Embassy Restaurant: Samosa King
5210 Finch Avenue East, Units 9-11
416-332-0944
Lunch for two, with all taxes and tip (no beverages): $10

Even before walking into Samosa King, the first thing I noticed was the ridiculously long cafeteria-style display of desserts and hot food that spanned the entire length of the restaurant. The second thing I noticed was the similarly lengthy throng of customers lining up to order. As my friend and I queued up we were acutely and awkwardly aware of our presence sticking out like a sore thumb, as two people who were completely unfamiliar with the menu, and as the only Chinese-Caucasian duo in a sea of Indian regulars. Amidst the fluidity of said regulars, we moseyed down the line, staring open-mouthed at all the tasty choices and feeling just a bit overwhelmed at the sheer variety.

Samosa King has a nice, clean-cut look to it. There isn’t really much elaborate decoration other than some ornate tile work in warm, inviting colours. Besides, it’s the food bar that really stands out. Menu items are displayed on the wall behind the take-out bar, along with special deals printed out and arranged along the far end of the restaurant. Samosa King has two primary sections: the main take-out section, and the seating area behind it, which was dark and closed off at the time (reserved for private functions only).

Admittedly, I’ve never been to an authentic Indian restaurant. And after ambling alongside the looong food bar and ogling over all the choices, I still didn’t know what to order. The desserts were in a rainbow of different colours, some wrapped in gold and silver foil. As I skipped past the section I recognized one of the desserts, a flat, intricately designed medallion-shaped sticky orange thing I had tasted before when I was little. I remember it was much too sweet for my taste.

Being rushed along in line I only had time to glance at a few of the menu items on the wall. To my delight, no single food order seemed to go over $5! Other dishes like the meat or vegetarian thali, butter chicken, and channa masala all sounded incredibly scrumptious, and so did the vegetarian patties and breaded jalapeño peppers being displayed. With a rough idea of what to order for my next visit, I re-focused my eyes on the samosa mountains ahead of me that were quickly disappearing.

Seeing the amount of samosas being bagged for the customer ahead of me (easily 12 at a time, if not more), I knew I couldn’t let those little fried pockets of goodness escape. I watched the enormous tray of samosas behind the counter get slowly emptied into brown paper bags and my heart sank. As the last samosa was bagged, the server disappeared into a back room, returning with another huge tray piled high with those savoury treats (Yes!). So I settled on some vegetable samosas (5 for $1) and an order of vegetable biryani ($3.99). My friend was decidedly a bit more timid over her initiation to Indian food, and ordered four chicken samosas (2 for $1).

While the samosa’s exterior was a bit thick, it was also surprisingly flaky and crisp. The interior was stuffed full of potatoes and peas tossed in spices, and every time I bit into one, it made me wonder how the filling didn’t burst out during cooking. Moist and not too spicy, I managed to get through two samosas before even touching the biryani. I’ll never make that mistake again. The chutney was a bit spicy for my taste, and the biryani was delicious with just the right amount of spiciness and made with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and both red and green peppers. The chicken samosas my friend ordered unfortunately didn’t do it for her. They look identical to the vegetable samosas, but the filling looked a bit murky and all I could really identify were tiny white specks of chicken. Eventually the volume of food was too much to bear, and before long I was forced to capitulate. I mean, how else do you contend with a whole box full of rice?”

Having glimpsed but a small portion of Indian cuisine, I can only say that my palate has been expanded yet again. However, until I gain enough confidence to venture into Indian markets to experiment with homemade Indian food, I will gladly face that ridiculously long take-out line again. At least it’s long enough to give me time to come up with an order!