We visited a new indoor water park called Sahara Sams in West Berlin, New Jersey on saturday. On our way to the water park we noticed a restaurant called Gagan’s Bistro and planned to visit the restaurant on our way back.

As per the plan, we went to Gagan’s Bistro for dinner.

They have a pleasant setup with neat decorations, good lighting and good spacing of seats. I consider ambience as an important thing that sets your mind up pyschologically when you go to a restaurant to eat. I noticed that Gagan’s Bistro has a welcoming atmosphere and so I got a good feeling here as soon as I stepped in.

We ordered a chicken soup, tandoori shrimp and aloo paapdi chaat for appetizers.

Aloo paapdi chaat was too bland to eat and hence I just tasted it a little bit and left it untouched after that. The comment I got about Tandoori Shrimp was this: “This dish has not even seen the door of the tandoor grill.” 🙂 . Chicken soup was made using coconut milk base and it was tasting wierd. We tried adding pepper, salt, etc to try and modify it, but of no use. So the appetizers were a total flop for us.

We got Bhindi masala for main course – btw, I have a strong belief that I hold the record for eating bhindi masala in the most number of Indian restaurants around the world – not sure if there is anyone else tracking what they eat – as I love it so much, I have been ordering it in every single Indian restaurant that I visit. It is one item that can be completely done well or completely messed up.

We also ordered dosa also for main course, but that dosa was one of the worst dosas we have ever had in life. The chutney was smelling like it was made using nail polish. If I was granted one wish, I would ask Gagan’s Bistro to take dosa out of their menu.

Gagan’s Bistro appears to be a North Indian Restaurant who would like to be a restaurant who specializes in North and South Indian varieties.

Overall I consider my experience as average.

If you are in Berlin area in South Jersey and are in a mood for Indian food, Gagan’s Bistro might be an option. It is located in Plaza 73 Shops complex on Route 73 and appears to be the only Indian restaurant on that road as we did not notice any other Indian restaurant on our way.

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