Meena’s offers a vegetarian feast

We’ve been fans of Indian food for years. Sure, we’ve been spoiled by a friend from India who cooks up a storm and could open her own restaurant.

For the most part, the Indian restaurants we’ve been to feature North Indian cuisine. So when we set out to visit Meena’s Kitchen, which specializes in vegetarian South Indian food, we brought our friend – the one that cooks up a storm. She was our guide through what was a delicious and leisurely meal and had been to Meena’s before.

But for those of you not lucky enough to have such a friend, the menu does include good explanations of the dishes. So be adventurous. We didn’t have one bad dish. You can’t go wrong.

Our suggested we order at least one of the daily six-course specials ($12.99) so we could sample a lot of the dishes, and we recommend at least one person in your party do the same. But here’s the thing: All the courses come out one at a time and it takes a while to get through them. This is really not the place for a quick lunch or dinner if you’re going for the special.

We would have preferred the individual little dishes were served all at once, as they’re shown on the menu.

The meal started with a cup of Moong Rasam, a kind of lentil soup which was a thin broth which was very tasty.

Then, we were presented with the Aloo Bonda, a potato dumpling dipped in chic pea batter then fried – not unlike a larger falafel – served with a spicy tamarind dipping sauce or chutney. This was Mrs. T for T’s favorite, especially because of the mouth party created by the savory hot and salty chutney.

Next came the Uthappam, which looks kind of like a flatbread pizza and in fact, is a sourdough kind of pancake topped with onions, tomatoes and cilantro with little ramekins of sauce. This was a really hearty dish and quite filling – something between a quiche and a pizza.

The Uthappam was followed with Chapatti, a whole-wheat flatbread, and Kofta Curry, a tasty vegetable dumpling in gravy with tomatoes, onions and cashews.

Then came Paneer (cheese) Burji, a kind of thick stew with tomato and onions.

Then, we tried Vegetable Biryani – that was a name with which we were familiar from North India cuisine – basmati rice cooked with vegetables and served with a nice, cold onion Raita (a yogurt sauce).

The final course in this prix fixe meal was dessert – in this case Rasmalai – a cheese dumpling soaked in sweet condensed milk and spiced with cardamom. Just for the record, Indian desserts are very different from ours. That being said, our faithful dining companion said this was not the best version of the dish she’s had.

In addition to the six-course meal, we ordered some other dishes on the menu.

Apparently, you can’t say you’ve eaten at a South Indian restaurant without trying a Dosa – a giant (think satellite dish circumference) sourdough crepe.

We also ordered a Mysore Masala Dosa ($7.99), garnished with red garlic chutney and served with spicy potato curry, chutney and sambhar. The crepe was wonderfully brown and crisp. You’re meant to tear off pieces and pile the potato and chutneys on top and eat with your hands. We loved this, although our guest said the sambhar she’s had is usually a thicker, more stew-like consistency with big chunks of vegetable.

We also tried Panipuri ($2.99), a popular street food in India. They are little, hollow crisps, which you break open and fill with things – in our case, chickpeas, onions, potatos and a spice water – which you then quickly pop in your mouth. At first the foreign combination of crispy and wet, cold and soft was a little jarring. Then, we couldn’t get enough.

Overall, this was an excellent meal. If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll be delighted to have such a rich and exciting range of dishes from which to choose at Meena’s. If you’re a carnivore, you’ll still like it. Hey, it’s healthy. Try it.

We have just a few complaints. There was a lot of carbohydrate-packed dishes on our menu, and we all agreed there should have been more vegetable dishes, but Meena says she is updating the menu all the time.

Also, our service was not great. It wasn’t that our server wasn’t knowledgeable about the menu, she was. But she was far from gracious when we inquired about the whereabouts of our drinks, hot and iced chai tea, which didn’t come until toward the end of the meal.

Our guest said she had the same experience with the same server the last time she had visited the restaurant.

But we will definitely return because we loved the food and the atmosphere, which was comfortable and modern, with a great window view of West Pearl Street.

Nashua needed a good vegetarian restaurant, and now it has one.

Do you have a restaurant you would like to see reviewed? Send suggestions to tablefortwo@nashuatelegraph.com. If your pick was reviewed in the last three years, we’ll hold off to make room for newer entried. We give new eateries a one-month window to work out the kinks.