You will also find some rather interesting French and domestic wines at the Tokay.
There is dinner at entree price, also many supper specialties both Hungarian and international, and always those delicious pastries. There is music and dancing every night but Monday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the big nights, and if you go then, you will find yourself singing and dancing and enjoying it all thoroughly. It is a wonderful spot to take those friends from out of town who want to go to odd places about which they can enthuse when they are back home.
We have known the Rajah Restaurant for a long time but had not visited its new location at 148 East 47th Street. Those of you who have known it before will find that the new surroundings and the moving have not harmed the cuisine. You of the uninitiated will find a pleasant change from the accepted rounds of dining. And do not go with the idea that your palate will be burned to the frizzling point. Mr. Wadia, the owner—and sometimes chef—has geared the strength of the curries to the American taste. However, this accommodating gentleman will offer you a hot curry sauce to increase the strength, if you feel you must have your curry blazing hot or not at all. A hint to the waiter that you wish a really hot sauce will supply you with ammunition guaranteed to hold you for a long time. One may order à la carte or choose one of the dinners planned to give you a sampling of a great many dishes from various provinces of India. These dinners range from ＄2.25 to ＄5, depending upon the number of courses. We dined with a friend who has lived long in India and who prepares many different types of Indian food herself, and she found herself happily engrossed in the food set before us.
There is no liquor at the Rajah, so we recommend a drink or two before you go. Our first course was bhujia, a vegetable fritter which one dips in a Madras sauce. The latter, by the way, is delicious and is given a repeat performance later with fried shrimp. Along with that there was a glass of pomegranate juice and a goodly helping of kachoomber. Kachoomber is a relish or salad made from finely chopped raw vegetables blended with a very hot sauce in which there is a good deal of curry. At this point you will find yourself wishing for a cool draught of beer, but water cools your palate nearly as well. Soups, of which there are usually several, include mulligatawny, which we chose, and coconut. The former, we felt, was a wonderful transition between the first courses and the curries which were to follow.
On one of the dinners one is allowed to choose two curries to accompany the moghul pillao—made with rice, saffron, raisins, and nuts. The chicken, mushroom, and shrimp curries are the ones we feel are the headliners in the group. The sauces are well blended and subtle, and the curry seemed to us to be both sufficiently intense and artfully blended, making for a happy wedding of flavors. Of course, chutney, nuts, coconut, Bombay duck, and dahl, the curried lentil sauce which forms the mainstay of the average Indian’s diet, are passed with the curry along with the ubiquitous rice.
Pinterest
