Restaurant Project: K

I'll be honest, umbran and I got hung up on K for a long time. There were plenty of interesting-sounding restaurants that we wanted to try, but a lot of them were just a challenge and a half to get to. It seems like just about every K restaurant in the area is in Boston proper, Brookline, or other areas that are equally unfriendly to parking and requiring of multiple buses, T lines, and/or other travel techniques to reach. And given how miserable work has been lately, by the time I get home most nights I've been frustrated, exhausted, stressed, and not quite in the mood to expend the effort to trek out to goodness-knows-where for experimental food.

But I was also getting frustrated at our lack of progress. So, one Saturday a couple of weeks ago, I informed my husband that, come hell or high water, we were going out for our K dinner that night, and that while I was at work he should perhaps hunt down a restaurant - any restaurant - that fit the bill. He responded with the suggestion of Khushboo, in Lexington. It was nearby, it was easy enough to get to, and we'd been looking for a decent Indian restaurant since Namaskar in Davis Square closed. I looked at their menu online and wasn't too jazzed, but I decided to go for it.

I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. I love everything about it, and I can't wait to take everyone I know and like there. I fell in love with my first bite of food, and it just kept getting better.

As I mentioned, it's incredibly easy to get to, and, wonder of wonders, there's more than enough free parking to go around. The restaurant itself, though out on a busy street, is upstairs in a quiet, private space (even though the place is huge, it's laid out in a way that makes the tables seem secluded and set apart) that makes you feel safe and set apart from the rest of the world, and it smells like heaven.

I'm a fan of Indian food in general, but I'll admit I tend to rather stay in a rut with what I order. We tried to branch out a *little* bit for this experiment, though, and while we ordered a bunch of our favorite things, we also tried to vary from our standard at least a little - so we wound up sharing veggie samosas, lamb korma, saag paneer, and some plain naan, all of which was amazing.

I was even impressed by the papadums that they brought out for nibbling. While they suffered a bit from the humidity (it was one of the most egregious days of a particularly humid and hot summer), they were still tasty, and the plum sauce they served with them was the best I've ever tasted, tart and zingy and actually fruity. The chutney they served was more to umbran's tastes, but he liked it; I'm just less of a fan in general.

The samosas were good, though to be honest they were the weakest item of the night. The filling was very mild, and mostly potato, but the crust was delicious. It was tender and rich, and not at all greasy; I can't wait to try their non-veggie samosas and see how they compare. The dipping sauce seemed to be pure cilantro, so I just ignored it, though umbran thought it went well.

The naan was the best I've ever had. It was hot and steaming and fresh, and buttery and chewy and every possible positive adjective that one can apply to fresh bread. I would eat it every day if I could.

We ordered all of our dishes mild, since we didn't have enough experience with this particular restaurant to know their spice calibration - while I'm not afraid of spicy food, and have been developing more of a taste for it over the past few years, I tend to take my experimenting with heat cautiously, and I prefer flavor over burn. That said, mild seemed to be a good setting here. Everything had rich flavor, and just enough kick to have a little burn but not enough to wash out the other flavors. In some restaurants, "mild" can translate to "bland," and that wasn't the case at all.

The lamb korma was perfect - the meat was meltingly tender, and the sauce was sweet and tangy and rich with just enough spice to have a little bit of kick. And the saag paneer was smooth and delicate, and the paneer wasn't rubbery like it can be sometimes, and I just cannot say enough good things. The rice was neutral enough that it didn't register; I'll admit I'm not much of a connoisseur of the stuff, and for me it's mostly a vector for sopping up sauces.

We didn't wind up ordering dessert, having stuffed ourselves full of delicious meat and spinach; even with that, there were enough leftovers to make fabulous next-day bento lunches for both of us. End result? New favorite Indian restaurant, and I can't wait to go back and try everything else on their menu. I am SO happy we wound up trying it.

So. Recommendations for L? Or, anyone local want to go out for Indian food in the near future?