---- 11/10/15 ----
karavalli continues to be our favorite indian restaurant in the capital district. i guess that’s why we’ve been there so many times since they first opened. we both decided to deviate a bit from our normal pattern on this visit however.
i skipped having a samuel smith beer in favor of a flying horse lager ($9) from india. at 4.7% abv i had no problem handling a 22 oz. bottle. it was very light in color with a crisp, clean flavor. probably more of a summer drinking beer, but with the indian flavors and spices it was a perfect match. my wife stayed with her regular new castle ($5).
another regular for my wife is the mysore masala dosai ($9), which is what brought us here tonight, because she had a craving for it. while it was as good as usual, it seemed like both the crepe and the potato filling were larger than previous servings. (see the picture) the only drawback is that we were both comfortably full upon finishing it. entrées were yet to be served.
my wife tends to always order the chettinadu vegetable at an indian restaurant, but this time she decided to try the baingan chettinadu ($14). the difference is that baingan is made with eggplant. both still have a black pepper and roasted coconut sauce. she was very pleased with this variation. i tasted it also and the flavors of the sauce were wonderful and not very sweet at all in spite of the coconut.
my change of pace was to pass on a lamb dish and try the chicken kashmiri ($16) – chunks of moist chicken in an almond, cashew and cream sauce. i don’t think i’ve had a white cream sauce in an indian restaurant before and it was rich and very flavorful.
both of us ended up bringing a good portion of our entrées home along with the accompanying basmati rice and the last piece of paneer cheese nan ($4). all of which we delicious reheated the second day, even the nan.
service was very friendly and efficient. our server asked how our day was as he seated us and checked with us to see if we were ready for our entrées while we were still munching and dipping away on the dosai and sauces.
---- 2/26/13 ----
the place to go for dosai!. we've been going to karavalli ever since they opened in latham. we've been to many different indian restaurants in the area, and quite a few outside of the capital district. while we have found some better far away from home, we have not found any locally that consistently provide such a high level of quality on each visit. and we have yet to find another local indian restaurant that serves dosai.
our usual starter was the spicy mysore masala dosai ($8) - a large, thin, rice and lentil crepe filled with potatoes and served with sambar, tomato chutney, and coconut chutney. this could be a good lunch for one person, but still leaves some room for dinner when shared by two.
lamb saag ($15) was my dinner choice - lamb cooked in delicately spiced spinach gravy. the lamb was not too strong in flavor and blended well with the spinach. half of it came home with me and the lamb was a bit stronger as a leftover. my wife stayed with her usual chettinadu vegetable ($12) - vegetables in authentic spicy black pepper and roasted coconut sauce. it will continue to be her favorite. both entrees were served with a large bowl of rice. we also ordered some garlic nan ($4) that was hot and tasty.
our meals were washed down with a couple of bottles of beer. i don't recall exactly what we had, but since they offer quality beers, i likely had a samuel adams and my wife may have had a new castle. considering we arrived on valentine's day, without a reservation, to what appeared to be the end of the first seating of the evening, we were pleased that they found us a table within about 10 minutes. our total bill was $56.16 after tax and before tip. a very reasonable price for the quality of the food served.