*** This location of India Princess has closed.
This past weekend, the Missus's long Indian food hibernation came to an end. We were walking past an Tandoori restaurant and she turned to me and said, "you'll think this is funny, but I want some Indian food". My reply, "so you want some corn and berries" earned me a dirty look. It's kind of a long story but, during my time doing consulting work in San Diego, the Missus became obsessed with Tandoori Chicken from a certain restaurant in San Diego. So I would have to pick up two to three orders when returning from San Diego. After four cycles of this behavior, the Missus had pretty much burned out on Tandoori Chicken and Indian food as a whole. That was five years ago. During that period we've kind of lost touch with Indian food, but it's a good thing that many Indian Restaurants feature lunch buffets; and India Princess is no exception.
This tiny storefront on Fourth Avenue is pretty deceiving. And it's a looong walk to the dining room.
Since it was the weekend, we went for the Champagne Brunch($11.95). While I went to place the validation ticket in the parking kiosk across the street the Missus got things underway. The buffet is set-up in 3 parts. A garnish, salad, chutney, and dessert section.
A middle vegetable and starch section, and a meat section.
While we were checking out the offerings our Garlic Naan arrived. The Missus forever being proactive had ordered this(it comes with the brunch) while I had stepped out. The Naan was just ok, we've had much better at other places. We enjoy ours more "toasted" and with a much more pronounced garlic flavor.
As with all buffets, there are hits and misses, Indian Princess was no exception. We both loved the Keema Mutter, basically ground/minced lamb with curry, peas, and other spices. We ate the Keema Mutter mixed with the Mint Chutney, making it delici-yoso!!! Surprisingly, I enjoyed several of the vegetarian dishes, the Zucchini Aloo was moist, mildly garlicky, with an almost buttery texture. The Channa Masala, had chickpeas(garbanzos) in a spicy tomato sauce, and was very enjoyable. We both enjoyed the Tandoori Chicken, though a bit on the milder side, was very moist, even the white meat portions. We also enjoyed a type of leavened "bread", the name of which I don't remember, but it reminded us a bit of Chinese steamed buns.
And of course there were the items that were less than satisfying. Specifically the Fish Maharani, in a coconut and curry sauce. The fish was grainy, dry, and tasted "off". It was obviously fish that had been frozen for a pretty long time. Both the Chicken Curry and Chicken Tikka Marsala were on the bland side.
Since we didn't desire any champagne, we got Diet Cokes and a Mango Lassi instead. This "sweet" yogurt drink was very refreshing, and palate cleansing. After tasting a specific dish, we'd take a sip of the Lassi to clear our palate.
If you're well versed on Indian food, a buffet may not interest you. For the fairly uninitiated, like us, a buffet allows us to get some culinary "footing". It also helps if the staff is as helpful as the Gentlemen working at India Princess. One of them actually went down the line, explaining every item to the Missus, and was oh so helpful! It also helps to go a bit early before the restaurant gets too busy.
Some notes: Indian Princess serves a buffet lunch for $8.95 from Mondays through Fridays. The Champagne Brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays for $11.95 from 11am to 3pm. The staff is very helpful and efficient. During the evenings and weekends there is validated free parking in the Medical Office Building across the street. The drill is, you park your car, and when you are seated you are given a "ticket"; you then go back out and across the street and place the ticket in the appropriate parking kiosk slot.
We had such a good time, and after eating 4 plates of food were so full that I forgot to take a photo of the storefront. So I went back to get one later on:
India Princess Royal Indian Cuisine
3925 Fourth Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
