Tasting everything at Robson All India

I've been craving Indian food for a while, but never know where to go. Whenever I ask people, Vij's seems to be all they suggest. I was chatting with another friend and he mentioned Robson All India. They recently changed owners and we decided to give it a try, with a few friends. 

Our appetizer arrived and it was a paneer type dish made with chickpeas and potato, all this is stuffed with cheese and then lightly breaded and deep-fried. Cut into little triangles, this was lighter than expected and the sprinkle of chilli pepper made it really nice and fresh.

I have never tried this dish before, but it's basically a deep-fried spinach boat, then filled with cream cheese and some cherries. An interesting combination of creamy and crunchy, as well as a great sweet and savory blend. Since this was a tasting menu, I'm not sure how much comes in a serving, but two of these are quite filling.

Once of the first main dishes to arrive is the Chicken Kebabs. Made in the tandoor, the dish arrived piping hot! I've always stayed away from chicken breast at restaurants (Indian or not) because I always find the meat very dry. I was really delighted with the juiciness of this dish, the meat was actually moist! Kebabs are sometimes formed meatballs in the Indian culture, but for our purposes here, it is used to describe a "boneless" meat dish. As you can see, it is served with some lemon wedges, use this for added moisture and to lighten the dish a bit.  

As expected, one of the dishes we got was their Butter Chicken. This dish was really rich and creamy, with a great sauce perfect for pouring over the rice in your bowl. I found the chicken slightly drier than the one in the kebabs, even though it was in the sauce. Perhaps the chicken was made ahead of time and then dunked into the sauce afterwards. The sauce was also a little saltier than expected, almost as if it has reduced too much. 

I am a sucker for lamb, and we got the Rogan Josh. The lamb chucks were very good, and the meaty texture was maintained despite the slow cooking involved. There is a good heat to the sauce (not blow your mind hot) and the perfect amount of saltiness too. I could drink this sauce. 

The next dish I tried was their Eggplant Bhurta - which is made from whole roasted eggplants and then pureed and cooked into the curry with onions and tomato. The consistency is very rich and creamy.

This place has 12 types of tandoori breads with their own tandoor in the back. There are 8 naans alone! The Peshwari sounds interesting...with almonds, pistachios and cashews! The other one I want to return and try is the Keema, made with ground lamb. Tonight, we tried their Lacchedar Paratha as well as their regular and butter naan. 

All of these breads are great for mopping up the various sauces and curries. Just something soothing about eating with your hands and playing with you food! 

You just can't have Indian food without some rice to soak up the delicious flavours of the curries, so we tried their long grain steamed basmati rice - served in a serving large enough for two to share. 

For dessert, we had the Rasmalai, which is essentially sweetened cottage cheese dumplings (don't worry, it's nothing like your regular cottage cheese). The dumplings are flavoured with cardamom and rose water. The lightness of the dumplings is what really sets this dish apart.

One unexpected choice for dessert is the cheesecake - shocking to discover in an Indian restaurant but they have it! Ours was topped with strawberry and chocolate sauces but choices change frequently so ask ahead if you're interested. 

The owners of Robson All India hosted us for this dinner but had no input into the review of their restaurant.