Karma Restaurant

4720 Boulevard Saint Jean
Montreal, Quebec H9H 4B2
(514) 620-1233

I was invited by the owner of Karma to try this Indian restaurant. I have driven by a million and one times and been intrigued by its immensity and beauty. I have always wanted to try it, yet there was always a place I wanted to go to more. Mistake!Yes it might be different from my everyday french bistro cuisine that I love, but variety is they key to life.
I was greeted by such warmth into this building, a friendliness that I have never received at any restaurant before. I must commend the designer of this restaurant, no expense was spared in giving it a true Indian feeling, while making it both new and hip. It sits around 150 people but looks much bigger than that, with a top floor and lights that change colors all night. I must say it is pure beauty, as is the beautiful bar with a great alcohol selection. I must also mention the breathtaking bathroom...can you use the word breathtaking to describe a bathroom? Well anyways, the sink pours into a long cubicle fitted with rocks instead of a normal basin.

Onto the food, the owner came and sat with us to describe what he was going to bring to us and the way Indians eat. To start, every table is brought a lentil type of pita with three different types of chutney, mango, mint and turmeric. The mango was nice and sweet, the turmeric was a nice amount of spice and the mint, well was a little strange for me.The next dish was a vegetable samosa with chick peas and it was absolutely delicious! The sauce used inside was so tasty and sweet and the dough was baked to perfection.

The next two dishes that came were the main courses, the butter chicken and a delicious spiced lamb. The butter chicken charcoal braised boneless chicken simmered in a butter, tomato and cream sauce...not much more to say but fantastic. I was literally spooning the sauce and eating it as a soup becayse it was so flavorful. The chicken was so tender that a spoon could have cut right through it. The spiced lamb was also so tender, but the sauce wasn't my favorite. The tasty juicy lamb  then made up for it. A delicious butter and garlic naan bread was just great- I kept dipping it in the butter chicken cream sauce. This all came with plain rice, but in reality I was way too full to eat much more then a few spoons of it.

For dessert, an absolutely fantastic Gulab Jamun, which is a very authentic popular Indian dessert. This is the first time I have ever eaten this, and it made me wonder why I haven't had Indian dessert before. This dish is made of a dough consisting mostly of milk solids in a sugar syrup usually flavored with cardamom seeds, saffron or rosewater. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream...a perfect mix of dessert flavors.

The bill came to about 100$ with all these dishes, a glass of Chilean wine and a martini. I was given a special price for the meal as I was the owner's "guest", another friendly gesture on his part. In the end, I was sad to see that at 9:30 at night on a Friday, this place wasn't getting much busier. With great waiters, a gracious and friendly host that greets all his clients and thanks them at the end of the meal, I truly enjoyed being here and I am planning on going back, and soon. I want to get the word out there about this place because many like me, drive by everyday, wondering what lays in the world of delicious Indian cuisine at Karma's restaurant.

Food:8.5/10

Atmosphere:9/10

Service:8.5/10

Location:7.5/10

Price:9/10

Overall:8.5/10