The Pakistani-Indian-Middle Eastern Aashiana Restaurant in Albany, NY

Albany. NY

Hiya stuffies!  It's me Markus!

Have you ever wanted to try a new type of food, but didn't know where to start?  I can tell you I've been there.  I've looked at a menu and thought..."well that's really all Greek to me."  What am I saying... I can read Greek...Greek menu that is :)  But it does it take a little while to get fluent in a new menu language.   I find the easiest way to explore a menu is to try a buffet.  That way you can take a look at what you are eating before you have to commit to eating it!

In this adventure, I take you on a journey to a Pakistani-Indian-Middle Eastern lunch buffet in Albany, NY.

Being new to Albany, NY, I needed a little help finding a lunch spot in the area.  I turned to my friend Yelp and found this restaurant.  It had fewer reviews than others in the area, but had a higher overall rating.

I walked into the small restaurant and the owner quickly greeted me and showed me to a table.  He immediately asked for my drink order, and asked if I was from around the area.  I told him no and he recommended that I try the buffet to get a taste of the foods at the restaurant.  How could I turn down that offer?  I was hungry and there was a buffet of delicious treats waiting to be explored.  I ordered a hot chai tea and made my way to the food.

I walked up to the buffet line and started with some rice.  It was nice to see the names of all the dishes next to food.  I piled all the different dishes I could fit onto the plate.  I was going to try all the different curries and salads.  I got a little of everything just to make sure I wouldn't get full too fast.  I also had to make sure that I saved some room for dessert.

All the dishes were nice and hot and the platters were being refilled often.   I'm glad that the dishes didn't seem to sit out for a while.

Sometimes at all you can eat buffets, the popular dishes are usually over salted so that you drink more and eat less but it was nice to say that all the dishes were as good a quality as I would expect from the regular dinner menu.  I have to say my favorite dish was the chana palak.  The chickpeas and the spinach went nicely together and had a nice texture that wasn't mushy like baby food.  The rest of the dishes were just as tasty...too bad I can't remember what all I ate.

The rice pudding was a nice way to end the meal.  It was not too sweet, and had a little kick of cardimum like the chai tea.  There was also another spiced tea at the buffet.  It was pretty unique and when I asked the owner what was in it, he told me it was a super secret family recipe.  The little cakes were also tasty and had a nice sweet coconut taste which was great to cleanse the palate of all the spicy food I ate.

Aashiana had quite the variety of food for a tiny lunch buffet.  The food seemed hot and fresh and was not too spicy or too salty.  Thanks to a little help from Yelp, I had a tasty lunch for quite the reasonable price.  The only thing I would change is to see a little more of Middle Eastern side of the menu.

Overall, How Nuts Are We About Aashiana?
Food: 4 coconuts.   Tasty food, of course big portions because you can eat all you want :P, and a pretty good variety of food for such a small buffet.Service: 5 coconuts for the owner coming to talk to me.  He told me to come back whenever I was in Albany and to tell my friends to come with me next time. :) Repeatability: 4 coconuts.  Well not for me, but hopefully someone else in the area will go for me and try out the rest of the menu!  The lunch buffet was super cheap.  

Toodles for now foodies!