Wear stretchy pants and eat to your stomach's content at Charisma of India's lunch buffet.
Charisma of India Address: 83 Sherbrook Street Phone: 204-222-7878 Website: www.charismaofindia.com Neighbourhood: West Broadway
It's pretty much a guarantee you'll go into a food daze, if not a food coma, after hitting the Charisma of India’s expansive buffet.
Don't get me wrong. It's not because the food is overly heavy. It's that you won't be able to stop at just one plateful of the magnificent curries, dahl, biryani, samosas and bhajis at Charisma of India.
Indeed, the compulsion to devour everything in sight starts the moment you open the door to 120-seat, Sherbrook Street eatery. You're immediately hit by a wave of coriander, curries, cardamom and cumin perfuming the air. Even after lunch, those exotic scents will delightfully linger in your hair and clothes for a few hours.
The lunch buffet is loaded with 15+ vegetarian and meat (goat and chicken) dishes, which ranged in spice from mild to medium.
We easily fed our 19-month-old son from our plates without worries that the food would be too spicy.
Besides, heat lovers can add extra spice from the adjacent sauce table, which offered several sweet, savoury and spicy options, including tamarind sauce and mango-curry chutney. There was also plenty of raita—a yogurt and minced cucumber condiment—to douse any fires.
Butter chicken was a rich and decadent dream of smooth and sweet tomato-infused sauce loaded with hunks of tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken. Aloo gobi was replete with pieces of mildly curried potatoes and cauliflower.
Basmati rice and a vegetable and curried basmati biryani was also served. All-you-can-eat warm, buttery naan bread is included and delivered fresh to the table.
A sign posted above the buffet listed food allergy warning and gluten-free dishes for patrons.
Desserts are also part of the package. Gulab jamun—the syrup-drenched Timbit-sized balls of dough delivered a luscious finish.
The lunch buffet costs $12.99 per person. Charisma of India is licensed and has an à la carte menu with a wide range of dishes during lunch and dinner service. Charisma of India is open seven days a week. Lunch buffet is served Monday to Saturday. Dinner buffet is served every night. Also of note: a belly dancer wows the crowd with a performance on the second and fourth Saturday evening of each month.
