Buddha Indian Cuisine

Update: As of December 2008, it looks like Buddha Indian Cuisine has gone out of business.  They didn’t even last 6 months.  So sad.

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Broomfield has its first Indian restaurant!  Hurray!  Beth and I had to try it last week on opening night, of course.  She’s the one who first introduced me to Indian food, and we both like it.  This new restaurant is called Buddha Indian Cuisine and it’s across Nickel from Target, in the location where Khow Thai used to be (Khow Thai opened and then went out of business within just a few months, before I had time to write a review of it).

Well, Buddha Indian Cuisine’s grand opening was last week, and it was a little shaky but good.

We had a free basket of very crispy papadums as I looked over the menu, which listed a couple of very interesting-sounding non-alcoholic drinks.  One was a mint cooler that sounded ideal for a warm evening (the air conditioning either wasn’t working or not working very hard) but they couldn’t make that one for me.  So I saw another drink that is listed as Adrak Limbo Ka Ras, “a ginger and lemon drink that will leave your taste buds wanting more.”  I asked for that as a backup, and the waitress said they didn’t have that one either!  So I settled for water.

For entrees, we went hog wild, ordering paneer korma (mild), fish jalfrazi (medium), chana masala (spicy), butter chicken (mild), and an order of roti bread.  Before the entrees were brought out, the server brought two big dishes.  The rice was a little weird, and I don’t think it was the usual basmati rice.  And on top of the rice were cold peas (maybe canned).

When the entrees arrived, the first thing I noticed was how big they were.  The portions are much more generous than some Indian restaurants we like.  In fact, they were probably the biggest portions of any Indian restaurant I’ve seen in Colorado.

The chana masala was actually spicy, which made me happy.  I was a bit afraid they were going to crank it down and make it too mild, but that wasn’t the case at all.  It was too hot for Beth to eat, which is about how I like it.  The butter chicken was very creamy, and probably the best sauce we had.  The other dishes were also good, though the bread was nothing to write home about.

We had lots of leftovers, and I think I got two more yummy meals out of it through the week.

So yesterday, I decided to go back and try the lunch buffet.  The first thing I asked for was the ginger drink – “adrak” – and this time they had it.  It was tasty, but sweet enough that I didn’t really want a refill.

The food was a fairly typical Indian buffet.  This visit the rice was definitely basmati style.  The buffet included tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, lentils, spinach (without cheese), vegetable samosas, veggie lo mein, and green salad with ranch dressing.  Sound like every other local Indian buffet?  Yeah, I thought so, too.

The buffet was $8.95 so I tried to eat my fill.  I couldn’t really complain about any of the food, but I was hoping for something – even just one thing – out of the ordinary.  I suppose you don’t see lo mein at most Indian buffets, but although it was good, it didn’t satisfy my desire for something new and extraordinary.

I asked a few questions of the servers and learned that it’s a family owned business.  The family’s name is Gurung, and they’re from Nepal (which I had guessed earlier since they didn’t really look Indian to me and looked more like the Sherpas I’d seen in TV shows and movies about Mount Everest).  There were two sisters and one brother serving food, and Dad is the cook.  Mom works there too, though I didn’t see her at lunchtime.

On my way out, I chatted a little with the siblings and asked if their father considered serving some special dishes from Nepal.  The son said he’s considering making momos.  In my opinion, that would be a nice addition to the menu, since the only thing I saw that wasn’t stock Americanized Indian food was the lo mein on the buffet and the two special drinks.

Next time I definitely hope to try the mint cooler.  Yes, we’ll be going back.  But too bad they don’t offer delivery!

Buddha Indian Cuisine
300 Nickel Street
Broomfield CO 80020
303-993-8036

One last thing: While researching this review, I learned a couple things.  First, traditional Nepalese food is closer to the Indian food we see in American restaurants than I thought.  Second, though the family name is Gurung, that is also the name of an ethnic group (presumably their own).  I’d read about something similar where the Sherpa people (also of Nepal) use “Sherpa” as both a family name and an ethnicity.