Spring Break
Food Review: Korma Sutra
Ashley Lindemann
Issue date: 10/24/05 Section: Culture
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4113 Pennsylvania
Even with the plethora of ethnic restaurants from every imaginable foreign locale springing up all around Kansas City, there seems to exist a general fear regarding eating something different.
We're a very Mexican and Chinese food-centric culture: we like our ethnic foods tamed, we like to know exactly what they are, and we like to eat the same ones over and over again.
I realize this prevents many from venturing into Kansas City's international dining scene and exploring a little bit.
It's okay, though: I'm going to walk you through this one step at a time.
Step one: Ask a friend or a date to go out to dinner with you. This ally will act as your security blanket and help you make wise ordering choices.
Step two: Pick a new restaurant - I chose the colorful Indian restaurant Korma Sutra in Westport, next door to Tea Drops.
Step three: Peruse menu, then abandon all hope of actually knowing what to order or how it will look or taste.
This is possibly the most important step - as a newcomer to the restaurant you must throw your caution to the wind, close your eyes and stab your finger at the menu to make a selection.
Alternatively, ask your server for a suggestion.
Chances are he or she will randomly select a dish for you just as well as the finger-stabbing method, so really either way works well.
Trust your intuition and begin to repeat a little mantra: my dinner is about to be delicious.
I promise everything will be okay.
Reading the menu with my friend-date, I hemmed and hawed over the long list of selections under "Vegetarian Specialties" while my friend instantly chose a chicken dish and settled into her seat.
She eats there frequently with her father and is thus entitled to actually choose an entrée with foreknowledge of what it will taste like.
Checking out the "Korma Sutra Vegetarian Family Dinners," I coerced her to change her mind and gang up on the "Two Persons" dinner with me.
The "Two Persons" dinner ($25.95) includes lentil soup, samosas (crisp patties stuffed with spicy potatoes and peas), Korma kofta (vegetable patties cooked with nuts and spices), paneer makhni (homemade cheese and nuts in an a rich sauce), basmati rice, galub jamun (dry milk and homemade cheese balls, deep fried in light syrup and rose water) or kheer (rice pudding with almond flavor) and naan (a poofy flatbread).
That might sound like a lot to eat and, well, it is.
A third friend could easily get squeezed in on the "Two Person" action and everyone would still leave the table full.
Unlike the typical dining experience where you place your order and then fidget with the table cloth until your food arrives, Korma Sutra ensures you continuously have a course of your meal in front of you.
Before I'd even ordered, our gracious and stoically silent server brought out a sample appetizer on the house as well as a typical offering of cracker-thin bread (I think it's called roti) with a variety of sauces and relishes to top it.
The lentil soup, which is very mild with an earthy, calming flavor, and the hearty, quasi-spicy samosas came out next.
The heart of the meal, the korma kofta, paneer makhni, and puffy, garlicky naan, arrived hot with a gargantuan bowl of steamy basmati rice.
The soft vegetable patties in the kofta broke apart easily and played the classic "melt in your mouth" role while the firm cubes of cheese in the paneer dish gave the bites-full of rice and sauce a more textured taste.
For dessert, there were little demitasse-style cups of chai, a hand-washing (yes, they make you wash your fingers in front of them) and cubes of mango ice cream on picks.
Keeping all this in mind, be sure to pace yourself early on and don't be afraid to ask for a box to take home your extra goodies - the entrées reheat well, but the naan doesn't.
Delicious? Of course - that was our mantra, right? Pricey? Not really - the meal came out to $12.98 per person before tax and tip, which is reasonable for the hefty amounts of food that were included.
The restaurant also features a lunch buffet and take-out - however, with the multiple courses and attentive service, I recommend dining in if possible.
Their Web site (www.kckormasutra.com) includes a full menu if you're interested in scoping out your dinner choices ahead of time.
So, don't be afraid.
Take our mantra and your appetite and you'll be just fine.
Hours
Closed Monday
Lunch buffet:
11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Dinner:
Tues-Sun 5-9:30 p.m.
alindemann@unews.com
