Dhoom Restaurant & Lounge
204-633-4666
fax: 204-233-4666
dhoom@dhoomco.com
May, 2014
In every Winnipeg
neighbourhood, you can see remains of the once-thriving Pizza Hut. The unmistakable slanted roofs remind me
every time of mediocre food behind gluttonous buffets. Today, most of those restaurants have
reformed to something else but they still can’t shake the Hut look. Dhoom, one of those rebirths, can’t shed its
exterior but the interior looks nothing like its former, shabby self.
The bright and modern restaurant features big, easy chairs
into which you easily melt. That’s a bad
combination when coupled with a good Indian buffet. I’m surprised I don’t see people sleeping in
the chairs, comatose from gluttony and sweating into the seats.
I’m not a big fan of buffets because of the gluttony aspect
and because buffets generally offer plain food to appeal to the masses. The modest buffet here doesn’t match up to
some of the larger restaurants, which offers dozens of dishes, but it does
offer most of the standards. More
importantly, it doesn’t sacrifice any of the flavour.
The butter chicken tastes rich, complex and creamy,
highlighted by big, juicy chunks of chicken (buffet chicken can often taste dry
and dusty). If you don’t like curry, why
would you come here? Sorry—if you don’t like
curry, Dhoom offers traditional fried chicken, which also comes juicy and
moist, without sacrificing the crispy skin.
The Dhoom menu also offers burgers, steaks, pizza (I guess you really
can’t shake that Hut feeling), among other Western foods, but I don’t want to
waste any more stomach space on non-Indian.
The palak paneer tastes herbaceous, without being too
spinachy (for those of you who don’t like spinach). It also has the added bonus of pieces of
chicken. If you want vegetarian, they
have lots of options, including a delicious channa masala with an uber garlicky
sauce (I love garlic!). Goat sits in the
buffet as well today. The flavour’s nice
but I don’t like to eat goat because it’s all bone and no meat.
And here’s today’s rant:
why is it that most Indian or Caribbean restaurants serve goat with the
bone? Like most other animals, I’m sure
you can find goat meat that’s not all spinal column and no flesh!
Anyway, the ultra-friendly server appears quite often to
replenish our beverages. However,
surprisingly, she’s slow on the plate clearing.
Remember that when I mentioned something about gluttony? Well I have four dishes, stacked on top of
each other and they desperately need to be cleared. Just because I eat like a glutton, it doesn’t
mean that I want to announce to all those around me that I wiped out four
plates and I’m working on number five.
Shiny, modern and slick, Dhoom is a welcome addition to the
downtown dining scene. Add a very
reasonable price tag to the deal and I’ll be back at this buffet trough very
soon.
**** /5
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