GOURMET INDIA, COOLIDGE CORNER

Ok, I've had dinner two nights in a row in Coolidge Corner, and I've actually tried two different places both nights. On Thursday night, Katie and I visited the Brookline Farmer's market and eventually made our way over to Gourmet India for dinner.

So first let me tell you about the Brookline Farmer's market. Actually, if you remember at the beginning of summer, I had made a vain attempt to visit it (The market hadn't opened yet). And at that time, I thought that was my last shot to go to the Brookline market, since I normally work all day on Thursday. But lo and behold, I got a Thursday afternoon off (a rare occurence indeed) and so off I went, looking for heirloom tomatoes at the Brookline Farmer's market. When we arrived at 4:30, the place was packed. I was happy to see a large number of booths and a really great selection of produce, but I was a bit dismayed at the long lines and the tons of children running rampant. There was an ice cream truck there, and I totally wanted some, but the line was just too long and so I set about my goal to get heirloom tomatoes. I was not disappointed by the large selection of variety of tomatoes. I eventually ended up getting like 4 different varieties and paid nearly $10 for just tomatoes. I was also really disciplined and only spent money on that singular thing, though i really did want to run rampant, and buy turkey pot pie, a mini mixed berry pie for Tom (I resisted, he's trying to lose weight and I feel responsible for some of his weight gain), some fresh fish and other goodies.

Maybe next year I'll be able to get more time off and can visit the market more frequently. We can all dream, right? I do have a trip planned for LA in December, though, so i can visit my all time favorite farmer's market when I'm home.

After Katie made herself a batch of rice pudding, we set off for dinner. Katie decided to make the rice pudding after trips to Gourmet India's buffet lunch, where they set out their version of rice pudding, so we decided to go there for dinner. Now, I drive past Gourmet India all the time, but I'd never been there and I'd never even looked in. I expected it to be a normal restaurant, but it turns out that it's a take out type place, much like the ones you find in malls, like an Indian version of Panda Express (which makes sense since they have like 6 locations, most of them located in malls.)

After I took a quick look at their menu (which is all really really cheap-nothing's over $9) Katie and I ended up order the exact same thing. The combo #1 with Chicken tikka masala, Gobhi Mutter and a side of rice (you could get naan instead of rice if you wanted). Total cost was $6.25. I actually also ordered an orange Fanta (which I almost never get in the U.S.) and it tasted exactled like Sunkist Orange soda. I was so disappointed that I personally think they were serving the Sunkist Orange and just had the Fanta label up. I mean, Fanta in the U.S. can't really be that bad is it? I'm accustomed to the European formulation (yes, it's really that different). It takes a lot more like Orangina in Europe. I've still got two cans of it in my fridge at home, that I brought back from Spain in my backpack- too bad i won't be able to do that on my next trip to Europe. Anyway, here'a pic of my dinner:

As you can see, it's a pretty generous serving. Actually, I'm kinda hungry right now and wouldn't mind having that for lunch. And the food was pretty good. Especially for a take out place. I definitely wish that the food was hotter, it was more lukewarm than hot, but for the price, I think it's a great deal. Katie was telling me that the lunch buffet is also a great deal, so I think i'll be back in the future to try that out and a chicken naan.