Review: Paradise of India

So, tomorrow's moving-out day for me. Aaah! Exciting! I still have more packing to do, mostly on account of my cookware, which isn't really space-efficient. I'm going to have to do some creative packing in my steamer trunk to get everything sorted. Thank the gods for silicone bakeware! For lo, it folds!

My father came up this evening (well, technically last evening now) in preparation for tomorrow's moveout, and we went out to dinner at Paradise of India. I've been meaning to try this restaurant for some time, but between schedule craziness and never really organising a night out with Day (or anyone else for that matter), I haven't had the opportunity until now.

The first thing we noticed when we walked into the restaurant was the smell. The whole place smelled deliciously of spices and oil. The interior was well, if nondescriptly, decorated, with quite a few plants in the broad storefront window. It was pretty late, almost 20.45, so the restaurant was pretty empty. The waiter was...effective, but impersonal. A television was nattering away in the back, which was for the most part unobtrusive.

We ordered our usual Indian standbys. My father had lamb vindaloo, I had chana masala. We also got rice and an order of naan. For desert I had masala tea and gulabjamun, he had ginger ice cream and black tea.
The rice was cooked well. It was relatively plain, which is just fine when it's eaten with flavourful foods, but I'm accustomed to Indian restaurants spicing their rice. The naan was rather thinner than I'm accustomed to, but it was warm, tender, delicious, and liberally brushed with ghee.
The chana masala (stewed chickpeas) was of a rather different sort than I usually have. Rather than being spicy, it was sweet. It was nice, but definitely not what I was expecting. I'm much more used to a thick, hearty, spicy stew. This was rather lighter, sweet, and flavourful. The chickpeas were cooked well, and the chunks of tomato provided a nice textural and flavour contrast with the sauce.
The lamb vindaloo was flavourful, although not quite what I would expect. Its spice level was pretty high, but the heat definitely took a little while to kick in. Not excruciatingly hot, like vindaloo/paal is generally purported to be, but definitely not for the sensitive. The potatoes were well cooked, and the lamb was tender, moist, and flavourful.
Both dishes were, however, rather nondescript. Nothing to "write home about."
Gulabjamun is a type of deep fried sponge cake which is doused with syrup and various flavourings. These were cinnamon gulabjamun, and were soaked with syrup and rosewater. I really didn't know what to expect with them, since the only two Indian sweets I've ever had are mango lassi and kheer. They had a texture similar to doughnuts, and were sweet and had a light cinnamon flavour. The way they imbibed the sweet syrup gave them a soft exterior which oozed syrup when they were bitten, while their centres were soft and moist, but not at all wet. I couldn't taste the rosewater. Overall, they were rather like cider doughnuts, Indian style. A fun dessert, but not spectacular. Had the flavour of the rosewater been present, they would have been more balanced and more exciting. I would also probably add a little cardamom to the syrup to round out the cinnamon flavour.
The masala tea went nicely with the gulabjamun. It was, however, like everything else, not particularly exciting. Just a run-of-the-mill chai.

Overall, Paradise of India was nice, but not really a spectacular restaurant. The food was nondescript and the portions were rather small. If you're craving Indian, you'd be better off going into Northampton.