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By Steve & Lisa Alcazari
The Hartford Advocate
February 10, 2006

Lisa and I got the feeling that the main business was takeout at Rasham, an Indian and Pakistani restaurant in South Windsor. When you walk into a restaurant and the first question is a slightly perplexed ¨Will you be dining in?,¨ chances are that sit-down customers aren´t in the majority. This makes sense.

The restaurant is divided into two smallish dining rooms with six or so tables in each section. The entrance and front counter area sort of bisect the space. A rack of long brightly colored shirts hangs off to one side near a drink cooler. A different Indian restaurant once occupied the same premises, but the interior is newish at Rasham. The color scheme is unfortunate though. Ochre-mocha walls with peach and salmon trim and chairs with green seat cushions don´t make for the most restful visual experience. A large wall-mounted flat-screen TV played a cartoon. The cartoon served as a small hint: Rasham is a kid-friendly restaurant. So kid friendly that several youngsters were helping out behind the counter, and we saw a few toy cars and small rubber balls underneath one of the tables.

The menu at Rasham is surprisingly limited. The only items in the appetizer section are chicken and vegetable samosas. What it lacks in variety, the menu makes up for in affordability; samosas are ordered individually (75 cents for vegetable, 85 cents for chicken). That´s really cheap. The samosas were basically wonton-style wrappers stuffed with spicy filling. The vegetable samosas, stuffed with large chunks of soft potato and flecks of cilantro, had a little more peppery heat in the filling, but the ground chicken had a more interesting flavor and texture. Instead of the normal chutneys, yogurt gave the green cilantro variety a soothing and cooling touch, and in place of the typical raisiny tamarind sauce Rasham serves a similarly sweet and fruity plum chutney.

There are a few goat dishes as well as beef and chicken items, kebabs and six vegetarian entrees on the menu.

Rasham was out of the chana masala when we visited, which further abbreviated the options. We weren´t feeling especially adventurous so we shied away from the beef paya , which is described as beef foot cooked in a special sauce. We ordered chicken cooked in a yogurt and butter sauce ($7.99); daal mahkni ($5.99), a yellow lentil dish; and palak paneer ($6.99), a dish of seasoned spinach and cubes of mild firm cheese. Naan , the wonderful light, fluffy and absorbent bread that works so well for mopping up rich Indian sauce, is only one dollar at Rasham. Roti, a slightly more dense and earthier-tasting bread, is also a buck. You just can´t beat that. But it´s good that the bread is so affordable because rice isn´t served automatically with entrees. Another thing to know before going in is that Rasham doesn´t serve alcohol, which will prove problematic to everyone who thinks beer is an indispensible accompaniment to Indian food.

Our entrees were all a little on the oily side, but the seasoning was bold and unusual. Fresh ginger infused the chicken dish, though the serving could have been a little larger. A strong taste of ground coriander defined the daal dish. We thought we detected the slightest hint of cinnamon or maybe allspice in the spinach.

Rasham is not a destination restaurant. It´s not a place to impress a date. I certainly can´t see going out of my way to eat there, but for those in the vicinity looking to expand the takeout options beyond Chinese and pizza, Rasham´s affordable and confidently seasoned food could present a welcome change of routine. One perk to eating at the restaurant: After I gulped down my mango lasi our waiter came over with the blender to refill the glass. You won´t get that with takeout.

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Hartford County restaurants, South Windsor restaurants, Indian restaurants