Tashan
777 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
For
the second week of restaurant week, I decided to take my fiancé out to a place
that we had wanted to try for a while, Tashan. They offered a pretty good deal,
4 courses instead of the usual three for the 35 dollar charge. Its beautifully decorated inside, and had a very chic and modern feel to it. We
brought my fiance's friend from work with us, and we saw some open tables when
we were standing waiting to be seated. We wound up waiting a little while to be
seated which I thought was strange considering there were a couple open four
seat tables, but eventually we were seated. We ordered a few beers and
looked over the menu. There were plenty of options for everyone as there usually
is with Indian cuisine. Over 50 percent of Indians are vegetarians, so there is
usually plenty to chose from in that department. I was a little surprised to
see a beef dish on the menu, but that clearly is a bit of the Americanization
of the menu.
Our
waiter was a bit weird, and he made himself pretty invisible at times, which
really took away from the meal for us. After he took our order, he said that
the chef would be sending out an amuse bouche of lobster bisque for our first
course, but unfortunately that never came. Our first courses were the Gol
Gappa, a dish of durum wheat puffs, spiced potato and chickpea, with
mint-cilantro water and the Malai Kofta Lollypops, Panko-crusted potato
lollypops, paneer cheese, tomato-cashew sauce. I thought both were nicely
executed. The crunchy exterior of the
lollypops held the heat into the filling keeping it warm the entire time we
were eating it. I loved the creamy sauce underneath of it as well, However I do
think the potato was under seasoned I
really liked the gol gappa as well. The wheat puff was very crunchy and the
filling was very tasty. It was seasoned perfectly and the mint cilarntro water
put a nice bit of freshness into the dish.
Next
up was the second courses of the Gobhi Manchurian, chickpea and rice
flour-breaded cauliflower covered in red chili-garlic sauce, and the Paneer
Lababdar, Garam masala-Kashmere cheese with paprika, fenugreek onion and tomato
sauce. I have had paneer in many ways in Indian restaurants, but never as a big
block of cheese. Usually it is cut into smaller pieces, and after having it
this way, I definitely prefer it smaller. It seems to be more tender that way.
I enjoyed the flavor of the sauce though. The gobhi was the best bite of the evening for
me. It was cooked perfectly, had a really nice crust, and the sauce that
covered it had some killer heat to it. It left my mouth tingling for quite some
time.
Our
next course was the masala lobster and the bharwan baingan. Unfortunately my
fiancé devoured hers, so I never had the
chance to try it, but she said it was delicious. My masala lobster had nice
flavor, but unfortunately it was a little tough. I did appreciate the fact that
they even offered lobster on their restaurant week menu, but the execution just
wasn’t there.
Our
waiter disappeared for a while in between our main courses and dessert. I know
the molten cake probably took a few minutes to prepare, but he was gone for
close to a half hour, without even checking in on us. I hate that, and the
girls weren’t happy about it either.
Eventually he came out with our desserts and the espresso I ordered, and
I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the crème brulee. While you don’t
think of crème brulee as an Indian dessert, but the combination of the flavors
of gulab jamun really brought it home. It's such a traditional Indian dessert,
that it made the dessert extremely familiar, even though it was nontraditional.
It was sweet and milky, and the crystallized sugar on top was a really nice bit
of texture. The spiced molten chocolate cake however was a bit of a miss for
me. While the execution of the cake was spot on, with a perfect molten center,
the spices in the cake overpowered it all. I like a bit of spice or savory
touch to desserts, but this was far too heavy-handed to be successful.
Three
pints for Tashan. Most of the food was pretty tasty, and I am sure some of the
more traditional dishes would be very good as well. I had a problem with the
service, but I know that that can always be corrected. I will definitely make a
return visit at some point.
Actually we did make a return visit a little while ago, and I have to say my recommendation still stands. Go for the food, but the service is really poor. It just doesnt match the upscale nature of the restaurant and higher quality of the food. Its definitely worth a visit for something
different, so check it out and let me know what you think! Cheers!
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