yielded the raw taste of
vegetables.
The brownish Dal Tadka had a burnt odor and taste. It was awful with both plain rice and Naan Bread.
While Cabbage Poriyal, Malai Kofta, Dal Tadka were inedible, the award for the worst item of day goes to the Sorakaya-Beerakaya Curry. There were multiple problems with this curry. First, the Sorakaya (Bottle Gourd) and Beerakaya (known as Heeraykai in Kannada and Ridge Gourd in English) vegetables were not tender. Secondly instead of using ginger, fresh coconut, curry leaves, green chilli, coriander leaves, moong dal and channa dal seasoning, Himalaya's kitchen cooked the Sorakaya-Beerakaya in tamarind water and spices smelling of Garam Masala. The end result was the sweetish Sorakaya-Beerakaya curry turned out to be yucky with white color vegetables floating in a brownish watery, awful tasting gravy.
Flavorless Chicken Korma
As y'all know it's the right amalgam of spices that add luster to Indian food.
Alas, our Chicken Korma was completely flavorless and not in the least spicy. Seldom have we been so dissatisfied with our Chicken Korma.
Tandoori Chicken was poorly marinated and gave us no joy while, horror of horrors, the Chilli Chicken showed no evidence any chillies were used in its preparation. Was Himalaya's kitchen playing a cruel joke on diners?
The flavorful spicy Goat Biryani was the sole saving grace on the meat side.
Garbage Halwa oops Gajar Halwa
Gajar Halwa tasted like boiled carrot had been hastily mixed with some sugar and rushed out by the kitchen.
Plain awful.
Service was polite and left no cause for complaint.
Our Verdict - Stay Away
Folks, starve if you must but stay away from this impostor of an Indian restaurant on Kirkwood Highway aka Himalaya.
Our meal was a Himalayan disaster. Let that not be your miserable fate as well. - © DelawareIndia.com
Himalaya Related Stories
Himalaya Wilmington Review - Average Indian Food, Unhygienic Practices
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