As you can see, it's a beautiful temple. Make sure to take off your shoes at the door. Going inside, we were talking about taking a tour, when a woman met us and told us that a tour had just started upstairs. Unfortunately, it seems that the people on the tour were in a bit of a hurry, so we didn't catch much. We were allowed to take a walk around the place (and advised to go clock-wise, for good luck) and take plenty of photos. When we were done, we hit the buffet.
The prices were, well, there weren't really any. They asked only for a donation of what the guest felt was appropriate. The food was a mix of Indian and western dishes, all vegetarian. There was plenty of fruit of vegetables at the salad bar, fries and spaghetti for the kids, a really nice mango and papaya puree, a potato goulash that I went back for seconds for, rice, and some curried vegetables. This is not Emeril-chow, oh no. This is home cooking. This is going over to your friend's house for dinner, when their mom is cooking something that you're not used to, but looks good. The man in charge asked me a good couple of times if I'd tried his wife's soup yet, which turned out to be pretty thin, but very tasty, and very spicy. They even had peach juice to drink. It was fabulous.
We asked about recipes, if they were planning on putting out a cookbook or something, but apparently they pretty much just cook out of the cookbooks available in their gift shop. I did buy a copy of Cooking with Kurma, which is one of their vegetarian cookbooks in the shop, but it would be nice to see these guys put out their own.
It's an interesting experience. Next time I go back, I hope to talk to the man in charge a little bit more, and of course, get some more of the food. If you're in the area, I suggest you head down and check it out.
That's right down the street from my house. One funny thing about the place is that they often they do things for "free" to the public, but they put pretty hard pressure on you to donate. Anyway, fun place to visit, nice people and good food. Everyone should make it there at least once.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that temple before on the way to or from Payson. I've always wanted to stop by and take pictures but just haven't found the chance.
ReplyDeleteNow I have Indian neighbors (that's people from india not native americans if you're confused.) I found out that that's their religion. Maybe sometime I'll have them give us a tour and enjoy the food afterwards. I love Indian food. Do they always have the buffet or is one a weekly/occasionaly thing?