Thali

For those who know what true Indian cuisine is like, Thali is not that. For those who don't, Thali can be a fun excursion into exotic traditions. The main dish, the thali (Hindi for "tray" or "platter") costs 18€ and consists of a large heap of rice and nine little dishes with various curries, soups and sauces. Most were tasty, some very much so, but none made me feel like I was actually eating in India. True Indian food is spiced very differently. Just the fact that there was no room on the platter to mix the rice with anything, the very purpose of the thali, was enough of a clue. Still, at the end I was full, even though I didn't finish the rice or the dhal, and I didn't regret a thing. The potato curry and eggplant curry dishes were delicious. In contrast, the dhal and rice were perfectly tasteless. The papadam (lentil crackers) were particularly light and tasty, and more were supplied upon request. The vadai (deep-fried lentil patty in the form of a ring) was also quite light and tasty, but the chutney served with it was quite sharp.

All dishes can be made vegan, which basically means that soy yogurt is used in the raita. There are also two a la carte dishes (10€ each) which sounded quite tasty, so that might be a better bet than the thali.

The best part of the meal was the extremely pleasant atmosphere and the very helpful and friendly staff.

Since some of the items were quite tasty, I'll be optimistic and try them again some other time (hence 4 cows). Hopefully, they'll have switched to a better brand of rice by then.