Posted by Jim at January 13th, 2006

Just thought I’d make note of a couple changes in local restaurants.

Taste of India
First, the relatively good news. As someone who likes Indian food, I’ve occasionally gone to Taste of India. In my opinion, one of the best things about Taste of India was the buffet–$6.99 for adults and half that for children under 10. Though I tended to like the the food at Bombay Cuisine a bit better, Bombay has a more expensive buffet.

And I’m kind of cheap. So, we tend to go to Taste of India’s buffet when there’s no food in the house on Sunday after church.

Taste of India has new owners now.

As we drove up to the restaurant, we noticed that a sign hung over the empty storefront next door proclaiming that Taste of India was expanding into that space. I also remember seeing something about dancing. Also, they changed the buffet. Some of the stuff is still there like the tandoori chicken, but they added more entrees, more types of chutney, and from what I can tell, some of the vegetable dishes seem more fresh than I remember. Also, with regards to the tandoori chicken? They now make more than one kind.

As for the price? Just the same except that they no longer have hard and fast rules about what they charge for kids. For example, half the cost of one person covered both of our kids, making it overall cheaper.

Thus, while I’ll miss the old owners, it looks like the restaurant will improve.

There Can Be Only One
Looks like there’s only one ethiopian restaurant left in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ibex Ethiopian’s phone number has been disconnected. On the bright side, Little Africa still exists (and was pretty busy tonight), but, if you want Ethiopian meat dishes you’ll have to drive to Ann Arbor or Chicago.