Raja Rani

Nate got a raise - yay! Partly to celebrate our new-found monetary growth, but mostly becuse we were both feeling too lazy to cook anything, we ate at Raja Rani, an Indian restaurant downtown.
Raja Rani is... an Ann Arbor institution. Just kidding! It's probably the best known of Ann Arbor's many Indian restaurants. It's located in this big old house, and while it is downtown, it's not on a very busy street, so you don't have to fight throngs of people to get there. The atmosphere falls somewhere between nice and dumpy - you have the juxtaposition of cool Indian art and crazy tacky flower paintings. Also, the layout is sort of weird. We ate at this back table that was at the end of a narrow aisle. But we weren't really there for the atmosphere... we went for the food! I'm not an Indian food connoisseur, but I love a good vegetable samosa, and the ones at Raja Rani were outstanding - spicy and mushy, just the way I like 'em. I also had paneer tikka masala, which is cheese cubes in a spicy tomato-based sauce, on rice. The cheese sort of had a tofu consistency, which was unexpected but very very good. I'd probably order something different the next time I went, just to experiment. Nate got a non-vegetarian dinner for one, which had all sorts of deliciousness, but it came on a silver cafeteria tray. No joke. It looked like something you'd see in prison.

In all, a delicious (though not incredibly aesthetic) dining experience - I plan on eating there again!

Raja Rani - B+