A Royal treat for lovers of Indian cuisine

Published 3:41 pm Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Recently, my co-worker handed me a paper menu. “You should try this place,” she said.

I looked at the menu. Royal India, it said, and listed a Lynnwood address that was, conveniently, near my husband’s path home.

I stopped what I was doing and called my husband. “Can you pick up Indian food on your way home?”

It wasn’t hard to convince him.

He found the restaurant, easy to miss because it’s a fairly anonymous building on a busy street, 196th in Lynnwood. I’ve passed it dozens of times on the way to the Edmonds ferry and never noticed it. Its central location, however, makes it convenient for many people to grab a quick dinner on the way home.

Or, of course, you could dine in. That’s what my co-worker who told me about it did. She appreciated the colorful buffet with a wide assortment of flavors, from curry to butter chicken and hot naan bread. She also enjoyed the big pot of self-serve hot chai. She had at least five cups.

We enjoyed the food at home, however.

We started off with the mango lassi, which my co-worker had recommended from her earlier visit. It tasted kind of like frothy melted sherbet. It was amazingly delicious. I offered it to my daughter, who I knew would love it.

“What is it?” she asked suspiciously. She currently distrusts any food she doesn’t recognize.

“It’s like melted ice cream,” I told her. “Just try it.” (I always say half of parenting is just proper marketing.)

She took the world’s tiniest taste, still looking suspicious. Her face changed immediately, and she took an actual drink.

“It’s so good, Dad,” she said, and handed it to him to try.

He tasted it, too. “That IS good,” he said.

We shared the mango lassi between us as we started in on our real dinner.

We ordered both the plain naan ($2.50) and veggie naan ($3.95). The veggie was my favorite. I particularly loved the small bits of carrot cooked into the bread. The naan was extremely thick, which I appreciated. My husband said he would have preferred it to be thinner.

Hazel ate all the naan we gave her, so I’d say it was a hit.

For dinner, I ordered aloo gobi ($11.95), which is one of my favorite Indian dishes. It’s not particularly exotic, perhaps, but the mixture of potato and cauliflower with the rich Indian flavor is the perfect comfort food.

The dish was spicier than I’d expected. Jerry said he’d ordered it with 2 stars, but it tasted more like 3. It was definitely spicier than Jerry’s entrée, which was supposed to be 3 stars. Perhaps they mixed up the order or perhaps it just tasted spicier in the aloo gobi.

I found the spice level perfect, especially with a cooling sip of mango lassi. I didn’t offer any cauliflower to Hazel, however. She likes it but I knew it’d be too spicy for her.

She did eat a lot of the rice that came on the side. She liked the small bits of carrot in it.

Jerry ordered tikka masala chicken ($12.95). It was made with tender chicken swimming in a silky, creamy sauce. It was lovely with the naan.

I finished off the meal with kheer, a type of rice pudding. It was sweet and rich. My tongue tried to separate the mix of flavors but I couldn’t identify them all. Whatever precisely they make it with, it was creamy and delicious. I couldn’t eat it all, so I saved the rest for a decadent breakfast.

Jerry took the other leftovers for lunch the next day. He was pleased with the convenient containers that traveled well and let him reheat everything easily.

Now I just need to return and give the buffet a try. There’s so much on the menu I wasn’t able to try. If it’s anything like our take-home food, it’ll be worth the trip.

Royal India

7531 196th St. SW, Lynnwood; 425-967-3636; www.royalindiacuisine.com.

Lunch and buffet: Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner: Monday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Vegetarian: Many options

Alcohol: Beer and wine