Adventure 62: Chautara

Chautara Restaurant (no website)
334 State St.
3 Adjectives: Cozy, adventurous, flavorful.
Price: entree (7-32)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, mmm...yoso ...
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Chautara is one of two Nepalese restaurants on State Street, the other being Himal Chuli. Since they are owned by relatives the two places serve different dishes to keep things varied.

Chautara has a nice lunch menu with many items being less than $10. On our most recent visit, I got a pork dish (above) while my friend ordered the dosa (left). The food also came with dal or salad. I recommend the dal, a nicely flavored lentil soup. My dish was nicely flavored and the dosa was nicely conceived with a huge flamoyant crust. However, it was not much different than dosas at Indian restaurants.

The restaurant is also quite spacious for a place on State St. with booths downstairs as well as more tables upstairs. Much of the place is adorned with interesting artwork and the walls are painted with flowers.

Since dinner does get quite expensive, and many of the items you can also get at cheaper Indian restaurants, I would recommend Chautara for lunch only. You get good food in a nice and quiet restaurant for a decent price.

Adventure 59: Bubble Island

Bubble Island (no website)
777 University Ave.
3 Adjectives: Novel, saccharine, empty.
Price: drinks (2-4) froyo (3-5)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: 77square, thedailypage, madisonatoz, ...
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Also, see Jahboh's edit for Fugu! I was prompted to return again after many people told me their experiences were much better.

I was extremely excited when I heard about this bubble tea and froyo place that had opened up in the East Campus Mall Food Court. Excited enough that I decided to brave the rather dull fast food spots that had opened up in the same location and check it out. I love bubble tea (sadly I've only been able to get it at Nam's and Asian Kitchen) and froyo craze seems to be spreading across the nation so I was eager to get a taste of the food here.

Unfortunately, the food at Bubble Island is rather disappointing. Most of the food is too sweet, and not particularly enjoyable. The mango lychee bubble tea drink I ordered tasted like pure sugar. The froyo is equally as sweet and the fruit toppings I ordered had chunks of ice in them.

The few times I have been in the food court, the area has been strangely deserted - even on days when there are plenty of students around. Therefore, it seemed awkward that Bubble Island even supplied games.

Overall, my experience at Bubble Island was a disappointment. I would not recommend this place for either the froyo or the bubble tea. Hopefully a more satisfying froyo place will open up in Madison in the future!

Tossy's Review will be coming soon!!!

Adventure 53: Fugu

Fugu: Asian Fusion (website)

411 W. Gilman St.
3 Adjectives: confusing, disappointing, hopeful?
Price: app (3-10) entree (8-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: none so far
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Edit: I returned to Fugu recently (June 09) and the service was much faster, but it was a bit annoying to see that our bill for the four of us included gratuity (and our receipt after we gave them a credit card also had a space for tip)! Shadiness!
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The first time I saw Fugu, I was shocked to see that a new restaurant had dared to replace the revered Yummy Buffet and wondered whether it really could live up to the famous/ or infamous previous occupant. Therefore, on opening week, a few friends and I checked out the place. Additionally, we heard that there was traditional on-a-cart dim sum, something the group was very excited about. However, what we did not realize prior to embarking on this trip that dreaming about the dim sum was going to be the the highlight and our expectations were going to be accelerating downhill from this point onward.

Upon stepping into the place, the restaurant's previous occupant was nearly unrecognizable. Major wood and bamboo additions along with dimmed lights and paintings suddenly elevated the status of the place to that of Takara and we were very impressed.

However, once we were seated and given menus, we were quite confused to see that there were two kinds. One was in a fancy blue binding while the others were in a plastic binding and the menus were completely different, yet both featured entrees. Also, dishes like "wonton soup" would randomly be in the Thai section while typical food such as "scallion pancakes" weren't even found on the plastic menu. One of my friends chuckled, "boy, they should really add three letters to their name and rename this place Asian CON-fusion." (This was quite the foreshadowing of what was to come, I now realize.)

