Sitaaray - An Invite to an Indian Buffet

Not only were we lucky enough to be invited to Chor Bizarre, but we were also invited to eat at Sitaaray in Covent Garden. Double luck.

The two restaurants in this Indian based group couldn’t be more different. Chor Bizaare is your more typical Indian style restaurant, but aimed at a client with a big bulgy wallet. Whilst Sitaaray is aimed at your group of friends on a good night out with a definite slimmer budget. As the all you can eat buffet is only £18 per person (up to the end of August, where it will rise to around £23).

The inside of the restaurant is a shrine to Bollywood and its stars. The walls are lined with photos of the more famous actors and actresses over the years. Quite a few of them have visited the restaurant and have their photo plastered on a special section by the stairs.

The formula is quite straightforward. You pay your money and choose either the veg or non-veg menu, and then you are get given a hell of a lot of food, which if you can manage more of any of the dishes you can ask for them. It really is all-you-can-eat, but the quality is so much more than any other similar place I can think of.

We opted not to go for the Bollywood named cocktails that takes up a hell of a lot of the drinks menu. It may have been fun actually, but I’m still old skool and Indian food for me only goes with beer. The wife had a few glasses of merlot that she says worked quite well with the food.

For starters we had some crushed papad and a trio of chutneys. I got so used to sour pickles in India that I relish them when they arrive, but this now means I find all mango chutneys so sweet. Too sweet in fact that I cannot eat them. They used to be my favourite, but give me a sour lime pickle anytime.

Then the food started, oh how I wished it would stop at one point. The menu reads as follows.

Dahi Batata Puri, crispy savory balls stuffed with potato, yoghurt and chutneys.

Pepper Shikampuri, pan fried ground lamb kebab stuffed with mint and peppers.

Pudina, char grilled fish tikkas in a paste of mint and green chilies.

Amritsari, crispy batter fried fish flavoured with carom seeds.

Chicken Dill Tikka, creamy chicken morsels flavored with garlic and dill leaves.  

Chicken Achaari, char grilled chicken flavored with pickling spices.

Lamb Seekh, juicy lamb mince kebab topped with red onions and coriander cooked in a tandoor oven.

Lamb Keema Samosa, deep fried savoury patties stuffed with a spicy lamb mixture.

Chicken Chakundari, char grilled chicken legs in a spicy red marinade with beetroot.

Chicken Tikka Masala, grilled chicken cooked in rich & creamy tomato gravy flavored with fenugreek

Vegetable Nilgiri Kurma, seasonal vegetables cooked along with coriander, mint in a coconut based gravy

Dal Makhni, buttery black lentils simmered for an age, finished with tomatoes, ginger and cream.

Plus all this was served with an assortment of breads and a bowl of pulao rice. We couldn’t finish it all. I now wished I’d asked for it to be put into a plastic tub to take home with me for lunch the next day.

Most of the food was damn good, but one or two dishes were not very good at all. The Amritsari was too greasy and was not nice on the palette at all.

Whereas the small puri ball was one of the highlights of the meal, along with the spicy lamb samosa. For me it was the Dal makhni, ooh those black creamy, heart clogging lentils were a real joy to eat. Damn they were good.

We couldn’t manage any pudding. I think it would have resembled that scene from Alien. Not a pretty sight.

So if you are up for somewhere different to go on a works night out, or with friends then I would definitely recommend Sitaaray as a place to go.

Bangkok Part 2 - When you are tired of noodles, you should goto the Mandarin Oriental

Sometimes and only sometimes, when you have been on the road for a long time. You just reach a point when you get fed up of the local food and just crave something familiar. After 3 months in Asia we were there. Lina was craving cheese and wine. I was just craving a good steak and potato's. Although the thought of a good bottle of wine wasn't to hard to resist either. 

So where could we go. Obviously for what we were wanting, one of the major hotels fitted the bill. Luckily for us, quite a few were situated alongside the Chao Prad River..... in Bangkok. After a visit to their websites. The Mandarin Oriental looked the best bet, as they had a nightly buffet on the terrace overlooking the river itself. A quick shave and we popped on our glad rags. Thankfully we have one nice set of clothes that we keep, just for this type of occasion. Also thankfully the easiest way to get to the hotel was on the Skytrain. So at least we wouldn't end up arriving like we'd been trampling through the jungle all day. Looking slightly red and dripping with sweat. 

The best thing about the 5 star hotels on the river front. Is that they all have small boats to take you from the landing dock by the Skytrain to your chosen hotel. The boat for the Mandarin Oriental was built of wood and had very comfortable seats. It resembled a small junk. Very atmospheric. After a few minutes of cruising the river, we arrived at the dock for the hotel. With the customary bows of the hotel staff, we were beginning to believe, like them that we were staying there. 

We made our way to the Riverside Terrace Restaurant and admired the buffet. I always believe you can tell a lot about a place that puts on a buffet selection. If it's badly presented or looks a bit thin on the ground, then normally the quality of the food is a bit so so. Nothing to fear with this one. There were 5 stations as they call them. Everything was presented to the level you'd expect from a hotel of this class. We'd made the right choice. So after seating on a table outside under the stars, (we were both praying for no rain) and browsing the wine list. I settled on a nice bottle of crisp Italian White, which came chilled in a wine bucket full of ice. After having a sip, yes we have both missed this. 

So we made our way to the selection that awaited us. The first station, was your salad selection, ranging from your usual leaves right the way through to a good seafood selection with various vinaigrettes and sauces to go with. 

The next section had a nice selection of cold meats and oddly enough a nice sushi and sashimi selection also. Not something I would have put side by side, but we live in an age of fusion. Time to get with the times. 

Next in line was the grill. Now this looked really tempting. I think it had something to do with the large prawns slowly chargrilling away and the lovely looking and tasting tandoori lamb and fish pieces. Also a nice beef madras was on offer, and some lovely selections of grilled steaks.

Finally before we hit the puddings was what I had really been missing. The good old carvery. It really was like Sunday lunch was here and alive in Bangkok, even the Yorkies looked pretty darn good. Nice piece of gammon, beef and poultry. 

Now in my view, the puddings really make or break a buffet selection. There has to be a good varied selection, all have to be presented to lift you to a spiritual high, and without a doubt the ice-cream has to be homemade and it has to be to die for. God I love the Mandarin. It was all fantastic. I did reach a spiritual high, in fact me and God were about on the same level for a while that night, especially after having a chocolate truffle or two. The blackcurrant pannacotta really gave my taste buds a work out.  

We knew it was gonna be expensive, and it was, but as a one off it was really worth it. Not going to be doing it again for a long time. So we justified it to ourselves. The ride back on their boat and the Skytrain was fantastic. One thing about nights like these is a damn shame it has to end.

We both slept very content that night. Very.

Next morning, we were both still very happy and the noodle soup from a small stall on the side of a road for breakfast tasted pretty good.