Bay Leaf Indian

I finally got a chance to stop in for the lunch buffet.  I thought the food was really good and there was a good selection for lunch.  I got a nice big basket of naan delivered to my table.  I wish I could remember all the dish names.

The dishes were a little depleted when I arrived but they replenished them fairly soon thereafter.  Which was good because four college-age guys came in and heaped up some plates!

They did a really nice job remodelling the interior.  It's bright and modern and comfortable.  I'm looking forward to going back for dinner soon!

We had dinner there two Saturdays ago and it was delicious. The place was packed. It's going to be a very popular place. It's so nice to see another good restaurant in town, particularly in that part of the downtown. 

Is this in the same location as the old South Orange Indian restaurant?

Yes, it was Neelam. Completely gutted and renovated.

When we were there I noticed that they were doing a big take-out business. Here's the menu: 

http://bayleafnj.com/menu.html

I also like the fact that it's a spot where you could have a decent dinner for two under $50. That's with an app or two. You could probably get out under $40 if you stick to entrees.

Not that I'm cheap or anything (shut up). But it feels like other recent offerings (Cassidy, South Mountain Tavern, One South) are in at least the $70-80 range for dinner for two minus drinks.

I forgot I had started this thread a while ago, but I'm going to bump it up.

We've been for dinner a couple of times.  Really good food, friendly staff and good value for the money! So far I've Chicken Korma and Chicken Makhani and liked both a lot.

One note: each time I ask for mild and it's a little spicy.  I haven't dared venture into Medium or Hot.

Medium -- spicy.  That seems to be a problem. Even "mild" seems to be over-spiced.  On the buffet, there is no indication of the spice level.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Medium -- spicy.  That seems to be a problem. Even "mild" seems to be over-spiced.  On the buffet, there is no indication of the spice level.

One time at an Indian buffet I served some spicy chicken.  I love spices I eat hot food all the time I figure how spicy can it be? It was so hot I broke out in hives. Never again. 

Recently at The Burj Khalifa in Dubai I stopped for lunch at an Arabic spot, while in Rome right? A friend wisely advised to just order no spice, plain. Sure enough it came in with what would pass for medium here. Now I start low and go up. Lesson learned. 

I once laughed in the face of an American Vindaloo, which elicits nothing but grimaces and profuse sweating at home. If Bayleaf is as spicy as you say then it might be the home of "proper" Indian food.

OK, I'm up to the challenge.

ridski if back home is London, I admit to having incredible Indian food there. Not to mention on my trip to India of course.

I'm putting Bayleaf on my list. Usually easy to get vegetarian and often vegan food with this cuisine.

Morganna said:
OK, I'm up to the challenge.
ridski if back home is London, I admit to having incredible Indian food there. Not to mention on my trip to India of course.
I'm putting Bayleaf on my list. Usually easy to get vegetarian and often vegan food with this cuisine.

 Considering I've lived here 20 years, it was funny typing that, but yes I guess London still is my first home, though my third home is Coventry/Birmingham, where they specialize in something called Balti, which is utterly stunning.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-18494918

If I could find anywhere here that served that as good as they do in Brum, I'd probably pack my bags and move in.

Aaaaaand I looked it up and there's a place about a mile from where I work. I wonder if they deliver?

Found this.

Thread drift, I remember going to an art museum in Birmingham in pursuit of Pre Raphaelite paintings.

I'll be interested to hear your opinions. I'm not a subscriber to the idea that food should bring needless suffering, but I know there are those whose need to worship at the altar of jabanero to gain gustatory satisfaction.

mrincredible said:
I'll be interested to hear your opinions. I'm not a subscriber to the idea that food should bring needless suffering, but I know there are those whose need to worship at the altar of jabanero to gain gustatory satisfaction.

 Indian food doesn’t need to be super hot. A jalfrezi or rogan josh are spicy and flavorful without a high amount of heat. In the UK we have four basic levels of heat in Indian food, Korma which is mild, Madras which is medium, Vindaloo which is hot, and Phall which is extremely hot. No one really orders a phall, unless they’re trying to impress their friends with how insane they are. IIRC, phall isn’t even an Indian dish, just something invented for stupid drunk Brits.

I personally wouldn’t order a vindaloo in the UK, it’s way too hot for me. I’m actually a big fan of rogan josh, but I do like a little heat and I was surprised to find that a country known for its love of hot Mexican food expected Indian food to be without heat.

I once went to an Indian place in Montclair with my high school friend, whose parents were from India. He was born and raised in New Jersey, but ate his mother's Indian food growing up, and probably visited India a few times growing up.

We both ordered Chicken tikka masala, "hot" he said, and the Indian waiter nodded, and scratched his order pad.

When I ordered mine "hot," the waiter turned to my friend for confirmation. My friend  nodded that, yes, he could serve me the "hot" version. It felt very insider-Indian-speakeasy-hidden-menu-item, and I was excited.

When the dishes came out, I, having been eating spicy buffalo wings in upstate N.Y. at college, was unaffected. My dinner partner was sweating, tearing and blowing his nose all through the meal.

He was convinced that we had different orders, but when we switched that was proved incorrect.

I've had the Bay Leaf buffet lunch. It's not spicy to me.

Bay leaf brunch ain't hot to me either.

Now, ya want hot? I'm making chili Friday for a party on Saturday. I ordered the chili from Pecos Valley Spice. I've ordered from them before but this crop --- never got anything like that from them before.   

I’m Indian and love a good buffet now and again! How much is the buffet? What the heck is Indo Chinese??

If memory serves the buffet was around $10. I may be there for lunch today.

I think it's $10.99, but I'm not sure.  I don't think it's more than that.  I've been there a number of times.  I can't do spicy.  They rotate the dishes and sometimes there's a lot of spicy stuff (by my way of thinking, although I've gone with a friend who has a much greater tolerance for spice than I do and she's also thought it's hot)  and sometimes not.  It varies from day to day which I think is good.     

Okay - I find mayonnaise edgy...

Love Indian food but would really really really appreciate it if they label which dishes are hot at the buffet.  

Scully said:

Okay - I find mayonnaise edgy...


Love Indian food but would really really really appreciate it if they label which dishes are hot at the buffet.  

Hot is relative  

ElizMcCord said:

Scully said:

Okay - I find mayonnaise edgy...


Love Indian food but would really really really appreciate it if they label which dishes are hot at the buffet.  

Hot is relative  

 Yeah, but hot pepper in Dal? That was one experience. It looked like a habenero. In any case, it was hot and it was in dal, where you would least expect it.

Lunch was 10.99 for the buffet and pretty good. They brought out a basket of fresh baked naan.

Not surprisingly the food was not quite as good as what we've ordered at dinner. But I still enjoyed it. They had standards like chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken and chicken biryani as well as chili chicken and a couple of other dishes I can't remember. Should have taken a picture!

Lots of variety and at least three veg dishes (not counting the salad, naan, and rice). 

Pamsp said:
I’m Indian and love a good buffet now and again! How much is the buffet? What the heck is Indo Chinese??

 Indo Chinese is apparently what happened when someone decided to open a Chinese restaurant in Calcutta but decided to modify the food for the Indian palate (generally making it more spicy). There are some Indo-Chinese restaurants on Oak Tree Ln in Edison and some menu items make it to non Indo-Chinese specific Indian restaurants. Both Tandori Chef and Bay Leaf have Indo-Chinese items. My favorite Indo-Chinese dish is chili paneer. At an Indo-Chinese place it would usually be served with Chinese food trappings (white rice and a spring roll as a 'meal').