Saffron Indian Bistro

This is my second blog entry today. I have some catching up to do before we are out of the country and off of Bluemound Road for a few weeks.

I’m trying to decide between packing hiking boots or sandals. In Kruger National Park in South Africa, where we will be for the first week of our trip, you are not allowed to get out of your car except in camps and picnic areas, which I assume means that these areas are safe for humans to eat food, not areas at which humans ARE the picnic. Should I take shorts or capris? I don't look too hot in either one after a month of restaurant food. Do I take rechargeable batteries, a charger and a converter – or just pack a bunch of AA batteries for my digital camera. Okay, I’d probably take the converter anyway, to run my travel hair dryer, just in case I decide I need to look spiffy enough for the lions to chose me for their luncheon menu. It’s so much easier just to stay home - -no decisions and one can eat out, not be eaten.

Next on my Bluemound Road restaurant route was supposed to be Wong’s Wok, but I decided it would be okay to skip ahead when friends offered to eat out with us. The Saffron Indian Bistro was a perfect choice for six of us dining together who were all willing to try a variety of their tempting-sounding Indian dishes. We sipped a bottle of Barossa syrah ($25) while discussing the choices and eventually decided on three appetizers, a soup, two breads, and three main dishes.

The breads were both Naan, the Indian flatbread that is seasoned and baked in a clay oven. We tried the Rosemary Naan and the Garlic Basil Naan, which was exceptionally good. The soup was a yellow lentil soup called Dal. It was a mild, but bright yellow dish which many of us enjoyed over some of the basmati rice that came with our meal. For appetizers we tried Bihari Palak Pakoda ($3.95), which I’d describe as deep-fried spinach and rice patties, Hara Kebab ($3.95) – again deep fried spinach patties, these filled with potatoes, and everyone’s favoritie, Shikampur Kebab ($5.95), delicious and quite spicy (but not too) lamb patties. These came with two sauces – the green one tasted of cilantro, but I’m sure was a combination of many herbs, and the other was the more common Indian yogurt sauce.

What fun, what fun to try so many flavors in one meal. Our main dishes were equally yummy: we chose two entres cooked in the Tandoor, the clay oven. The Tandoori Murgh ($13.95) is the traditional Chicken Tandoor, with its bright red barbeque seasonings. We ordered this entre medium hot, which was not too hot even for my dull northern-European palate. The Frontier Kebab ($15.95) is a delicous rack of lamb cooked to tender perfection in the Tandoor and marinated in yogurt with interesting and mysterious spices. We also ordered a rice-based dish with shrimp, lamb and chicken with fried onions and nuts called Khajuraho Biryani ($18.95). It was a perfect side dish on our meat entres.

There was some food leftover, but not much. Not enough that the Kitchenless Couple felt any compulsion about fighting for the leftovers. After we split the bill, each couple owed $45 for this evening filled with tantalizing flavors.

Saffron is a simple room in a strip mall, so ambiance is not the attraction. But apparently we are not the first to discover the good food here. On this Tuesday evening I counted 37 customers having dinner here, seated at 10 tables.

I am going to have to be more serious about this eating out every night when we get back from Africa, or we won’t even get to Calhoun Road before the kitchen is done. I counted. I think in the 4 weeks since our kitchen was demolished, we have eaten "in" only 5 times, either restaurant leftovers or at someone’s house or at a Badger football game. That’s pretty amazing – especially considering that this gastonomic extravaganza is being supported by The Man I Used To Call "The Tightwad."

Kitchenless in Brookfield