Since the only item on the menu that looked immediately fun was the bubble tea (in this case named smoothies with tapioca), we ordered that and proceeded to check out the rumored cart dim sum. This turned out to be a major disappointment as a lone waiter wheeled up to us a cart with three items. He was also very difficult to communicate with so we tried out two of the dishes: sweet bean paste dumplings and what he said was shrimp (but what we were pretty sure was pork, it was definitely not shrimp I will tell you) dumplings. Luckily, it still tasted okay. About 20 mintues later, our bubble tea came out (tapioca undercooked) and at this point we realized we were in for a long lunch. After trying to hail a waitress, we discovered 10 minutes later that there were only five items on the dim sum menu. At this point, we should have probably followed suit with the group next to us and left the place in fury (they made quite the scene) but we decided to stick it out and see just how bad it could get.

Finally, we were able to place some orders off the main menu (after some confusion about the differences between the fancy blue menu and regular menu) and wait yet another deathly hungry 30 minutes for our food. Once again, the food was tasty (order of the basil pasta was especially good), albeit less in quantity than what you would get at a place like Nam's.

Although I do not blame the waiters themselves, I do blame the restaurant management which should have seriously evaluated the type of traffic they would get at this hour on State St. Additionally, there were some gaping issues involved in menu development, waitstaff training, and major deception about the dim sum.

Since there are no other real reviews about Fugu out there, I will make this my obligatory PSA:
DO NOT GO TO FUGU FOR THE DIM SUM ONLY. YOU WILL BE SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED.

Overall, Fugu has some crippling organization problems they must deal with immediately. While the food was tasty enough, the wait time was completely unacceptable. We were there for essentially the entire lunch period (2.5/3 hours) and were either hopelessly confused about the food options or twiddling our thumbs and starving for most of that time. In it's current state of confusion and identity-crisis, I would not recommend Fugu to anyone. Please, just go to Nam's Noodles instead and you'll get a lot more food with comparable taste a lot faster.

Adventure 50: Maharani

Maharani Indian Restaurant (website)

380 W. Washington Ave.
3 Adjectives: flavorful,
Price: buffet (9) app (2-8) entree (8-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganess:
Other Opinions: tripadvisor, yelp, madisonatoz, madisonmagazine...
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There is not much downtown competition for good Indian food and maybe it's because Maharani is among the best you're going to get around the city. Perhaps second only to Maharajah on the far west side, Maharani serves a delicious lunch buffet that will certainly satisfy any Indian food craving.

The restaurant is quite big for a downtown restaurant and has everything from booths to tables wrapped around the long buffet bar. I always go to Maharani around lunchtime to sample their varietal buffet (11-3). The single dish entrees for dinner are not as interesting to me as the buffet where you get to sample a variety of delicious foods and is cheaper than any of the single entrees. Most of the buffet dishes are those that are found in many Indian buffets such as dosa, palak paneer, and tandoori chicken. My favorites are the malai kofta (veggetable meatballs in tasty sauce) as well as the butter chicken. These are not to be missed and I always find myself wiping my plate clean with naan to savor the delicious sauces. Maharani also has several nice desserts with the mango ice cream and the kulfi (spiced ice cream) being the best. My only complaint about Maharani is that the food is not as spicy (hot) as I would like as they probably have tried to Americanize some dishes.

Overall, I would highly recommend the lunch buffet at Maharani as the Indian food stop and as a good place to bring friends who are vegetarian. Maharani lives up to its name and is definitely fit for royalty.


Basically the same as other Indian restaurant lunch buffets Tossy has been to in Madison, but it does not matter, because Indian lunch buffets are tasty. Tossy has no problem with another Indian place close to campus. Buffets offers many varieties of curries, tasty stuffed breads and samosas, and nan (best ethnic bread, in Tossy's opinion). Tossy's only complaint is the desserts, which are all dairy based.

Adventure 47: Vientiane Palace

Vientiane Palace-Regent (no website)
1441 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: Flavorful, soupy, Americanized
Price: entree (5-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: dailypageforum, ...
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After my trip to Campus Biryani, I noticed a new restaurant had opened next door after Trapani's disappearance. I was very excited about the opening of a new Vietnamese/Thai/Lao restaurant near my apartment and had to go quickly investigate with a friend.

