There are a few foods that I think that I could probably live off of exclusively for the rest of my life (or at least a few years) without ever tiring of them. One is good pizza (note the word "good", which means straight from a pizza oven, pan crust, fresh ingredients. I've only found a couple of pizzarias who come close to qualifying.) Another is my Granny's chicken and dressing with my aunt's twice-baked potatoes. Yet another is sushi, in particular Philadelphia rolls (okay, I know the real sushi snobs are screaming at this, but something about the combination of cream cheese and crab makes me very, very happy) and miso soup. But above all of this is chicken tikka masala. Absolutely adore the stuff. If it weren't a bitch and a half to make from scratch, I'd probably be cooking it at home at least every 2-3 days.
But alas, I am not the least bit Indian, have no Indian friends to teach me how to cook the dish as well they can, and unfortunately I don't live in London, where curry shops are like fast food (so I hear.) So I have to go to the local Indian restaurants to get my fix. And while they are excellent, they're a bit pricy for my po' budget. So I'm limited to getting the best chicken tikka masala I've found in Nashville (Taste of India on Church) every few weeks as a treat. But in the meantime, there is one good alternative that I find myself using quite a bit. That's the Sitar lunch buffet.
Sitar's food is excellent - maybe not quite as flavorful as some of the other Indian shops in town, and their rice, frankly, is often disappointing. But other than that, it's consistant and dependable, which is not something that you can say about many of the buffet places in town. And it has a good variety of choices - as with most Indian places, they have tons of vegetarian options. Their naan (flatbread) suffers under the heat lamps, but if you catch it out fresh, you'll be tempted to eat it instead of anything else. And they always offer two dessert choices which I can't do without - kheer (a custard they make with pistachios and almonds added) and a rice pudding.
Sitar has a very nice dining area and a great wait staff, but it tends to be very, very crowded at lunch. Most of the time that I go to the buffet, I get it to go and feast through the afternoon at work. But in the evening, the ambience is very nice - all candlelight and cool Indian music playing. Also, my sister, brother-in-law and I recently found out that it's not a bad place to take a very energetic 3-year-old for an early weekend dinner. Not only were the wait staff very patient with my niece, but they made excellent suggestions on foods that she would like to eat.
All in all, Sitar is an excellent lunch value for a good $7 meal ($8 for take-out) and a solid choice whenever. And until someone opens a curry shop on Nolensville Road (hey, every other nationality is there) I've got a cheap fix for my masala cravings.
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