LITTLE ROCK — Amruth
Address: Market Place Shopping Center 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday; 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; 5-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 5-9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday Cuisine: “Authentic Indian cuisine” Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: Beer Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 224-4567 amruth.biz amruthindiancuisine.com
We haven’t had quite the boom in Indian restaurants that we experienced with sushi or Mexican places in recent years. But the Little Rock metro area now has at least four (not counting a food truck or two). Three of them are in west Little Rock, and two of them — Amruth, which has been around a couple of years, and the relatively new Taj Mahal — literally a stone’s throw from each other.
At least as far as its food and service are concerned, Amruth is holding up very well against the competition.
There have been few changes since we first reviewed Amruth, almost exactly three years ago. It’s still a mom-and-pop operation, seats about 50 at yellow-clad tables with soft-cushioned, redplastic dinette chairs and earthtone walls bedecked with Hindu religious scenes between pictures of diaphanously clad princesses. It’s still pretty dark; instead of a sound system, two TVs displayed an Indian cooking show at lunch and Bollywood music videos during our dinner.
A big plus: The printed menu now has descriptions of every dish. When Amruth first opened, it didn’t, casting diners inexperienced in Indian cuisine adrift unless they knew ahead of time to access the restaurant website, amruth.biz. (Now that you no longer need to, the place has free Wi-Fi, so you could access the website right from the table on your laptop or portable device.)
According to the menu, the word “amruth” in Sanskrit means “nectar of immortality with magnificent flavor,” which in our experience is only slightly hyperbolic, and the cuisine is, as the menu claims, authentic. (That the customer base remains largely and demonstrably South Asian speaks well to that.)
The food is as spicy as you request it. And the $8.99 lunch buffet lowers few, if any, common denominators — not everything is hot (either steam-table-wise or spice-wise), but almost everything has a kick and absolutely nothing on it is bland.
At sit-down, you get a complimentary basket of crisp Papad (roasted lentil flatbread which the menu now hip-ly calls “tortillas,” $1.29 a la carte), now with three lively chutneys for dipping — a refreshingly moresharp-than-sweet tamarind, a mouth-tingling green mintcilantro and a mouth-andthroat-tingling chopped red onion.
We were pleased to renew our acquaintance with the Chicken Samosa appetizer ($3.99), crisp-fried conical patties — perhaps croquettes might be a better parallel — stuffed with pleasantly spiced and fairly moist ground chicken chunks studded with green peas.
If you’re a fan of spicy, we can also recommend the Gobi Manchurian ($5.99), marinated cauliflower sauteed in a vivid tomato/soy sauce and served with green bell peppers (and yes, we said a brief prayer before biting into those in case they turned out to be something rather more fiery).
When it came to our entrees, the “pop” owner, who was waiting on us, made sure to ask us how hot we wanted them. Soprano Companion wanted her Lamb Shahi Korma ($12.99), lamb chunks in a brownish almond curry sauce, mild. That’s the way it came out, but though it wasn’t mouth-searing, it wasn’t in any way short on rich curry flavor.
Our delicious Shrimp Makhani ($12.99, also available with f ish) was not nearly as dangerous as the vermilion coloring of the tomato-based sauce it came in, in part because we asked for it somewhere between mild and medium, just enough to give it a little zip without getting any-degree burns.
Both entrees came in metal “boats” with serving spoons and basmati rice.
The menu also offers a couple of goat dishes and some fairly new South Indian specialties, including a variety of dosas (rice and lentil crepes).
No Indian meal is complete without naan, a flatbread baked in the tandoor oven, and Amruth’s plain naan ($1.99, complimentary with the buffet) is excellent, fluffier and more pita-like than we’re accustomed to but quite flavorful. The real winner is the Peshawari/ Khasmiri naan ($2.99), baked stuffed with raisins, almonds, pistachios and cashews, rich enough to eat for dessert.
The buffet, as we mentioned, takes no prisoners, starting with the Sambar, a lentil-vegetable soup ($2.99 off the menu) which you’re supposed to pour over a chewy rice cake for texture. The Chicken Curry and Butter Chicken both have a bigger kick than we expected; the Chili Chicken (spelled on some of the menus, where it’s among the appetizers and entrees, as “Chilly Chicken”), made with mild green chili peppers, packed quite a punch.
Even the Tandoori Chicken ($8.99 off the menu), marinated and then roasted in the tandoor until it shows a light vermilion tinge, which is usually the paragon of mildness where you’d order it for the tender palates of children, had a goodly spice quotient.
Pure fullness on our dinner visit prevented us from sampling any of the very interesting desserts — alas for the mango and pistachio ice creams ($3.19), though we did get to sink our teeth into Amruth’s Gulab Jamun (chewy dough balls in sugar syrup, $2.99) off the buffet. And, of course, we had that Peshawari/Khasmiri naan.
Weekend, Pages 31 on 10/27/2011