The inside of the restaurant had a similar layout to that of the neighboring Campus Biryani. However, the quality of the furniture and decorations seemed to be slightly nicer.

For an appetizer, we decided to be adventurous and try the deep fried calamari wrapped sausage. The idea sounded appealing, but the result and the execution of the dish (above left) was mediocre. The sausage turned out to be wrapped in a dried and hardened layer of calamari and did not look especially appetizing. The dish turned out to taste okay minus the fact that it was a bit dry, even after dipping it into a ginger soy sauce.

For our entrees, I decided to go more standard and order the curry squash (above) while my friend ordered a spicy beef dish. I had pretty high expectations for the curry squash as I routinely order it at Lao Laan Xang, so I was greatly disappointed when out came a soupy curry with about five bite-size chunks of chicken. In addition, I really could not identify any distinct pieces of squash, but there was a great overabundance of onion. Luckily, all the favors seemed to go well and I had plenty of it left over. The spicy beef dish was also pretty average (but had more meat) and though it did not contain curry, had similar Americanized-Asian flavors as the curry (so much so that I was able to mix the two leftovers into a pan the next day and cook it with pasta and it still tasted fine).

I did not leave Vientinane Palace very satisfied. The over souped- little curry bothered me to the extent that I would apply the "less is more" standard where the restaurant should have simply reduced the amount of sauce and onion in the food. If you are looking for cheap Southeast Asian food, I would wholeheartedly recommend Rising Son's on State instead.

Adventure 46: Campus Biryani

Campus Biryani & Kebab (no website)
1437 Regent St.
3 Adjectives: quirky, cheap, fast
Price: entree (6-13)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, hobszeitgeist...
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Located across the street from The Regent, Campus Biryani is a quirky restaurant that boasts both Indian and Mediterranean cuisine. Despite the somewhat questionable interior, the restaurant serves some delicious cheap food.

My biggest problem with the layout of Campus Biryani is the haphazardly strewen fast food restaurant furniture and ketchup/mustard/napkin arrangement. Also I would not recommend using their bathroom. Considering the deliciousness of the food, the place could certainly use some refurbishment to bump up the atmosphere (I may not even mind the prices going up). What is kind of neat about the place is the cool Arabic tapestries and the BBC-like English/French news broadcasting in the corner (upon closer inspection it's Al Jazeera, a nice ironic jab at the news media that seems to constantly want to portray this TV station as extremist). If you get past the atmosphere at Campus Biryani (which is also generally devoid of other diners since this place does a lot of delivery orders), the food is actually quite good.

The cheap food at this restaurant is generally excellent if you know what to order. My favorite dish is the chicken tikka with rice. The chicken is very flavorful with many spices and it comes with a generous helping of biryani rice. If you are an adventurous seafood eater, I would also recommend the shrimp dish (photo above) which is a very flavorful cumin shrimp dish that is actually cooked with whole shrimp, something that is rarely done in town. The fries at Campus Biryani are also generally good and come with a tasty yogurt sauce. What I do not recommend at this place is the naan and the vegetable mango. The naan is simply warmed greek pita that simply does not work with the Indian dishes. The vegetable mango is very bland and appears to be cooked with a frozen veggie mix.

Campus Biryani adds a good ethnic addition to the south west side of campus. If you are really not comfortable with the sketchy layout of the restaurant, there is always the very fast delivery option.

Adventure 41: Bandung

Bandung Indonesian Cuisine (website)
600 Williamson St.
3 Adjectives: Americanized, pricey, quiet.
Price: app (1-14) entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, ...
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Happy New Year readers! Here's to a year of more unique and delicious restaurants to visit. I've been on vacation for awhile so I'm a little backed up right now. The next five-ish reviews should be coming out faster than normal.

After seeing a cool coupon in the Bucky Book - a buy one get one free at Bandung - I was quickly prompted to check out this restaurant. An Indonesian restaurant in Madison? How cool is that? I thought.

