Weekend Recap- Valetine's Day edition

Saturday night we asked Nanny Lisa to come over and watch Emma and Jackson while we went out on a date.

("watch" is inaccurate as the kids were asleep when she got here so did some cleaning and I'll assume watched some tv. All I know is my dishes were done, disgusted drain food catcher was sparkling clean, and all living room/dining/kitchen surfaces were cleaned and dusted.)

We'd seen an Indian restaurant nearby, and wanted to try it out. We didnt make reservations (how would we do that anyway??) and just hoped that they would have a table available on Valentine's night.

And they did! In fact, there were only maybe 12 tables in the resturant, and only 4 others were taken. Maybe it was the time (8:30pm) or maybe it was the location (our neighborhood isnt a hot spot) or maybe Koreans just dont like Indian food that much. Who knows.

The resturant is located on the second floor of a decently busy retail street about a block over from the river. The staff (at least those that we saw) was composed of 3 Koreans, probably in their 20's. They spoke English well, and the menu was in Korean/Indian/English, so that was a huge relief.

Jason had chicken curry and I had Spinach paneer. When our dishes came out, we quickly realized rice was not included and asked for a plate of Indian rice to accompany our saucy main dishes.

We shared some Indian flat bread called naan, and later ordered an appetizer called Samosa which is fried pastry stuffed with potatoes and veggies and spices.

When the spicy level of our dishes became too much (but very good), we ordered a glass of Mango Lassi (Indian yogurt drink) to help cool down our tongues.

Our meal (two orders of naan, the Samosa appetizer, the Lassi drink, a chicken curry, and a spinach paneer and an order of Indian rice) was $34 US dollars or 48,000 Korean Won.

A great deal in my book!

We took home enough of our main dishes to have leftovers tomorrow night (I'll just cook up some rice). The staff was very nice. I have no idea if it is common practice to tip your server in Korea, but we did. She seemed suprised but happy, so maybe its not normally done. Oh well!

My one complaint was that my paneer dish only had three pieces of paneer in it and the rest was the (delicious) spinach thick sauce. I really wanted more paneer and Jason would have liked more chicken in his curry.

However, the food was delicious, the staff genuine and attentive, the atmosphere soft and romantic, and the prices very reasonably low.

After dinner we walked to our friends' (Jake and his wife Jen) apartment and hung out for a couple hours before heading home.

A terrific date night!