SAFFRON INDIAN CUISINE

Back in October we promised a visit to Saffron Indian Cuisine.  Well, we finally made it. 

Saffron is located at 1500  Mill Street in Greensboro.  Actually Saffron is located right beside Taste of Thai, off Westover Terrace.  And just to be clear, Saffron serves food from India...not maize, turkey and buffalo.

The first thing you notice when you enter Saffron is the wonderful aroma.  Debbie insisted it was the smell of cumin and coriander.  Debbie was probably right (she usually is), but it seemed to be a more exotic aroma than something I can pronounce and can be found in my home kitchen.

Anyway, whatever the case, I recommend you take a deep breath when you enter Saffron and savor it for as long as you can hold it in.  Saffron was no doubt the nicest smelling restaurant we've tried.

Debbie studies Saffron's menu before deciding.

I planned ahead.  I printed out a copy of the menu from the internet and marked what I wanted.  The printout had no descriptions, but I read the descriptions on Saffron's web site.  You can see the menu here,  You won't be able to pronounce anything without some difficulty.  A lot of the dishes are missing photos.  I can't explain that, other than to say somebody doesn't much care about their web site.  Fortunately, their approach to the food is of higher caliber than their attention to digital detail.

Debbie managed to find an Indian wine on the list.  Sula Shiraz is made in India.  Apparently, they make at least one wine in India.  I was not impressed with the wine, but Debbie liked it much better than I.  I thought it had an odd aftertaste. 

Debbie takes a deep sniff of her wine. I guess she liked the way it smelled because she finished the glass with no complaints.

Chai Tea (unsweetened) was my beverage of choice.  It is Darjeeling tea with milk and spices.  I have to admit Chai is much better when it's sweet, but I was trying to be a little wiser than usual.  The tea flavor was much more pronounced in the unsweetened version.  It was very good.

Here is a shot of the entire spread.  You can see it was quite a layout.  We'll discuss it in more detail below.

This is a Tandoori assortment appetizer which Debbie and I shared. The menu describes it as two kinds of chicken and lamb.  I would swear one of the meats was salmon, but salmon is not listed in the assortment description and I can't imagine salmon would cook very well in a Tandoori.  The red sauce to the right is made with onions and something red.  The meats were good, but the sauce was excellent.

A Tandoori is a cylindrical shaped clay pot.  Coals are fired in the pot where the foods are cooked.

This is my entree.  It is Goat Korma (mild).  Yes, you read that right, it is goat.  The goat is served in a cashew and almond paste with fresh cream.  It was incredible.  I can still smell the goat gravy on my fingertips.  I say fingertips because I spent a lot of time with the pieces of goat held by my fingers.  The gravy I ate with a spoon and/or naan, but the goat had to be handled with my fingers to remove the numerous bones.

You'll have to decide for yourself if you think Goat Korma is worth the effort to pick out the bones.  I believe it is.  It was my first taste of goat.  I know you're thinking "ugh!", but don't knock it until you try it.

Per standard procedure, much of the goat gravy ended up on my shirt rather than going in my belly.

My only regret is I should have ordered the Goat Korma medium heat rather than mild.  A little more zip would have added to the fantastic dish.

This is the large collection of bones I pulled out of my Goat Korma.

This is my Goat Korma bowl.  I wiped it clean with Naan.  This should be a clue as to my feelings about Goat Korma.

Note my credit card receipt called the dish Goat Pasanda.  I'll let you google both terms to determine the difference.

Here's Debbie's entree.  It is Boti Kabab  which is lamb marinated with herbs and cooked in a Tandoori oven.  I believe it's the same lamb that was on the Tandoori assortment.  Debbie thought the lamb was tasty but a bit tough

Debbie ordered Raita, a yogurt with shredded cucumber and herbs,  She slathered the lamb with the Raita and put the concoction in Naan to make mini-sandwiches.

I believe this Basmati Rice was served as a side dish to my goat.  I think the idea was to add the rice to the goat gravy.  I tried adding a few spoons of the rice to my gravy, but it didn't help the dish.  The rice was tasty, but a distraction from the very groovy goat gravy.

This stuff is delicious.  It is Naan, an unleavened white flour bread cooked in a Tandoori oven.  The Naan is moderately toasted.  It is crispy, yet pliable.  Very good.  You must order Naan when you visit Saffron.

Debbie described this dish as "I don't know what it is, but it is delicious!"  This is the dessert.  It's Gulab Jaman.  It's milk and cheese balls, fried in butter and soaked in honey syrup.  Why is it that things that taste so good are so bad for you?

Elephants are a "big" thing in India  This one was about two feet tall.  He stood on a shelf above our table.  The restaurant was decorated in a lot of elephant art.

Debbie rated Saffron as a 7.  I gave it an 8.37.  That averages out to somewhere between 7 and 8.37.  Believe it or not, I took two courses in statistics in college and taught mathematics to adults in a former life.

Debbie's rating was lower than expected probably because she thought her lamb was tough.  My rating was high because of the goat gravy.

The tab for dinner for two with tip was about $82.00.  I had a $30.00 coupon to apply to the bill. 

I also had an intuition that there was going to be problem with the coupon.  Sure enough the waiter came back to our table and told me the coupon expired yesterday (Jan. 27) and could not be accepted.  I knew perfectly well the coupon was good.  I took it and read the expiration date as February 27th, not January 27th as the waiter and his assistant seemed to think.  The expiration date was spelled out as "February 27, 2017", not a numerical date such as "1/27/2017". I showed the waiter the February date, he apologized, and processed the coupon.  Somehow two Saffron waiters had misread the expiration date.

Note Saffron is operated by Indians who don't speak or read English any better than Donald Trump.

Our next visit is planned for Leblon Brazilian Steakhouse.

Click images to enlarge.