November 2008
ORLANDO MAGAZINE - City Dining
Restaurant Reviews
Tabla Bar & Grill | Brazas Chicken | Tommy Bahama's Tropical Café
Authentic Indian,
No Passport Needed
Secreted inside a budget motel near Universal, Tabla is an ambitious new ethnic restaurant.
By Rona Gindin
Modern presentations show off traditional Indian recipes at Tabla. Clockwise from left: momos, Manchurian Chicken (a version of a Chinese dish served in India) and balchoo.
It took two visits to get a handle on Tabla, a new Indian restaurant tucked in a budget motel near Universal Orlando. On the one hand, the restaurant clearly has an ambitious chef who’s trying sincerely to bring India’s exotic flavors to a creative new level. In fact, Tabla’s Web site refers to the menu as offering “Indian haute” cuisine. On the other hand, the menu includes unremarkable American items like buffalo chicken wraps and fried chicken fingers as the restaurant tries to satiate the appetites of motel guests with unadventurous tastes.
The restaurant has the same name as a wildly successful Indian establishment in New York City. While Manhattan’s Tabla mixes Indian flavors with local ingredients and Western culinary techniques, ours isn’t nearly as groundbreaking. “Our food is authentic and the presentation is fusion style,” explains chef-owner Shabber Chowdhury.
After learning the basics of Indian cuisine in his mother’s Bangladeshi kitchen, Chowdhury attended an Indian cooking school in Great Britain before working in English and New York restaurants. Chowdhury says he has a “deep love” for Mogul (northern Indian) cuisine and incorporates its elements with those from other parts of India.
“The Mogul empire was responsible for bringing flavors and richness to Indian cuisine,” he says. “My passion is to continuously study and learn from their experiences. I incorporate this into my menu.”
Drive up to the Days Inn on Caravan Court off Kirkman Road and you’ll know immediately that Tabla (named for a drum used throughout the Indian subcontinent) was put together on a small budget. That sort of adds to its charm. The dining room looks as if its tables handled only omelets, burgers and grilled cheese until Tabla took over. Indian doodads and burgundy window treatments tastefully augment the coffee shop aura.
Tabla’s menu is indeed more ambitious than those at most Orlando Indian restaurants. Some items are simply delicious, while others need prodding into greatness.
Momos are rarely found on menus as appetizers around town. They’re Nepal’s answer to dumplings. I’ve been spoiled by a Nepalese friend’s homemade ones for two decades, so maybe it’s unfair for me to judge, but the momos at Tabla paired a scrumptious lamb filling with a too-doughy exterior and a spicy tomato sauce. The appetizer known as balchoo hails from Goa, a section of India once occupied by Portugal. The base is a tender pancake. On top sits a hill of shrimp bathed in a tomato and onion sauce. The flavor is mild, making it a good starter item for newcomers to the exotic spices of Indian cuisine.
Samosas are a more familiar appetizer; Tabla’s are nothing special. Samosas are fried dumplings about the size of a plum, with three pointy corners. The crust usually sizzles, but ours was soggy instead. Inside, a creamy mash of potatoes and other vegetables offered an array of indefinable, but delicious, flavors. A tomato-based chutney, served as a dip, added a welcome jolt of spice. The Manchurian chicken appetizer was a hit with the whole table. Sizzling cubes of fried chicken were covered in a slightly sweet, somewhat spicy red sauce. Cauliflower is available prepared the same way.
The breads, important in Indian cuisine, were of mixed quality. A simple garlic naan was puffy and flavorful. More potato, whole wheat flour and sizzle would have made the aloo parantha a success. I wouldn’t get that bread again.
Among the main dishes, alu bukhara gosht is a succulent lamb stew with a creamy, spicy cardamom-laced sauce. Prunes, potato wedges and cinnamon sticks added a festival of flavors. A mild nav ratan korma is a nice mix of vegetables in an almond- and cashew-based sauce flavored with saffron and green cardamom. Chunks of cheese—those same lusciously mild white paneer chunks common to Indian spinach dishes—made the dish more substantial. From the clay oven, chicken tandoori was nearly a full chicken, and the tender meat was served with a tamarind–mint chutney.
By far my favorite dish of the two visits—turns out I’d ordered it both times I dined at Tabla, but didn’t realize that until I got home and typed up my notes—was murgh anardana. Stewed chicken pieces were slathered in a sauce made with pomegranate, saffron and browned onion.
