I, Student: Summerlicious

Second time for the Summerlicious 2008! Like I said, I LOVE FOOD.

This time was an East Indian Restaurant, "Jaaadu Restaurant." Sounds a little strange, but I forgot to ask if it has any meanings - oh well, I will next time. Actually their location was in our neighborhood, just a little south east of us. However, the restaurant itself looks very expensive to me - tables are covered by white well-ironed clothes and napkins, glasses and cutleries are all set up nicely; therefore, I had never tried this restaurant before.

When we got the restaurant, nobody else was there. I was a bit afraid if their meals would not be good or they were not so popular. However, servers were very nice and polite and the restaurant was designed with a black motif and was sophisticated, which made its atmosphere very welcoming and calm.

The alcohol suggestion of the server was the special Indian cocktail, which I don't remember its name, contained at least rum, vodka, pomegranate, orange juice.. tasted little bit like martini which I don't drink much (I like gin though). My friend suggested to me to have more with her, but I guess one short strong cocktail was enough for me as a student who had lots of homework..

As you learned from my former posting, restaurants have special menu for Summerlicious. In Jaaadu, you can choose one of three each - starter, main, and dessert. This is the most exciting part at the any restaurant to imagine what each meals look and their tastes are.

Starter : Curried Squash Soup

Mmmm, very nice creamy soup, not so hot but had enough temperature that people do not have to wait to bring spoon to your mouth as often as they want. You still can feel smooth squashy taste with some kind of ethnic spices, and it is not persistent at all. Some people seem to dislike squash, but I love it.

Main : Curried Lamb Shank

"New Zealand Lamb Shank amazingly slowly braised and cooked with tomato, fresh herbs, cumin, coriander, ginger and poppy seed, accompanied with Long Grain Saffron Scented Basmati Pilaf Rice" (Jaaadu)

Soft!! Tender!! You don't even have to use knife, it would come off so smoothly when your fork touches its body.

Dessert : Gulap Jamun

"Dried milk and Flour cooked and dipped in Honey Syrup with Bay Leaf, Cardamom & Cinnamon. Strained milk froth & sprinkled with crushed Pistachio." (Jaaadu)

The deep fried balls soaked in Honey were very, very sweet themselves, and I could not have eaten without form milk on top. It'd be much better if more strawberries were there.

In addition, there was another choice: Rice Pudding (Rosewater scented carnation milk based Rice Pudding. Traditionally called "Kheer" - Jaaadu) which one of my friends chose. I've had rice puddings at Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Tibetan restaurants and did not like them at all. Warm sweet sweet sticky rice with something creamy like custard was not my taste, but this one changed my ground about rice pudding totally (recipes can be different depend on culture)
- it was very very good. I would love to come back anytime for this rice pudding if this restaurant was more wallet-friendly..

Their summerlicious dinner course was $25 (lunch was $15, before tax, tip and any additional order like drinks). According to their original menu, it can be around $50 or more per person for ordinary dinner like ordering appetizer, main, and drinks.
I love delicious, fancy Indian dinner of course, but the special lunch of the day "Butter Chicken" at the Indian restaurant in York Lane (@ York University) also makes me enough happy and satisfied, just by paying $6.50.