Ashoka the Great
9474 Black Mountain Rd
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 695-9749
www.indianfoodsandiego.com
I had a real craving for Indian food this past weekend. I really wanted to head downtown and pay Royal India a visit for their lunch buffet, but there wasn’t enough time and I didn’t want to deal with finding parking. So Boyfriend and I headed over to Ashoka, which serves the lunch buffet until 4 pm. I still prefer the taste of Royal India, but Ashoka offers a lot more items during their buffet. You can read about my previous visit to Ashoka here.
I was pleasantly surprised to find on this visit that they were offering quite a few dishes I didn’t see on my last visit. Our buffet came with complimentary regular and garlic nan. The nan wasn’t nearly as thick and fluffy as my last visit, but it was still tasty.
The items I was most excited to find was a goat curry and a lamb rice dish. This was my first experience with goat (that I know of). I was afraid it might be too gamey, but this version wasn’t. It was definitely gamier than lamb, but not too gamey for my taste. It kind of reminded me of rabbit.
After sampling all the different items, I ended up getting seconds of the lamb, goat and this one yellow vegetable curry that was really tasty (it had spinach leaves and what I think is barley).
For dessert, they had this fruit cocktail with an orange sauce and kheer. I don’t particularly like the kheer here. It seems to be missing an essential spice. I’m thinking cardamom but I’m not positive.
The one thing about Indian food is that it fills you up fast. Between the curry, nan and rice, I can never eat more than one big plate and I’m full for quite a few hours afterward.
I’m not a big fan of the desserts either. Except for the kheer pudding, but only at certain places and the places I’ve like it at, it reminds me a lot of a chinese dessert, though I have yet to identify which one it reminds me of.
I was really surprised to see goat too! I dont think I’ve ever seen goat at an Indian restaurant.
Hi Faye! When I went to the filipino place, they didn’t have goat that day. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to try goat the first time Kirk recommended it to me; I’ve had goat’s milk and I definitely was not a fan of that. But then I decided to try it out. I’m not sure if the version here I had was mild or not, but I didn’t feel like it was too gamey. It was just like a strong tasting lamb taste to me (like, sometime the lamb is really mild and sometimes it’s stronger..it tastes like when there is a strong lamb taste if that makes any sense)
I haven’t been to Taste of India. Do you like the selection they offer at the buffet. I think almost all the buffet lunches offer fresh, hot naan. At least the ones I’ve been to.
I’ve tried a few good Indian buffets here in California too….goat curry….just love it. The only spread I don’t go for in Indian buffets is the desserts.
I used to go to Ashoka a lot since I lived and worked in the UTC/Mira Mesa area. Sadly, there was never any goat whenever I went! I’m curious… I LOVE lamb so I’m guessing I’ll like goat as well.
Brave soul – eating goat and all! I thought you’ve eaten goat at the Filipino restaurants before (or maybe that was Kirk!)…
The only AYCE Indian lunch place i go to is Taste of India (also on Miramar). But it’s pretty much b/c they make you fresh naan whenever you ask for it! Have you tried that place?