My hometown has diversified

I grew up in a sleepy suburb of Ottawa called Blackburn Hamlet. I haven't lived there since 1998 but I still visit every once in a while since my parents still live in the house that they moved into when I was 2 and some of my high school pals are there too.



It was a great place to grow up -- lots of places to dig in the dirt and collect crayfish and tadpoles. However, variety was never it's strong point. I was one of the only non-White kids in the school (aside from Brian Cheng the Chinese kid) and at that time the restaurant options consisted of a selection of fast food chains. It's a good thing my mom is such a good cook.

So two of my friends from high school took me to a new chain establishment, Moxie's, that apparently the entire eastern suburb of Ottawa also decided to frequent on a Thursday night. It may have been due to the scantily clad hostesses and servers, but the food was decent. The extremely loud 80s and 90s music playing overhead was a little odd. I think their goal was to bring a bit of the "big city" feel to the 'burbs.

I tried the Beef Tandoori, which the server warned me was very very spicy. It was spicy, but I don't think that it warranted the very very for me since most of my taste buds have been burned off by previous cooking experimentation. It was very pretty.



Even prettier was my tea bag that I had with my dessert. Soooo silky!

Passage to India

I learned while at my conference that Bethesda, MD is the city with the highest restaurants per capita in the US. The restaurants that I did try were really showing me something including this place, "Passage to India".

Here is the website:

http://www.passagetoindia.info/

The owners seemed to be there and all the staff very helpful. They were quick to accommodate our request for separate checks as we were all semi-strangers eating together because we were all attending the same conference. The menu is organized by region, which is cool because I don't think I've been to an Indian restaurant where there was so much selection. I was disappointed that there was no paneer on the menu, but I guess that didn't fall into any of the regions?

I had an appetizer that I had never heard of before:

SEV-MURMURA CHAAT
An exotic combination of puffed rice, cilantro, vermicelli, dates and tamarind




This salad was very tasty with lots of fresh flavours.

Followed by:

CHICKEN KAIRI LAUNJI
Chicken with raw mango preserve and pickle spices




And because I am a pickle freak I also ordered a side of pickles. Which was good because they were xxxxxtra spicy!

One of my dining companions had the sampler:
CHEF’S SAMPLERS
The following Khazanas (treasures) are a selection of our best sellers presented to you on a silver platter. You will be served an assortment of appetizers, followed by an array of entrees accompanied with saffron rice, lentils, raita and topped off by a dessert.
SAMUDRI KHAZANA – Seafood assortments







Overall, a yumtastic experience and I would definitely go back if in the area again!