A number of my readers have written in over the past few years to ask if I’m ever going to update my Twin Cities South Asian Restaurant Rankings, the first version of which I’d posted in 2020, followed by updates in 2021 and 2022. The answer, unfortunately, is that I’m not likely to do anytime soon. The reason for that is not a lowered opinion of the Twin Cities South Asian restaurant scene in the intervening years. I’d begun the rankings precisely because that scene had improved so much in the years leading into the pandemic, with the opening of more and more restaurants aimed at Indian diners in the suburbs; and I have no reason to believe that quality has dipped since 2022. It’s just that since 2022 I have begun to go back to Delhi (and elsewhere in India) several times a year—and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. Between all the eating out while I’m there and the mostly Indian cooking I do when I’m home, going out to eat at Indian restaurants more than occasionally in Minnesota is not really a priority. But I have been eating at Godavari—the restaurant that was atop my rankings in 2020, 2021 and 2022—once every year, as I have an annual appointment down the road from them in Eden Prairie. Last year I was there on a Friday and ate from their rather large weekend lunch buffet. This year I was there mid-week. There is no buffet offered Monday through Thursday but you can on those days get their lunch thali. I was very happy to do so—here’s a quick look at it.

Between the fact that I was there for an early midweek lunch and the weather (cold, grey and rainy) the restaurant was not as busy as on my previous two visits. Actually, that’s an understatement: I was the only diner throughout my meal; one other person arrived just as I was leaving. They did seem to have some delivery action going and the server confirmed that on weekdays they do most of their business at dinner. That’s a shame as their lunch thali is both pretty good and a very good value.

There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian options for the thali. I got the non-vegetarian. This comprised the following: Indian Chinese chilli chicken and Andhra-style chicken 65 as starters, along with a fish curry and a mutton curry and a veg side dish (on this occasion, a poriyal made with green banana/plantain). But the main event in the thali was a large bowl of Hyderabadi chicken biryani. There was raita to go with the biryani and some naan to eat the curries with. For dessert there was some carrot halwa. It was quite a lot of food (it’s possible they do refills on some of it; I didn’t ask as I didn’t need any). For all of it I paid a total of just under $20 with tax and tip.

How was the food? I enjoyed most of it. The chilli chicken I could have taken or left but I enjoyed the crisp chicken 65. Of the curries, I preferred the mutton but the fish was tasty as well. The green banana poriyal I liked even more than the preceding and the chicken biryani was quite tasty as well. The carrot halwa was no better or worse than that served at most other Indian restaurants in the US.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu (unchanged from my previous visits) and my thali, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see what’s coming next.

I’m behind on this week’s backlog clearance. Tomorrow I will have a report from Seoul in May, followed by at least one report from Delhi in July/August. Next week’s Twin Cities report will cover two meals eaten this past summer at Animales BBQ in Minneapolis. Before that I’ll have yet another Delhi report and a booze review on Monday.