Publication Date: Friday Apr 16, 1999

Restaurant Review: Comfort food with an exotic touch

Some are little rubbery squares. Others are syrup-soaked balls. Virtually all of the desserts in the glass case at Mountain View's Dawat Indian Cuisine are foreign and exotic. There are halvas topped with thin layers of gold leaf, fudges and donuts flavored with all manner of unfamiliar doodads, white jellied squares of what looks like tutti-frutti. Castro Street's newest Indian restaurant purveys some of the most exciting and sometimes startling meal enders along the pan-Asian restaurant row.

The rest of a meal at Dawat won't pack many surprises, however.

The back of the many-paged menu tantalizes with the promise of southern Indian dishes seldom seen on menus in this country. There are the dramatic and oversized dosa crepes filled with veggies as well as the gently seasoned gummy rice cakes called idlis. For now, though, these descriptions are merely tantalizing. The restaurant doesn't plan to serve this variety of southern dishes until the more standard northern fare is up to speed.

All right, already, it's up to speed. Many Indian cooks are promoters of the 3,000-year-old culinary/curative notions of Ayurveda, the science of life. The idea is that six rasas, or flavors, should guide the preparation of every meal. Sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent: Each restores mind and body when correctly proportioned to one another. I have no idea if the folks at Dawat are trying to dish up a little rasa therapy, but the menu is a comforting synergy of spicy hot curries, cooling yogurts and pungent sauces.

At the site of the recently defunct India Cook House, Dawat is a pretty, unremarkable box decorated in silk flowers and a long Indian painting of guys walking with very gussied-up camels. The staff is warm and friendly, but servers lack the ability to decode dishes and descriptions for the rookie--especially troublesome with the not-always-accessible desserts.

Appetizers include the full range of fried staples, all served with tiny ramekins of sweet tamarind sauce and chile-powered mint sauce. From the list of pakoras we chose a simple onion version ($3.95), like little golden-battered onion strings dusted lightly with cumin. Vegetable samosas ($3.50) bring the regular crisp balls packed with softly spiced potato and pea. At lunch, the restaurant puts out a pleasant buffet, and at dinner one can order dishes a la carte (with just nan or rice) or as a "dinner" (accompanied by soup and a range of other side dishes and condiments).

We chose the a la carte route, trying to practice a little Ayurveda of our own with a range of complementary flavors. We chose aloo gobi ($7.95), chicken khoorma ($8.95) and lamb vindaloo ($9.95), attempting to strike a balance. The aloo gobi brought a plate of soft cooked potato and cauliflower redolent of curry, ginger and cumin and coriander seed. It was hot, but not when compared to the fiery lamb vindaloo, a curried dish of big chunks of lamb. Its deep red sauce contained a garam masala (the curry spice blend) that concentrated on slow, pungent heat. This was a pleasant foil for the rich, mild chicken khoorma--dark meat napped in a sweet yogurt sauce. Each of the dishes came piping hot in long oval metal casseroles and accompanied by spiced saffron basmati rice and pillowy nan bread.

Working our way through these, a Taj Mahal beer and a fragrant hot chai ($1.50), we felt unequal to the task of choosing dessert. On our way out, though, we passed by the glass case of exotica. Lured by a fright wig of fried dough, we exited Dawat contentedly nibbling the corner of a syrup-soaked donut.

Dawat Indian Cuisine, 288 Castro Street, Mountain View, 968-8956

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 5-10:30 p.m. daily

Atmosphere: A spare dining room with a careful array of Indian decorations makes a pleasant place to chat with friends over an order of samosas.

Highlights: A huge dessert case shows off the varied and peculiar sweets of India. Reservations - not necessary Credit cards - yes Parking - street Beer and wine only - yes Takeout - yes Banquet - no Wheelchair access - yes Non-smoking - yes Highchairs - yes Outdoor seating - no 

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