The servers could not have been friendlier, but they are no more Indian than the restaurant’s American menu items. At the time of my visits, the wait staff was still learning how to pronounce the names of the Indian dishes—and what they taste like.
Still, the servers’ pleasantness won us over, even if they were inept at basic service tasks: on both visits, dirty napkins (and even one dirty plate) stayed on dirty tables once we finished the main course. That’s inexcusable no matter where they’re from.
TABLA BAR & GRILL
ADDRESS 5827 Caravan Court, Orlando
PHONE 407-248-9400
WEB tablabar.com
DINNER $6 to $28
Chicken Little
Brazas serves hearty and affordable meals.
Peruvian chicken joints are popping up all over town, one as good as the next. On South Orange Avenue we now have Brazas Chicken, a homey little spot with warm service and delicious, inexpensive meals. The center of the menu is chicken, which has been marinated in what the menu calls a “special Peruvian sauce.” The meat is tender and juicy, although not as flavorful as at another favorite, Pio Pio. But, all you need is a swipe in one of three sauces served on the side and you’ll be happy: chimichurri (a citrusy garlic-parsley blend), homemade mayonnaise and an herb mix. | Peruvian marinated chicken |
Order a combo to receive a garlicky and fresh avocado salad with iceberg lettuce, French fries and, if you spend more, fried sweet plantains. For a bonus, try the ceviche. It’s a sizeable plate loaded with fish that has been marinated in lemon sauce. It’s served with a huge delicious chunk of corn on the cob, thick disks of white and sweet potato, and oversized corn nuts—which are salty crunchy kernels the size of a Chiclet. We weren’t as enchanted with lomo saltado, a steak stir-fry with tomatoes, red onions and white rice. It was a bit bland. End your meal with caramel-filled churros, which are long donuts. A chocolate cake was very good but not authentically Peruvian. Cookies are made in house. —R.G.
BRAZAS CHICKEN ADDRESS 4797 South Orange Avenue, Orlando
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No Problems, Mon
Tommy Bahama’s restaurant delivers island flavors and sounds.
 |  | |
 | Trinidad Tuna, Wha’Jamaican cake and a fruity cocktail (far left), along with South Seas Scallop Sliders (left), are among the menu items at Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Café. The main dining room has a Colonial-period theme (above) | |
The Pointe Orlando restaurant is essentially an upscale dinnerhouse with a tropical theme—sort of like Bahama Breeze for rich, worldly tourists. And you can pick up a Hawaiian-style camp shirt or straw beach bag in the adjacent retail shop before or after your meal.
The main dining room feels like the great room in a restored Caribbean plantation home. Wallpaper shows wild birds, and a high ceiling has Colonial-period elements. The chairs are wicker or rattan.
I almost missed all this. Although the restaurant was fairly empty throughout my visit, I was originally seated in a corner of the bar area. The booth was nice but it wasn’t in the dining room—and it turned out to be right next to the nook in which the steel pan drum player does his thing. Luckily, we were moved upon request.
The dinner menu is limited and is full of repeated flavors: Sampling only four dishes other than dessert, we came across a lot of ingredients in more than one item. The menu also has little in the way of fresh fish, which seems odd considering its theme. Where’s the grilled yellowtail snapper? Still, the flavors were good.
South Seas Scallop Sliders are a nifty take on small hamburgers. Here slivers of large mollusks are topped with Asian slaw, Roma tomatoes, fresh basil and chipotle aioli, and placed on small sweet buns. Crispy “tobacco” onions finished the dish. The actual crab cakes in Crab Calloway were mild, but the patties sat atop a sweet chili mustard sauce and cilantro oil, so the flavor was intense.
We saw that same chili sauce with the Trinidad Tuna, an Asian-American-style pan-seared fillet encrusted with a lemongrass coating. Lemon garlic oil, an ingredient in half the entrees, enhanced the Tobago Tenderloin, a maple-brined, tender serving of pork with dried cherry merlot chutney, a ramekin of mashed sweet potatoes and grilled asparagus.
For dessert, a dense chocolate–espresso cake called Wha’Jamaican was delicious.
Be sure to start your meal with a fruity cocktail served with a paper umbrella. You can also sample reserve rums.
—R.G.
TOMMY BAHAMA'S TROPICAL CAFE
ADDRESS 9101 International Drive, Orlando
PHONE 321-281-5888
WEB tommybahama.com
ENTREES: $25.50 to $35.50
