Taste of India -- and South Africa

The lions, cheetahs and leopards didn’t chose to eat a wrinkled, kitchenless American for lunch, so I have returned, intact, from Africa. Though I am still kitchenless, progress, progress, progress has been made. Most of my gorgeous cherry cabinets are installed. The pantry is going to be just perfect for storing several cartons of Diet Pepsi for The Man, just as I’d hoped. The spice rack is nifty, should I ever cook again and need spices. The roll-out shelves in the lower cabinets will be helpful as I lose my agility for crawling on my beautiful-as-well-as-ecologically-sound new bamboo floor to reach the bread pans in the far corners of the bottom shelf. That is, if I lose my remaining brain cells and actually decide to bake bread sometime again.

So we arrived home after 33 hours of travel and immediately went to out to eat at Taste of India on Bluemound Road. The food at this restaurant is surprisingly similar to some restaurants in Cape Town, South Africa, whose cuisine is labeled "Cape Malay". There are some differences. The ambiance at Taste of India is quite elegant, considering it is located in the back corner of a Bluemound Road shopping center. It sports chandeliers, dark carpeting, white cloth napkins and crystal water glasses. The Cape Malay restaurant in Cape Town had fabulous views of mountains and oceans and had no need for interior ambiance. The Taste of India’s menu is far more extensive. (Actually, spending on all luxuries is far more extensive in the US.) Where the Taste of India has 78 main dish menu items, the Cape Malay restaurant at which we ate had perhaps ten. Our meal there was delicious with the identical appetizers as we ate here. Our meal here was also delicious. There it was served by two older women in colorful ethnic clothing; here it was served by two young Indian gentlemen dressed as American waiters. Cape Malay cuisine in South Africa implies that the establishment is Muslim, therefore no alcohol is served. The Taste of India has a wine list and several beers available.

We tried the two Indian wines on the Taste of India's wine list, a Chardonnay that The Man Who Drinks Only White Wine said was "pretty good," while I sipped the Indian Cabernet Sauvignon. I would call it "drinkable", with some tanins, but lacking intense or complex flavors. With our wine was served a Papadum, a large crisp wafer cooked with flavorful cumin seeds and three dipping sauces. We also enjoyed an order of Samosas ($2.95), those yummy pouches of potatoes and vegetables in a crisp, deep-fried, thin pastry shell. We had barely finished this appetizer when our dinner orders appeared. How is it possible to cook meals that fast? My Seekh Kabab ($13.95), somewhat dry ground lamb sausages served on a bed of steamed onions, was accompanied by a welcome, cool yogurt sauce. The Predictable Man dining with me ordered a medium spicy Chicken Curry ($10.95), though it must have been quite spicy indeed. I noticed that his Chardonnay disappeared quickly, as did a large glass of water. I sampled his meal bravely and found that the hot pepper taste did not drown out the taste of fresh ginger in this curry.

I was barely awake as we ate, but believe I enjoyed the Taste of India enough that I would recommend it to you. Though there were several other tables filled at 6:30 on this Tuesday evening, the service was fast and friendly. Oh yes.. The floor and sink in the ladies’ bathroom were not up to the standards of cleanliness of those in the restaurants in which we ate in South Africa. But, if memory serves me, I have definitely seen worse along Bluemound. And Cape Town is a bit of a distance to travel to for dinner.

Kitchenless in Brookfield