Begum Palace - Gem of the North

My dad celebrated Fathers Day this past Thursday with his two "little" girls: my sister and I. We started off the day by surprising him with a new Smartphone like ours. We were so proud and so was he! We were so famished after we went over all the cool features and setup of his new toy, that we decided to go out for dinner. After dining at most of the restaurants by our town, we decided to trek a bit farther and went to Begum Palace restaurant in Madison.
Although the restaurant appeared small, it was quite the opposite inside. Since we went on a Thursday night, it wasn't too crowded or noisy, which was perfectly fine with us. I especially enjoyed the music; it was a mix between classical Indian, instrumental, and trance. Here are some pictures from our evening for your viewing pleasure.

We started off the evening with some appetizers: Mirchi pakoras, pani puri, and papdi chaat. I loved the pani (seasoned water) in the pani puri a lot; it was cool and refreshing. My parents love spicy food, so they enjoyed the mirchi pakoras. The appetizers were so tasty, we finished them off pretty quick and couldn't wait to dig into the entrees. We ordered Bhooni Bhindi (Green okra cooked with onion, tomatoes and various herbs and spices), Saag and Paneer Koftas (chopped spinach and Indian cheese dumplings in a tomato based gravy sauce), and Achari Chicken kebabs (Hot and spicy Indian chutney infused into the chicken kebabs tossed with onions and topped with cilantro). We ate these with Peshawari naan (Unleavened bread stuff with coconut, nuts and raisins baked in the tandoor) and basmati rice. After all that food, everyone was pretty full but I was still contemplating about dessert. Our dinner was completed with a plate of warm and juicy gulab jamun on the house...we must have charmed the host.

Overall, we enjoyed our evening which was filled with nice conversations, delicious food, and good company. My parents were impressed with the courteous wait staff and the friendly nature of the owner who strolled by a couple times to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. That's what I call SERVICE. I would definitely dine there again!