DESILICIOUS!

A serendipitous (and delectable) discovery in Vermont

By SUVARNA SHASTRI

As a family, we like to explore local eateries while travelling. We also like to check out Indian restaurants, if any.

This has resulted in some seren-dipitous discoveries, some great venues and some great food in hole-in-the-wall places.

On a visit to Vermont, we drove into Burlington for a day. Walking around the downtown core, we concluded that Toronto has a long way to go and a lot to learn from other cities. This tiny city has used its waterfront so imaginatively that one can’t help but wonder why Torontonians have such a blah lakeshore.

On the street sloping down to the water, we saw shops selling local arts and crafts – and, of course, Indian handicrafts! – and cute little cafés. It happened to be commencement day at the University of Vermont and the streets were packed with girls in pretty summer dresses, boys in suits and proud families walking tall beside them.

We picked up a few gifts and then decided to break for lunch. All-knowing Google revealed a couple of Nepali restaurants in the vicinity (many Nepali refugees settled in Vermont, I learned later) and I would have loved to try one, but we were much closer to one called The India House and so that’s where we headed.

It’s a small place, with street parking. A handwritten notice on the door informed us that anyone who got ticketed would have the amount reimbursed by the restaurant!

Inside, portraits and paintings of Sikh soldiers from World War I lined the walls and a small buffet was laid out on a trestle table.

I saw kadhi-pakora on a chalk board menu but it was MIA on the buffet table.

When I asked a young man working at the restaurant where the kadhi was, he responded with a grin. “That’s an old menu. But there’s lots to eat, see?”

There were vegetable pakoras, naan, something called naan-puri (pieces of naan that had been fried), saffron rice, vegetable biryani, dal makhni, matar-mushroom, mixed vegetable curry, tandoori chicken, chicken curry, kheer, tea and coffee. A small bowl contained an onion chatni that was finger-licking good. Another bowl had a card in front of it that identified it as raita, but it was empty.

That was not a deal-breaker and we dug in. The food was simple and hearty, the staff were friendly and chatted with guests who were obviously regulars.

“We have reshmi kabab for him today!” said one to a gentleman who walked in with his little boy, much to the little one’s delight.

Lunch for two set us back by a grand total of $24.40.

• India House Restaurant is located at 207 Colchester Avenue in Burlington, Vermont, USA. Their phone number is 802-862-7800.