After much excited anticipation we finally got to Brick Lane Curry House in Montclair. Sadly, I was not that impressed especially with the high price tag for dinner for two.
I will admit I am in the minority, the reviews on this place are all very good. I will also concede that Brick Lane is probably the best Indian in Montclair, but I have certainly have had much better elsewhere and at half the price. Maybe it was a bad night, I will have to give Brick Lane another try.
One hightlight of the evening was the wine, a lovely Albarino named Pazo San Mauro that is made by Cristina Mantilla a woman, who with other women like Alexia Luca de Tena, is breaking the gender barrier of wine makers of Spain and producing fabulous wine. Ladies of Spain Wall Street Journal. It paired perfectly with the food we had.
It is bottled in green glass but pours as a light yellow straw-color. It has apple and and grapefruit on the nose with lots of tropical and citrus flavors without being overly fruity. It is light but cuts through and compliments and contrasts with the spicy deep flavors of Indian cuisine.
We had two appetizers first the Imli Baingan which is fine chips of eggplant topped with tamarind sauce and cheddar cheese. An interesting take on Nachos Indian style, but some of the eggplant was crisp which was nice but some was soggy.
Then the Lassuni Gobi a dish of crispy cauliflower florets tossed in a tomato and garlic sauce. This was fine just not amazing as I was expecting.
For a main course I had the Shammi Kebabs Minced lamb patties cooked on a griddle, flavored with mint and ground garam masala. It was good but really needed the raita which took the dish from $17 to $21.
You know, I am not cheap and often spend a lot on food but I wasn't expecting to pay that much here.
We also had a Dhansak, a Parsee delicacy, with chicken cooked in a lentil and tomato curry which was nice but also did not knock my socks off.
Maybe with all the rave reviews I was wrongly expecting something more wonderful. Like when you finally see that movie that everyone says is so good and think well that was good but...
The room is nice, but nothing special, square and brown, and it gets crowded and noisy quickly. The staff is fine but really added nothing to my experience. Oh well.
Part of my unhapiness came with the dinner check that included 12 bucks for chutney, naan and raita, stuff that comes free at some places. Looking further I see that better Indian restaurants do charge extra for chutney but not $4.00 for a little dish.
Next time I'll go for one of their lunch specials.
Brick Lane Curry House
540 Valley Road Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
973 509 2100