Bandung is located past the square (from campus) in a strip mall next to one of the most confusing intersections in Madison: the John Nolen - Williamson - Wilson intersection. The strip mall also contains several other Asian restaurants as well as Sardine. Upon arrival, I walked into a nicely decorated and quiet restaurant. The place was mostly dominated by couples and groups of four. Our waitress was very nice and knowledgeable about all of the menu items, and even pronounced all the dishes perfectly.

After some consideration, I settled on the bebek bakar or cripsy duck with garlic sauce (above photo). My boyfriend got the sambal goreng udang, a shrimp dish in candlenut lemongrass sauce (below). We also ordered the Lumpia, spring rolls, for an appetizer. The lumpia looked and tasted like a spring roll but was unfortunately rather small. The duck pieces definitely had a nice cripsy skin with a meaty interior, the way Asian duck is usually prepared. The shrimp were tasty but apparently few in number. While the food was overall good, it was not in any way distintly Indonesian. I felt like these dishes could be easily ordered at any semi-upscale fill-in-the-blank Americanized Chinese/Vietnamese Restaurant. In this case, this restaurant also happened to be on the more expensive end. Lucky for us, the bill was nearly half off due to our coupon.

Given the normal priciness of the restaurant, its distance from campus, and its unremarkableness, I would not really recommend it to anyone (unless you have a half off Bucky Book coupon). If you want something truly ethnic that far off campus, try Lao Laan Xang which is just a few blocks away.

Adventure 37: Lao Laan Xang

Lao Laan Xang (website)
1146 Williamson St
3 Adjectives: Cozy, adventurous, flavorful.
Price: entree (9-16)
Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Veganness:
Other Opinions: yelp, madisonatoz, vegguide, ...
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Located slightly East of the Capital, Lao Laan Xang (pronounced: la-OW long zang - rhymes with 'dang!') is unique in that it is one of those restaurants that serves a cuisine found nowhere else in town. Despite the lack of pressure in competition, the restaurant shines in its specialty: Laotian.

The restaurant resides in a cozy house-like building decked out with Christmas Lights around the window on Willy Street nearly right across the street from the Willy Street Co-op. There are about ten tables in the restaurant so, if you have a larger than four or six party you might want to try their Atwood location about a five minute drive East.

The menu at Lao Laan Xang features a variety of curries, stir-fry-like dishes, rice dishes and soups. In addition, there is a four star spicy system from one star (timid) to four stars (native Lao). The system is definitely spicier than ones you will see at other restaurants in town so pick one star lower than what you normally have. Another tip is to go spicier on curry but less so on the non-curry dishes.

The singular dish that is a must-order is their curry squash (photo above). It is a delicious mix of creamy butternut and acorn squashes with eggplant and zucchini. After talking to the staff, we found out that their basement is actually chock full of squashes so they can prepare this high-in-demand dish all year long. If you are a little more adventurous, try out their house specialties. I had the Tom Som (photo) on my recent visit and thought the dish tasted very unique. The hot and fresh chicken breast was paired with a tasty crispy cold salad. It also came with a cute container of sticky rice that you could eat once the spicy salad got to you. Its a rarity a restaurant around here will go out on a limb and serve food with unique ingredients such as tamarind and unripe papaya rather than go with dull over-sweetened Americanized Asian food. One thing I would recommend avoiding at Lao Laan Xang is their stir-fry-like dishes. My few encounters with them have always been rather mediocre. If you are at a Laotian place, you might as well try something exciting rather than the run of the mill Chinese-like stir fries.

Lao Laan Xang gets four stars for it delicious food and its dare to be authentic attitude. I would highly recommend checking this place out. Both the 3 and 4 (and on weekends 7) go out there in case you don't have a car.

Lao Laan Xang has loads of delicious vegan dishes. Tossy has only had two or three herself, but is sure the rest are wonderful as well. Her favorite are the mock duck and whatever the tofu dish is with six billion different kinds of mushrooms. Actually, there are only three, but it is still delicious.