Gandhi, Rue St-Paul, Old Montreal
Gandhi is a rare bird among Montreal’s flock of well-known Indian restos. Besides being the only one in Old Montreal, it has upscale ambitions, stylishly Indo-modern decor, unusual regional dishes, and (shockingly) a lengthy, varied and affordable wine list. The menu has most of the staples of Western Indian restaurants, but the dishes we sampled had a definite twist to them, more Peshawari than the usual Gujarati or Punjabi.
The interior is minimal and clean, with hardwood floors and a mix of exposed red brick and regular walls in cream up front, and maroon towards the bar and back hallway. The designers sensibly resisted the usual urge to ‘out-India India’ with paintings, mosaics, and associated bric-a-brac - they don’t try to pretend the building isn’t 19th century French. One of the only nods to Far Eastern design are pair of tasteful Persian-arch sculpture niches, with internally lit shelves displaying graceful bronzes.
We visited the restaurant on a Wednesday night and thus, the restaurant was caught understaffed, with only two waiters to serve what seemed like 25 people at one point. It looks like Montrealers are at that breaking point of winter where they just want to go out, no matter what - we saw dozens of would-be diners roaming St-Paul street that night. In any case, service, despite being slow, was highly competent and polite.
After the obligatory starter poppadums (presented with a silver cruet set of quality Branston pickle, raita and tamarind sauces) we ordered a pair of soups- a dal and a mulligatawny. I’ve had dal in pretty much every Indian place in town, and (sorry Grandma) this was the best - subtly herbed with an undertone of earthiness and smokiness, perfectly seasoned. B.’s Mulligatawny was spicy and equally complex.
A pair of meat samosas arrived - filled with lean, minted ground beef and wrapped in a lightly fried, thick and chewy dough (as opposed to the thinner, oil-saturated kind) that seemed to have a kind of perfume to it, much like naan (of which we also had one, which was excellent, as well as a roti flatbread - and I have to come back to try the puris, the small, flat, fried ‘puffball’ breads that I haven’t seen outside the kitchens of friends and relatives.) Sadly, the iceberg lettuce salad that accompanied it was bitter and not an ideal complement to the dish.
Our main dishes were an unusual Malay curry, to which we added beef from the mix-and-match menu, and a chicken dish we’d never seen before, with a spicy mint-based tomato sauce . The Malay curry was thick and mild, rich with coconut milk, with slices of pineapple and whole lychees. Portions were accordingly small, but filling. The one disappointing note was an accompanying spinach dish which had been overcooked, with a pronounced grassy taste.
The wine we selected was our old favourite, the full-bodied Maitre D’Estournel Bordeaux 1999, which was priced reasonably at $26, only a 66% markup over retail. We chose to skip dessert this time, but we’re definitely going back.
March 13, 2003 3:18 PM
