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Miami New Times
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Décor is unassuming at this downtown lunchroom -- it's basically a hole-in-the-wall, albeit a clean and cheerful one -- and most of the roughly dozen dishes served daily are steam-tabled, not made to order. Still, since most Indian food is relatively slow-cooked rather than quickly stir-fried like that of most other Asian nations, it survives steam-table simmering quite well. Raja's $4.69 combination platter is among downtown's tastiest lunch options, and there are three South Indian house specialties found neither on the steam table nor in any other Miami-Dade Indian restaurant: dosai, uttapam, and idli. These mouthwatering ground-rice pancakes are served with a choice of several stuffings and/or toppings (the rolled potato-filled masala dosa crêpe and the thicker onion-packed uttapam are particularly good) plus sides of sambar (a soothing vegetable-packed puréed lentil dhal) and spicy/sweet coconut chutney; among the few made-to-order items, they are well worth the ten- to twenty-minute wait.
On a scale from one to ten, the décor at Raja's hovers somewhere around zero, meaning nothing -- but it's very, very clean. Nonetheless this hole-in-the-wall is a tiny treasure well worth preserving. Yet considering the now-you-see-them-now-you-don't pace at which downtown development is obliterating low-rent operations, one cannot help but worry about Raja's. And it's not just because the mom-and-pop luncheonette is unique, or because the Kandaswamy family, who hail from... More »
Décor is unassuming at this downtown lunch room -- it's basically a hole-in-the-wall, albeit a clean and cheerful one -- and most of the roughly dozen dishes served daily are steam-tabled, not made to order, which definitely puts them in the "fast food" rather than "fine food" category. Still, since most Indian food is relatively slow-cooked rather than quickly stir-fried like that of most other Asian nations, it survives the steam table well. Raja's $4.69 combination platter is among... More »
Editor's note: Periodically we will publish capsule reviews like those below in addition to our weekly full reviews. Contributors to this installment include Lee Klein, Pamela Robin Brandt, Greg Baker, Becky Randel, and Karen Figueiredo. More... More »
There are highs and lows in the restaurant-reviewing world -- a low, for example, being the week I got food-poisoned twice at the same South Beach joint. A high was the day I discovered Raja's. Because even though Miami has many Indian... More »
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