Name: Minar PalaceAddress: 1304 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
As my date of departure looms near, I'm trying to see as many of my US friends as possible. Last week my good friend DH was visiting the east coast, and we spent the day together in Philly. I hadn't seen DH in over a year, and it was quite exciting. We met in the Amtrak station, and after a quick strategizing session (thank you free wifi), we headed to our destination: Minar Palace.
The decor is quite nice, albeit somewhat on the dark side. We opted to sit by the windows, mostly for the blog's sake.
We went for the buffet ($9.95 + tax), because we were both pretty hungry and it had sufficient vegetarian options. As an investigative eater, I'm always motivated to taste as many things as possible!
The vegetarian options including naan, rice (with cloves), samosas, saag paneer, aloo baingan, dal tadka, mint chutney and tamarind chutney. There was also a small salad bar with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, plain chickpea, raita, and more, including pickled mango.
Yum! We wiped our plates clean and went back for seconds (and thirds). The saan paneer looked like chunky homemade henna, but tasted amazing. The aloo baingan was also good, mild flavors. The dal tadka was a little spicym with strong tumeric flavoring. The samosa were good, although I've had more flavorful ones elsewhere. But the textures were quite good: a soft inside and crispy wrapping. The pickled mango was a little too spicy and overwhelmed the palette. The chutneys were superb. 
The buffet had 2 dessert options: rice pudding (D) and mango ice cream (yours truly). We were both super happy with our choices. The mango ice cream was creamy without being too heavy--a great ending to our meal. 
What's for lunch?
(At the Academy of Natural Sciences)
