DESILICIOUS!
PUNJAABI BY ANY OTHER NAME
Editor’s note: This article was posted before restrictions on dining out went into effect in the province of Ontario in early January.
By SUVARNA SHASTRI
First, a flashback. Many months ago – make that many, many months ago – Kanta had said her grandson loves the gummies at Punjaabi Grand Indian Buffet.
My first time there, I was a little intrigued. They offer gummy candies as part of the buffet? How is that Punjabi?
“Ah, but these are mango and tamarind and even paan flavoured ones!” she said, steering me inside.
The buffet offered a good choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, $17.99 for lunch and 23.99 for dinner on weekdays, $19.99 and $25.99 on weekends.
Appetizers included alu or paneer tikkis, mini samosas, pakoras, spring rolls, chilli potatoes, pani puri, chaat papri, Amritsari fish pakora, chicken pakora, etc.
Except that the chaat items were tucked away at the other end of the L-shaped buffet and not with other appetizers so I missed them on my first round.
It was only after I had enjoyed my fill of kadhi and tawa vegetables, the bharta and chhole with the tandoori roti they bring hot and fresh to the table – or naan, plain or butter, if you prefer – and walked up to check out the dessert section that I spotted them.
After the salads, after the desserts, relegated to a corner.
But I am not one to skip pani puri and took some along with a bowl of rasmalai.
They offered a choice of sweet and sour or spicy paani and of course I took the spicy one.
It turned out to be satisfyingly spicy, more like the paani one gets at chaat stalls back in India.
Kanta is by now used to my way of enjoying dessert – a few spoons of rasmalai or gulab jamun and a paani puri or a spoon of dahi vada – but I continue to have to grab and hold on to the chatni or paani or dahi vada when the wait staff come to clear the table. If they spot me enjoying dessert, they assume I am done with the rest of the stuff.
“Please leave this,” I say. They oblige with a smile but look a little bewildered.
Kanta and I have an ongoing discussion on the topic.
“There have to be others who do this,” I say.
“No, not really, I haven’t seen anyone else do this,” responds Kanta, firmly.
She asked me if I had seen the pastries and mini brownies in the dessert section and I had missed those, too, though they were more visible, placed on stand on a counter facing the buffet.
This is where the gummy candies sat in little bowls.
Kanta helped herself to a handful.
Women will do stuff for their grandchildren that they would never dream of doing for their children.
But that was then.
The place is now called Punjaabi Sweets and Restaurant but that is not all that has changed as we discovered on a recent visit.
The buffet is truncated, and not so grand anymore.
One arm of the L-shape is now dedicated to a sweets counter. And only one row of dishes was open on the remaining arm.
Chana masala, dal makhni and palak paneer were the only choice for vegetarians.
Pakoras and pani puri for appetizers, with a yellow barfi and a white barfi and balushahi making up the dessert section.
One thing that remains unchanged is the fresh hot naans they bring to the table. And what a pleasure that is, after months of take-out meals. Naans don’t really travel well, do they?
I also noticed that they have munchies – or chakhna – on their drinks menu. The offerings looked interesting, because along with the ubiquitous masala papad, they have kala chana chaat and roasted peanuts or moong dal spiced with chopped onions, tomatoes and coriander, etc.
The buffet is now available only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. But please call ahead and check as things can change from day-to-day as restaurants navigate the pandemic and everything new variants throw at us.
“I miss the gummies,” said Kanta as we left.
• Punjaabi Sweets and Restaurant is located at 150 Windflower Gate in Woodbridge, Ontario and their telephone number is 905-265-2292.