Mini-Review: Mahek Restaurant

Mahek is one of my favourite Indian restaurants around. The food is authentic, tasty and inexpensive.

Because I work in the Surrey/Delta area, I've been to Mahek several times. However, we couldn't find a reason to trek out to Delta for a meal any other time. This week some friends from Seattle came up for laser eye surgery and stayed in Surrey. What an ideal chance to get together and show off Mahek to our friends!

Mahek features a wide range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices and your choice of how "hot" you would like your dishes. The four of us ordered samosas, saag chicken, malai kofta, butter chicken, aloo gobi, naan and pillao.

The samosa appetizer came with 2 crispy samosas and a generous serving of curried chickpeas. Steve claimed that these are the best samosas he's ever had! He also enjoyed the saag chicken, tender chunks of chicken in gently cooked spinach. Malai kofta is a delightful vegetarian dish of paneer and cashew "meatballs" bathed in a creamy fenugreek accented sauce. Our aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes) came steaming yet not overcooked. My favourite dish here is of course the butter chicken: chunks of chicken first cooked in the tandoor then cloaked in a rich cream and tomato based sauce. Mmmm...my friend Kamal told me it's best that I don't know how much cream goes into that dish!

Overall the service at Mahek is fast (surprisingly!) and friendly. Tucked away in a strip mall, you wouldn't expect such fine cuisine.

With our dishes, two mango lassis (buttermilk shakes), one local beer and two cups of chai (spiced tea), our bill came to $62 before tip. We rolled away happy, taste buds satisfied. Our only regret was that we didn't have any more space in our stomachs to eat more naan to sop up the delicious leftover sauces!

Mahek Restaurant 9436 - 120 Street, Surrey

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