The Fatty
An Exploration of affordable dining pleasures of the Bay Area
By Kay

This month: Curry Café 1497 Solano Ave. Albany, CA 94706

Da' Pository:  Great-tasting food, nice outdoor atmosphere for lazy weekend afternoons

Da' Negatory:  Decor on the inside looks like High Tech Burrito

Convenience: Located in the Solano Ave. shopping district

Price: Lamb curry dinner- 10.95 Limca soda- 2.00

When the weekend rolls around, I don't want to do jack.  I want to sit at home, relax, and do nothing.  As such, I'm not jumping at any opportunities to cook either. Ideally, I'll be sitting down somewhere nice, where someone is preparing a delicious meal for me.  Nothing is more satisfying than taking your time eating a meal on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  Even if it's a little pricey, sometimes you have to spoil yourself.
 
Curry Cafe on Solano, which specializes in Pakastani Indian Cuisine, gets the job done nicely.  They have only been in business for a few months now, but they attract quite a crowd with their prime location and exotic menu.  When I go there I always order the lamb curry dinner. This is a full course meal that includes sliced lamb cubes in curry sauce, basmati rice, naan, daal, and vegetables.  I also order a popular bottled Indian beverage called Limca.  It is really the works, so make some room in you before you go.
 
You can order lamb curry a la carte but I prefer the dinner option because you get all the trimmings.  Also, eating the lamb curry by itself isn't terribly appealing because it is very strong in flavor and is much better if you have other side entrees to balance out its intense spiciness and savoriness.  The dinner works well because every entree balances one another to give you a full range of flavors to indulge in.

When your server brings your food, you are given four different plates.  Everything is piping hot and freshly made.  The main entree, lamb curry, is delicious.  It's tender, spicy, and savory, and swimming in a rich curry sauce. The naan is excellent. Freshly baked and lightly buttered, its texture is reminiscent of pizza crust, with an almost burnt crispiness, but soft and chewy on the inside.  The basmati rice is buttery, flavorful, and savory.

The cucumber salad is sliced in strips and garnished with sliced tomatoes.  A refreshing chaser to cleanse the palate, it works pleasingly well with the entree.  The vegetables are comprised of steamed potatoes, carrots, and sliced onions in an oily sauce, hinting of spiciness.  The daal is bland like bean paste, with a lentil-like texture and flavor, and served as another good balancer.

Limca is a lime flavored Sprite-like drink sold in traditional cola bottles. It has an unusual but pleasing flavor. It might be a bit of an acquired taste, but it's good, and something about drinking out of a glass bottle makes it more fun to consume.
In the end, Curry Cafe offers a delicious, exotic full course meal at a reasonable price, and is conveniently located on Solano Avenue in the North Berkeley/Albany area.

The only qualm I have is the decor.  Curry Café's space was previously occupied by High Tech Burrito, and unfortunately, it still looks like it.  It's been fixed up a bit, but still retains the sterile aura of High Tech.  But at least you can sit outside and observe the activity on Solano on a sunny day.