Dinner at Jasmine, Indian restaurant, Adelaide CBD.
Nice decor. A bit dimly lit to my liking, but most people would like this.
Very friendly hosts. Guess the Indian couple (Mr and Mrs Singh) were the owners of the place. Staff are alright, although some staff could be a bit more attentive, IMHO.
We had a look at the menu beforehand and made a list of dishes we would like to try. However after sitting at the table, the host gave a special menu and a “Feed Me” menu. Special menu had some chef specials. What caught all our eyes were the “Feed Me” which had a $65/person “Hungry” option or $78 (or so) “Starving” option. This Feed Me menu is a list of chef selected entrees and mains with bread and rice, 2 person minimum.
After a quick discussion around the table we all settled for the “Hunger” Feed Me menu. I was the only vego so I had to ask if they’d be able to serve me vego and the rest meat eaters. The host was more than happy. She was even happy to substitute one of the regular dishes with a vego dish from the Specials menu.
First offering was pappadums, followed by entrees. The vego options were veg pakora and grilled mushrooms. Meat options were grilled fish, pepper chicken and meat samosa. After finishing this course, a few in the table were intrigued by the Blue Cheese Naan. So we ordered 2 serves for the table. Personally, I like my blue cheese in a cheese platter with some wine, not in a naan bread. There were mixed reactions around the table for this dish. One of my colleagues recommended that I try the blue cheese naan with some mango chutney - it was alright, still didn’t convince me that it was a good idea. But taste is very subjective, so each to their own I guess
Onwards, next course were the first round of mains. Veg options were dhal curry, potato and cauliflower dry mix and eggplant gravy, served with a rather really underwhelming small and insignificant serve of rice. The plate had 4 spoonfuls of rice alongside some cabbage and peppers. For the amount of curry served, the amount of rice felt inadequate. The veg option also came with a serve of roti (2 nos) (Chappathi) as their naan bread has eggs in them. I asked for fresh chilli, was provided with a chilli paste.

I had used up all the rice and Chappathi even before half thr first round of curries were done. So I ordered 2 more Chappathis.
The meat curries were prawn curry, butter chicken, beef curry and potato and cauliflower (same as the vego option).
After a while, we had the second serve of main curries. This time the veg options were the special okra curry and palak panner (cottage cheese in a spinach gravy). The okra was really good. Worth being on the Specials menu. The paneer was really good, the gravy was a bit bitter to my liking. But it is expected to have a mild bitter profile (due to the green leaves used in the base gravy).

I was very full at this time and I didn’t notice what the second round of meat curries were. But everyone in the table seemed to enjoy their meals. Mango lassi were doing a few rounds in the table (as expected when dining in an Indian restaurant in Australia).
After the mains, we had to take a break and had some chats around the table. Some were sharing their life experiences and it was nice to know people outside of work and professional setting.
Then came the desserts. Now dessert, coffee/tea were not covered in the “Feed Me” menu. So we ordered desserts separately. Half the table turned down desserts as they were simply too full and didn’t want to eat. I thought I’d skip dessert too. I was later convinced to take part
The remaining half of the table went with Gulab Jamun served with Kulfi ice cream. The Jamun’s itself was really juicy and right amount of sweetness. The kulfi ice cream didn’t hold up it’s part of the dish, I thought. The ice cream was alright, but not as memorable as the Jamuns.
I’d definitely come back, but I’d limit myself to a few dishes next time.