Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine Restaurant Review Little Rock Arkansas
Do you remember the very first moment you ever tasted a certain food?
The first time I ever had Indian food was in a seedy, dark, 2nd floor eatery in Wanchai, a neighborhood of Hong Kong, seated across from a stunningly beautiful Chinese woman named Vida. We were co-workers and when she found I had never had Indian food, she was determined to give me an education.
And did she. My recollection is she ordered most of the menu and we plowed through it with abandon, washing down servings with Kingfisher beer. I loved every bite. Every new flavor, every nuance.
Later in my tenure in Hong Kong, I moved out to a small island an hour ferry ride from the city, and we had our very own, very small Indian restaurant, sat about eight, and it was my habit to spend most Saturday afternoons there – when I wasn’t traveling Asia for work.
So in Little Rock, Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine is the place. “Mehfil” means “an evening of courtly entertainment or concert of Hindustani classical music and dance, performed for a small audience in an intimate setting.”
No such entertainment at this elegantly appointed restaurant, and we went for a highly recommended buffet, which as luck would have it, wasn’t being offered that night.
No matter, we ordered old favorites from the very complete menu.
We started with complimentary poppadum (flat, dried wafers of spicy lentil flour, deep fried), moved into naan, both garlic and cheese, with bowls full or raita (yogurt with cucumber and cilantro) for mopping. A gaggle of chicken dishes came next, saag, tikka, and tikka marsala. All poultry cooked in the tandoori clay oven, giving it that nice charred texture and smoky flavor.
No room for dessert, in fact we took a lot of food home.
The restaurant wasn’t very busy for a Friday nite (perhaps because they cancelled the buffet?) so service was attentive and pleasant. The gent was kind to explain dishes or ingredients we had questions about.
They did not have Kingfisher beer (sad face) – he said it was “no more” and I thought he meant out of business, but more likely he meant at the restaurant. They also did not have Tiger Beer, another beer frequently served with Indian in SE Asia.
So it was Stella for me, wine for the rest of the table.
I’d like to go back for the buffet. They’d regret letting me in.
Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine Restaurant Review Little Rock Arkansas
Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine Restaurant Review Little Rock Arkansas