Thali Supper Club

The Thali meal strikes me as a pretty perfect concept.  I love that you can get a number of dishes, naan or papadum, and rice to make a complete and satisfying meal.  Thali Supper Club is graciously run by Leena Ezekiel and her husband, as a monthly supper club, currently located in NE Portland.  Despite the 30ish people attending dinner, it felt like they were hosting us in their home.  Each month a different region of India is featured for the theme of the night and in November, I attended A Very Parsi Dinner.

The first course was a buttermilk and chickpea soup and egg and tomato on toast.  It was a nice start to the meal.

The main part of the meal, the thali platter came next.  It took quite awhile to get all the meals assembled, so we were eating before some of the tables had their food.  On the thali platter, there was rockfish steamed in banana leaf, lamb with lentils, chicken with apricot, eggplant with sesame and peanut, and cabbage with coconut.  Along with a tomato cucumber salad, papadum, rice, and chutney.  Everything was very tasty, but I particularly enjoyed the lamb with lentils.  It was plenty of food, but as soon as all the meals were served, we were offered second helpings of anything.

I was pretty full at this point, but it's hard to turn down dessert...  A generous serving of cardamom custard with almonds and a sweet but flavorful chai finished off the meal. 

Overall the meal was very enjoyable and I'd love to go back and for another one.  I think many people feel this way, as it seemed like many of the guests were repeat attendees.