thePULSEFor generations, people looking for simple, good food, found their way to Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street. If you got tired of the Italian restaurants on virtually every block, you could always hit the diners — Macs, The Parkway, The Boulevard.
No matter what the country of origin, the food wasn’t sophisticated, but the portions were huge, filling and cheap. Ambiance wasn’t big and neither were a wide range of ingredients, but who cared — on “Chewbry” Street, as the locals called it, you weren’t looking for diversity. You just wanted to sit down at a comfy counter with padded swivel seats or a wooden table with a red-checked cloth and chow down.
In those days, people came for La Scala’s antipasto with homemade sausage. For Ringo George’s meatball sandwiches at the Boulevard and Paul Mac’s soups and burgers. For three to four bucks you could get enough food to feed a small state.
But in 2003, a lot of spice has been added to Shrewsbury Street’s melting pot. The Italian immigrants who first opened up restaurants and businesses here would probably be amazed if they strolled down today’s big boulevard. In the last five years, lots of new restaurants have opened up. The cuisine of countries from around the world can be found in buildings that once housed such diverse businesses as a 1900’s Italian bank (now the sight of the popular Primo’s) optometrist offices, spas — even a 19th century stage coach repair shop. That repair shop morphed into an automobile shop — today it houses one of Shrewsbury’s Street’s very finest restaurants, Anthony’s.
In 2003, Shrewsbury Street has a Japanese sushi bar. A real Chicago-style steak house. A cafe with French cuisine. A coffee-house with international brews. And in the old optometrist’s office, is an Indian restaurant called Surya, offering dishes like Novratana Korma (which has 9 different fresh vegetables cooked in a rich gravy with yogurt and spices), which is served in a serene room where the sounds of a bubbling fountain and soft Indian music soothe diners.
On a nasty, snowy day, we headed down Shrewsbury Street to visit this warm Indian oasis for ourselves, having heard that the food is very good, the service friendly and the prices reasonable. Since the snow was really piling up along Shrewsbury Street, Surya was even quieter than usual, which made it possible for us to really unwind as we listened to the splashing fountain and the other-worldly sound of sitar music.
The atmosphere in Surya is restful and elegant. Rich-looking tablecloths of gold, blue, red and green and artwork featuring colorful, velvet and mirror Indian motifs are the right setting for Surya’s polite, Indian wait staff who try hard, despite language barriers, to help diners understand the substantial menu.
The menu features a good selection of soups and appetizers, several tasty bread selections and a wide range of chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetarian entrees. The lunch menu is considerably shorter, but does feature plenty of good entrée choices, as well as soups and appetizers from the dinner menu. Drinks include Lassi, the yogurt drink made with strawberries, mangos or bananas and sweet Masala tea.
We started our meal with coconut soup and Paneer Pakora, homemade cheese slices filled with mouth-watering spices. The Pakora were served with a delicious Papadam sauce and a zippy mint chutney sauce that gave our tastebuds a buzz. The coconut soup was yummy — not too sweet or thick, nicely spiced and very comforting on a beastly winter day.
For our main course we chose chicken and mixed vegetable curry, both of which were cooked carefully and spiced with a delicate touch. The vegetables in my dish were bountiful and fresh — and best of all, not over-cooked. Tender pieces of chicken in a golden curry sauce pleased my companion. Served with steaming white rice and lots of crispy, flat bread, the entrees were perfect for a low-fat, tasty lunch.
Both entrées cost around $5.00. The most expensive thing on the luncheon menu costs $5.95, a very reasonable amount to pay for lunch these days, especially when you’re getting freshly prepared meals with quality ingredients. With our appetizers and drinks, the total bill was a little more than $18.
We bundled out of Surya’s into the snowdrifts, feeling soothed and comforted by polite service, very good food and the gentle music of India. Not bad at all for an afternoon on ‘Chewbry Street.
Surya’s is located at 299 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester. For information, call (508) 752-3700.
Menu for two
Coconut Soup
Paneer Pakora
Mixed Vegetable Curry
Chicken Curry
Drinks
$17.90
