Ambadi

141 East Post Road, White Plains, http://www.ambadi-usa.com/

Ambadi is a small, reasonably priced place close to the Sam Ash music store in White Plains with a few small tables, but mainly geared for the take-out business.  We visited it twice in the span of a few days, once for take-out and once to eat in.  It has an informal atmosphere, and an LCD screen that shows Bollywood movies, viewed with passing disinterest by a few customers waiting for their food.

For take-out we had biryani that was aromatic, meaty, and well prepared.  The sag paneer and oily naans were standard issue.  Ambadi is also the only Indian restaurant around here that sells goat curry, so we we ordered that.  I would only put the biryani as being above average.

We decided to visit again a few days later, and settled on some Bombay chat as appetizer, and kati rolls as the main entree.  The chat was fresh and well prepared, but the kati rolls were off the mark.  A kati roll is a paratha, or a rumali roti that is rolled around a filling of grilled or tandoor cooked meats, mixed in with onions and other garnish, and perhaps a tang of lemon.  The intent is to get the taste of dry cooked meat against a background of the other ingredients whose freshness provides a sprinkling of clarity.  The rolls at Ambadi were heavy handed in taste, the filling a mixture of oil soaked fried onions with some meat.  There was no counterbalance, or the feeling of breeziness that one should get when eating a kati roll. 

The visit was disappointing.