A meal fit for a maharajah. Dad and I splurged on a dinner for two Rani/Raja Special at India Palace the other evening. Interestingly, on the page for the Lafayette location, it makes reference to it being a family-run restaurant with other locations in Mill Valley and Berkeley, but there is no separate page for Mill Valley. In fact, I enjoyed the one in Lafayette in August and reviewed it. Frankly there were a lot more food choices at their Lafayette location and the food was better. An aside, it's getting darker earlier, winter is coming! So it's harder to get good outside and food shots of dinner.

First came the assortment of appetizers, vegetarian somosas, and califlower and potato pakoras served on top of a couple papadum. If the appetizers weren't quite so old-oily tasting they would have been good.

Dad tried a the Palace Special Salad. It was crisp and fresh with a tangy mustard dressing.

I tried the heavenly Mulligatawny Soup. I think the broth was homemade, and it was spiced just right. I'd love to come have a big bowl of this on a cold winter's day!

The Chicken Sagwala was a hit, with it's tender chunks of chicken immersed in a mildly spiced spinach sauce.

You could hear the plate of tandoori grill sizzling as it came towards us. It had tandoori chicken, boti kabob, seikh kabob, and chicken tikka kabob all lined up on the platter. It was quite good!

As if that wasn't enough, out came the mixed vegetables and rogan josh! Both were good, and the rogan josh bordered on superb.

Of course there was a generous dish of Palace Pillau. It was nicely garnished with peas, cashews and raisins.

And we can't forget the naan and onion kulcha! These were hot out of the oven, and delicious.

The Raja/Rani specials also came with dessert and drinks. We had hot chai, and Dad enjoyed the Kulfi.

While I tried the rasmali, wanting to taste a piece of the fresh paneer made here every day. The staff were charming and warm, and there was a picture of the Sikh's religious founder, Guru Nanak Dev at the entrance. It's a warm and inviting place, with standard Indian fare.