The Connaught Place

Update: RIP Connaught. Most of the staff can be found at Infusion, in Tysons. Raaga’s menu more closely resembles the Connaught of old, but they’re happy to make your favorites at Infusion.

Hey- they love us, we love them- and love [and good food!] is a wonderful thing.

Seriously, we tend to shortchange the restaurants we like the most. [Maybe because we don’t want them ruined?] So, a more serious review.

Service is impeccable at this Old Town Fairfax Indian restaurant. It’s hard to go wrong with anything on the menu. [One of our friends insists that the lamb rogan josh is not lamb rogan josh, but something else entirely. I believe him, but even he admits that it is darn tasty, even if it isn’t “authentic” LRJ.] Some of my favorite dishes are: chicken tikka masala, palak paneer, paneer mahkni, the aforementioned lamb rogan josh, mutter mushroom, lamb vindaloo, yellow dal. It’s best to dine with a few other people so you can share tastes of the various dishes. Rounded out with naan for the table, happiness should be yours. The masala tea is generous with the cardamom, and they will cheerfully refill it all evening. If you can, save room for dessert. Kulfi and ras malai are perennial favorites, as is the carrot pudding. Warm, gently sweet, and delightfully orange, the carrot pudding is a great incentive for eating your veggies!

Every afternoon there is a well-stocked buffet, but don’t be afraid to ask for a menu if the day’s buffet doesn’t suit your mood. Just remember to check the buffet out, as every day it is slightly different.

Go now, and go often, because our beloved Reference Restaurant, House of Lies, will be closing its doors for good October 31.

7/29/04: The food really is quite good, but I’d rate the service merely good, not great. Nontheless, this is the place we all drive to, from all over the greater DC metro area, because it’s a great value and relaxing.

Particulary excellent dishes: chicken tikka masala and paneer mahkni (both in the same sauce), mutter mushroom, lamb do piaza, chana masala, and reshmi kabab. Oh, and don’t forget samosas and paneer pakora. And save room for the gulub jamun and rice kheer... oh nuts, I’ve gone and made myself hungry.

Be sure if you order the lamb rogan josh to tell them that Vijay particularly recommends it.

Unlike some other Indian restaurants, the lunctime buffet is worth the price. With the exception of aloo papri and bhel puri, they put out dishes that stand up to the abuse of sitting around and waiting. They also do a good job of refreshing the steam trays, so nothing sits around for too long.

Worth ordering: rasmalai (a dessert), because nobody else that I know of offers this specialty, which is time-consuming to prepare and doesn’t keep well.

The key part for me is that this place is _consistent_. I’ve been eating here since I first moved to VA and that was 7 years ago and never in that time have they exceeded one standard deviation. Now, that would be nothing but expected if the food was mediocre, but it is not. It is by far the best indian in the local area, even though what they call lamb rojan josh is really lamb dahiwala. But we’ll forgive them that sin, for relentless execution. If I could, I’d hire their maitre’d as my director of logistics for any company I’ve worked at.

Cheap, well-prepared food, sort of like what mom would make, if my mom liked cooking. So mom has two full-time chefs to cook for the house and well, it would be food like what Ram Prasad and Nima would make I guess.

I am hooked on the Paneer Shashlik.

You know you eat out a lot when they not only recognize you at a restaurant, but you catch them casually pointing you out to trainee servers.

Why do we trek 45 minutes each way past dozens of Indian restaurants to eat at Connaught? Because it’s consistently excellent in a style that meets my particular tastes. They don’t prepare the most ambitious dishes, nor do they follow the trends of nouveau Indian cooking (this business of un-bowling rice at the last minute is silly) but what they do, they do very, very well. Their signature dish is chicken tikka masala, but bears no resemblance to the original British dish. This one is far superior. Any of the curries are worth a try, as are the vegetarian dishes. About the only thing I’d nitpick is the yellow dal, which could be a bit richer.

On a practical note, it’s best to park in the public lot across the street and walk over.

I heart Connaught. And not just cuz I can eat so many things there.

It’s cuz the staff recognizes me, and knows that I’ll ask for mango chutney ... and that I haven’t had to ask for mango chutney since 1999. Even when I call in for take-away. And they’ll bring a second dish out if anyone else wants any, cuz I’ll eat one entirely by myself.

It’s cuz I can count on at least one other person being willing & able to meet up with me for tasty Indian food; we all know something that we’ll happily eat there, and that we’ll have a good time. And that I can go there by myself & have just as much fun.

It’s cuz I can order dishes from memory, like aloo gobi, and realize only later (after it arrives) that it isn’t on their menu ... and they made it for me with no muss or fuss.

It’s cuz the dishes that I order from memory, like the aforementioned aloo gobi, are added to the menu when they next revise it.

It’s cuz they know what wine to bring out when I ask for the one that Lisa always gets that I can never remember the name of.

It’s cuz I run into people I know when I am there: sometimes my take-away will cool down a bit as I catch up with folks I haven’t seen in a while.

It’s Connaught! :-)