Taal Fine Indian Cuisine

Taal Fine Indian Cuisine
578 Colborne Street
Brantford, ON

519-752-3788

In her opinion:
The first time that I tried Indian food was in Montreal, Quebec during reading week of my third year of university.  Instead of going someplace warm we traveled to "La Belle Province" in the middle of a very cold spell. At that time in my life, foodie was not in my vocabulary. We were more interested in where to get drunk and not where to eat. However, we did have Portuguese food during that visit and because some of my housemates were of the  Indian culture, they insisted that we try Indian food.

Let's just say that the experience was not the best and I was left with a very bad impression of Indian food.  I actually convinced myself that I did not like Indian food. That was until about three years ago when my now very adventurous foodie husband convinced me to retry Indian again.

I am so glad that he did.  I now love Indian food and it is probably up there with my favourite types of cuisine.  I guess the reason that I love Indian so much is because once you become a foodie, you start to dislike the run of the mill food that you get at run of the mill franchise places and Indian is so outside that box.

We have tried quite a few Indian places in the KW region but today, Sunday, March 4, 2012, we decided to leave our region and ventured instead to the County of Brant and into Brantford. For those of you who don't know Brantford is famous for two things. Alexander Graham Bell and Wayne Gretzky of the telephone and hockey fame. So according to Urbanspoon, Taal Fine Indian Cuisine has a 90% like average which is very good.  

We took the thirty minute drive into Brantford and came upon what use to be a fast food place complete with an old drive thru window which had been converted to Taal. The inside was nicely done with dark wood and nicely stripped banquettes.  Now don't get me wrong, this is not Luma or Canoe for that matter but I was pleasantly surprised how nice this place was for an Indian restaurant.

On Sundays, they are only opened for dinner and you have the option of a la carte or their dinner buffet.  Liking to try a little of everything, we opted for the buffet.  We ordered a couple of Indian beers, a Kingfisher for me and a Cheetah for Edgar.  The waiter asked if you wanted garlic or plain naan bread.  We opted for the garlic naan and it was quickly delivered having just been made to our table.  

Garlic Naan

KingFisher and Cheetah Beer.

For my first time up at the buffet, I took a few of my favourites, "Chicken Muglai Korma", "Beef Vindaloo", "Curry Goat", "Vegetable Samosa", and excellent "Basmati" rice.

The food was excellent.  The samosa was one of the best that I have ever had.  I loved the chicken korma and the curry goat.  One of the best curry goats that I have ever eaten anywhere except maybe Antigua (don't ask).  The spice overall was just right...not to bland to accomodate the Canadian palate but not to hot that you couldn't eat it either.  It was perfect and the "Raita" was a perfect cooling agent.

I went up a second time and had more curry goat, another samosa, a "Fish Amritsari" fish dish, "Vegetable Pakora" and more rice.  The second plate was as good as the first. 

They also had some dessert items.  I didn't photograph it but they had "Gajar Ka Halwa" (a carrot pudding), Mango Fruit Cream, "Kesri Kheer" (rice pudding) and "Gulab Jamun" (deep fried milk balls). All were excellent but I loved the carrot pudding because of the spice and texture. So good.

Overall, I really enjoyed Taal Fine Indian Cuisine and will definitely be going back in the future. So good. Worth the drive to Brantford!!!

In his opinion:

In a last minute search for a different restaurant outside our own city and after a subtle hint from my wife that she was craving Indian food, I came across the information for Taal Fine Indian Cuisine in Brantford. Like a good foodie researcher, I immediately went online to read some reviews and to get some more info on this place. After all, it is in Brantford which is not really a foodie heaven town despite its recent growth and a handful of decent restaurants.

We arrived at Taal and the Indian food smell was already in the air of the parking lot. Not sure if it was because I was extremely hungry or they made some amazing smelling food, but I took that as a good sign.

We were seated in a nice corner booth. As I looked around, I decided that it looked nice with some dark wood and punches of alternate color.  It all worked well with the full glass windows that line this old fast food, drive-thru facility.

Before I get to the food, I must add that at this point that I was still unsure of this place. How can a good Indian restaurant have a buffet option? Really none that I ever heard of. There is the full a la carte menu but also a buffet? Really?  I'm sure my Indian friends would roll their eyes at such a place.
But, as we always say in the foodie world, if the locals (in this case Indians from India locals) were eating there and getting take-out from this place, then it must be good.

On to the food...We opted for the buffet after glancing at the menu, as with the buffet spread, we could try almost everything in the menu for one price.
The selection is not Mandarin big, but enough items to have lots of choice and let me tell you that everything on the buffet was very good. I know because I tried it all, and paid the price by feeling super full and rolling myself into my parked car.

Plate 1

The plates kept on coming and one thing was better than the next. Highlights from plate 1 were, 'Muglai Korma Chicken" (bottom left) "Vindaloo Spicy Beef"(bottom right) and "Samosa" and "Pakora'. Don't forget that you also get naan bread, regular or garlic and who doesn't like garlic naan, yum!

Plate 2

Highlights from plate 2 were 'Chili Chicken' (bottom left), amazing Basmati rice and 'Mattar Paneer' (top right). The butter chicken was out of this world with the creamy sauce that is traditional to authentic Indian restaurants.

Plate 3

Plate 3 was a just me revisiting the favourites I tried before and boy, was it ever satisfying. One more mention has to go to the Fish Amritsari (top left on plate 3). The spices on this fried fish really make it stand out.

I highly recommend this restaurant, even though there is that unwritten rule that you cannot get good food where they serve it buffet style. Taal changes that perception and comes through in flavour, service and overall good Indian food, for an amazing price.