On the weekend I posted the second of two reports of the lunch thali meals I ate in New Jersey towards the end of April. The first of these was at Kathiyawadi Kitchen and was really excellent. The second was at Samudhra, and while I didn’t like it nearly as much as I had Kathiyawadi Kitchen’s thali, resizing the photographs from that meal earlier last week put me in the mood for another thali lunch. My hands-down favourite thali in the Twin Cities metro—and indeed my pick for best lunch deal in the area—used to be the weekday thali at Kabob’s Indian Grill in Bloomington. Alas, as has been reported in the comments here on multiple occasions, Kabob’s no longer offers that thali. Nor, for that matter, does Kumar’s in Apple Valley still offer their weekday lunch thali—it’s been replaced by a buffet. Thankfully, Godavari in Eden Prairie—the restaurant that has topped all editions of my Twin Cities South Asian restaurant rankings—now offers a lunch thali. And so it was to Eden Prairie I went for lunch on the day after the last day of my term. Here is what I found.

The first thing that you should know is that the QR code menu does not say anything about lunch thalis. It’s possible there’s a printed menu that mentions them but I did not see one. But they do have a lunch thali. It’s available only on weekdays. There’s another thali—the ludicrously over-the-top “Bahubali” thali that feeds 8 people—but it apparently needs to be booked weeks in advance. But on weekdays you can just walk in and ask for a lunch thali. The non-veg version—which is what I ate—currently runs just over $13. I’m not sure what the price or composition of the veg thali is. I can tell you that the non-veg thali includes a large portion of chicken biryani, lamb curry, a chicken curry in the tikka masala vein, fish fry, chicken fry, green beans poriyal, salna and raita to accompany the biryani, a naan to mop up the curries, and a gulab jamun.

Unlike the late, lamented Kabob’s thali—or either of the thalis I ate in New Jersey—this is not an unlimited thali. In fact, it’s not even slightly refillable. What you get is what you get and you can’t get any more of any of it. Not that you’re likely to need more on account of hunger as it’s quite a bit of food. The portion of chicken biryani alone would likely satiate the hunger pangs of most diners. That said, it does feel against the ethos of a thali meal to not be able to get more of anything. For whatever reason, there was also no dal in the thali—which also seems against the ethos of a thali meal.

Okay, but how were the things that were on the thali? I have to say it was a bit of a mixed bag. The two dishes I liked the most were the green beans poriyal and the chicken fry. If refills had been available, I would have got a bit more of both. The chicken biryani was also decent. Everything else was generally competent but forgettable. The lamb in the lamb curry was not very tender; and the chicken tikka/butter masala had little character. The pieces of fish in the fish fry were small, bony and over-fried. And the gulab jamun was inevitably out of a can (I am assuming given the quality).Oh yes, the naan was pretty good.

In other words, the thali seems very much an analogue to a generic buffet. None of the South Indian dishes from their regular menu that really recommend Godavari appeared on the thali. And if this was the only meal you ever ate at Godavari you’d be forgiven for wondering I’ve praised them so much in the past. Again, it was not bad by any stretch of the imagination but it made me miss Kabob’s departed thali all the more.

That said, it is still an excellent value for what it is, and it really is a lot of food. So if you’re in the neighbourhood and want to eat a large Indian meal, you may find it worth your while. But I wouldn’t send you there expecting to find anything very far out of the ordinary.

For a look at the thali and the restaurant, click on a link below to launch a larger slideshow. Scroll down for a bit more on Godavari and to see what’s coming next.

My disappointment in the thali aside, I was pleased to see that they were doing pretty good business at lunch on a Thursday. I’m told they’re even busier at lunch on weekends, when the extensive buffet section in the center of the restaurant is on the go. Maybe at some point later in the year, I’ll check that out for myself. And maybe I’ll try at some point to put a group together to eat the Bahubali thali as well. If you’ve sampled either, please write in below.

Alright, next on the restaurant report front: a return to Seoul and perhaps the first of two New York dinner reports from April. Next week’s Twin Cities report will feature a return to Khaluna, where some colleagues and I recently had a very nice dinner.