Motimahal

Motimahal
1422 Gerrard St E
416-461-3111

This evening, I had the chance to head over to Little India to satisfy my craving for some affordable, and tasty Indian food. Located in the East end of the city on Gerard between Coxwell and Greenwood, sits a pocket full of Indian stores and restaurants known as Little India.

We (Nancy and I), decided to head over to Motimahal for some typical Indian cuisine you would find in and around the area of New Delhi. We had come here a couple weeks earlier for a quick take out snack and were not disappointed. I ordered a gobi paratha (cauliflower stuffed pancake) and Nancy had Papri chaat (deep fried dough with a wide variety of sauces and flavours - sweet, salty, sour, spicy) which were both delicious and tasty.

Takout Snack Review:
For the paratha, it was made fresh to order, with tons of fragrant cauliflower. The smell was so strong and pungent that it started seeping through the takeout bag as we were walking back to my car. And the taste did not disappoint - hot, fresh, chewy, delicious gobi paratha - almost the same as the ones I used to get for 10 rupees outside my flat when I was living in New Delhi. The spicy sauce that was also included finished the dish off nicely giving it that bit of spice so common in the local food.

The chaat looked and smelled exactly like I remember getting it from the street vendors back in India. And while I didn't try it this time (it's not my favourite dish), I would guess that it was delicious.

It was with these expectations that we decided to go back to try out some more offerings from Motimahal.

Atmosphere:
For the most part, the restaurant is pretty dingy and not exactly the cleanest. The lights were a little dim, the floors are sticky and grimy, a fruit fly paid our table a visit, and they only have plastic utensils. I should also mention that this restaurant is a cafeteria style restaurant - you go up to the cash, place your order, and they call you when it's ready for you to pick up. The limited service that they have was quite poor tonight; and apparantly the restaurant is quite popular as a wide range of people go there to eat including young families, couples, and singles.

Dinner Review:
Enough about the decor and ambiance - on to the food! For dinner, both of us ordered the meat-thali which is a large plate with a variety of stuff on it. We opted for the butter chicken, which came with 2 pieces of naan, veg biryani, salad (pickled onions and carrots), a lentil dish, and a dish of your choice. I opted for the mutter paneer (peas and tofu) while Nancy had a cauliflower dish which was probably gobi masala. To put it bluntly, the food was terrible.

The chicken came out cold (colder than room temperature, but not quite refrigerator cold), the butter sauce had almost a bile flavour to it and was completely inedible. To be fair, the mutter paneer, veg biryani, and plain naan were solid. The lentils and salad - average, nothing special and nothing to write home about. I was also a disappointed that the meal didn't come with a papadam (I believe most places usually include it with the thali), and the paneer in the mutter paneer was sorely lacking in quantity.

As you can tell, the meal was extremely disappointing, especially after the delicious snacks we got a couple weeks ago. I'll give the Motimahal the benefit of the doubt by saying it was an off night for them, or it could be the case where only certain things are worth ordering from their menu.

Rating
Overall, I would give this restaurant 1 star - which may be a little harsh - though it fits the description of "a fair place not worth rushing back to but may have something interesting." I won't be making a special trip down here anytime soon, but if I do end up in the area, I would consider another gobi paratha - but that's probably the only thing I would consider.