[Authentic Kashmiri Cuisine in West Caldwell]

I've had a $50 gift certificate for this place sitting in my desk for over a year! Maybe it's finally time I used it. Won it in a raffle of some sort.

Something about the thought of goat though...hmm. I'm not normally so squeemish, but it doesn't sound like a good animal to eat.

[Minado]

do you think you sacrifice anything by going to lunch? although the selection is probably smaller, i'm sure there's still plenty to pick at, and it's basically half price. just hafta deal with crazy crowds on weekends.

someone who has been to minado -- could you tell me what the quality is like compared to the typical nj sushi joint? how about non-sushi items?

clearly not up there with the best ny or even nj hafta offer, but as an alternative to just the local places (i.e. nagano, yoshi sono)....

[Broad Street in Bloomfield]

This is my first posting to egullet, although I've been reading it for a while.

Went to Pandan last night. Thought it was very good. The restaurant has a nice ambience. Nothing spectacular, but you can tell the owners put some thought into it in terms of the colors and materials used. This seems to be a more or less "mom and pop" run operation. Two kids (probably 9th or 10th grade) doing the serving. They were courteous and seemed eager to please.

The food. I am not all that familiar with Phillipino food, although it seemed in line with thai or malasian styles. Based on this forum, ordered the shrimp with asparagus and mushroom. Shrimp were medium/large size. Perfectly cooked. Asparagus also perfectly cooked. Sauce was a very tasty brown sauce - not a bit of heat to it though. Also ordered the chicken in pandanus leaves -- which i thought was also very tasty, moist (dark meat). Primary flavor is in the sauce that accompanies the chicken.. I would say that portion for that is pretty small - only 3 pieces of rolled up chicken (half the size of a small fist). All in all, i would say that it was a pleasant experience. The staff tried hard to please, the food was tasty, portions reasonable, and prices good ($9-13) for most dishes.

Also - on broad street..... Brookside Thai. I am not sure if it's just me and a few of my friends, but we think this place is fantastic. Almost everything is dirt cheap -- i.e. $6-10, for substantial portions of some very tasty thai food. Perhaps not as good Thai Chef/Tuptim for some of the old standards (Pad Thai), but certainly excellent for the money. However, some of the specials on Brookside's menu, such as the Deep Fried Snapper with tamarind glaze, i've found to be extremely flavorful, perfectly cooked, and quite simply, much better than anything i've ever had from thai chef or tuptim.

Formia -- i'm not sure if the menu is uniformly excellent, but some of their veal dishes and pasta dishes i think are well worth the money. There is a rigatoni dish there that comes to mind with garlic (lots of it), onions, and proscuito -- yum!! Formia is a place that likes coupons - and it's usually not hard to find them.