Trip to Houston, June 2016: Rangoli Fine Indian Cuisine

Hello, my dear readers! I'm finally back in Malaysia & I've managed to convince my lazy self to start blogging again & sharing all the juicy experiences :D

The business trip to Houston has been an interesting trip. It was my first time to Houston & it was also a golden opportunity to meet up with colleagues from various partner companies whom I've been working with since the beginning of the year. There were even some colleagues whom I have been working with in previous projects who were there, so it was just great to meet people face to face for the 1st time!

Airline food on MAS & Korean Air (the best airlines that I've traveled with to the US)

Food on both flights were surprisingly delicious. Korean Air will be my favorite airlines to travel from now on...good food, spacious leg room, & pretty stewardess/good-looking stewards.

My ride for that week

Since the trip took almost 20 hours of flight to arrive at my destination (with a 1-2 hours transit time between the flights), I flew in during the weekend so that I'll hopefully recover from any jet lag & in the mean time get to see places before the meeting week starts.

My room for that week

I'll begin a "short" series of food & places to visit in Houston, just to share with you my discoveries; some of which aren't in my initial plan (yes, I have an Excel spreadsheet with the list of places to go to, their business hours, the address, distance in kilometers...etc).

Hope you'll enjoy the posts & do drop your comments/feedback as well! :)

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*pork-free

Rangoli Fine Indian Cuisine
10728, Cypress Creek
Houston
Texas 77070
United States of America.
Tel: +1 713-834-5999
Business hours: N/A - They're opened for lunch & dinner, every Tuesday - Sunday
URL: rangolirest.com
GPS: 29.93607, -95.58195

Believe it or not, my 1st meal upon touching down in Houston was at an Indian restaurant :P (I know, I know....it should be steak, but hey, let's take it slow...I've got a week there after all). My team member from India was patiently looking forward to my arrival (she was in Houston a week earlier for another meeting) & she's vegetarian, so I thought I'll drive her out to one of the recommended Indian restaurants near the hotel for lunch. Poor AK has been eating salads & her packet food from India as there's nothing very familiar to her & choices of vegetarian meals in Houston is just very limited. Yup, it's a COWboy town...beef is the IN thing! *lol*

Rangoli is indeed a gem discovered & I don't think any of our other colleagues popped by this place during their trips to Houston. If you fancy Indian cuisines (I do!), I think this is actually a great place to enjoy a good, authentic Indian meal, mainly northern Indian cuisines, which I love *yums*

This restaurant was in my list of "vegetarian restaurants to go to". I didn't come across any blogs on this place, so information was quite limited (only from Yelp, Trip Advisor..etc). Little did I know 'til we were there, that they only serve buffet during lunch hours & ala carte during dinners. For $12.99/person (excluding tax), you get to enjoy about 10 different vegetarian dishes, 3-4 meat dishes, rice, naan, & 2 types of desserts -- eat all you can! The variety wasn't extensive, but it was no doubt good enough to keep me satisfied!

The restaurant was clean & has that classy Indian feel, which felt like what we get back home. My colleague, AK, was truly grateful & was enjoying the meal thoroughly as it was her 1st 'real meal' after being there for a whole week since she didn't have a car nor anyone whom she's close with to drive her out for such meals.

You'll find familiar Indian dishes like the:
Palak Paner: Chunky cottage cheese cubes cooked in creamy spinach gravy
Vegetable Pakoras: Deep-fried garbanzo beans batter with assorted vegetables
Chicken Tikka Masala: Charcoal roasted chicken cooked in creamy tomato-based sauce
Aloo Gobi Masala: Cauliflowers & potatoes sauteed in herbs & spices
Tandoori Chicken: Chicken marinated in yogurt, fresh herbs & spices, & baked in a special clay oven

There were of course many more that I just couldn't recall its actual names! Hahahaha...

I don't do very well at buffets, so I only have 2 rounds of main course & I was done. For $12.99, I think the meal was satisfying & rewarding for an Indian cuisine lover like me. The overall taste of their dishes were well spiced, not over-powering, & very tasty.

There were also 2 types of desserts available that day i.e. Gulab Jamun & Shahi Kheer. I'm not a fan of Indian desserts, so I just took a little to taste-test them. Thankfully the desserts weren't overly sweet alike those that we find back here in Malaysia. Having said that, I still don't fancy Indian desserts, so I didn't go for a refill.

Gulab Jamun

Juicy milk solid balls in syrup

Shahi Kheer

Rice pudding with orange flavoring (somehow this one had additional flavoring, which even AK didn't fancy)

We left the restaurant satisfied & "recharged", all set for our half day trip to the Houston Premium Outlet for some shopping. We only managed to buy a pair of sports shoes, a watch & that's about it! The deals & discounts there weren't as fantastic as Gilroy's near San Francisco, but I guess it's good enough to pass the time on an extremely hot & lazy Saturday.

I'll share about our dinner in my next post. 'Til then, stay tuned with The Ruthless Eater!


Ratings:
Presentation (does it look mouth-watering): * * * 1/2
Price (is it affordable - more stars = YES): * * *
Environment (is the place comfortable, cosy, clean, pleasant): * * * *
Taste (is the food delicious, worth coming back for more): * * * 1/2
Service (are the service providers friendly, efficient, polite): * * * *


Overall:






Indian food any time,