Flavors Indian Restaurant in Jacksonville July 26, 2008
Posted by josephkam in Dining, Indian.Tags: Buffet, Flavors, Jacksonville, review, Southside
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The buffet at Flavors in Jacksonville’s Southside area ranks as one of the best Indian buffets I have eaten in the country. Considering I have eaten Indian food in Ohio, Massachussetts, California, New York, North Carolina, Missouri and Georgia (And I am Indian), this is not an idle observation.
Rather than writing a full culinary review (which I’m probably not adept at), I’m just going to write a few points about the buffet:
- Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian spread, in which you’ll find South Indian tiffin specialties such as Idli or Pongal, Indian-Chinese items such as Chilli Chicken or Gopi Manchurian and some of the more standard Indian restaurant fare such as Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken or Paneer based dishes.
- There are about 6 appetizers type/tiffin type dishes, 4-6 vegeratian entrees and 4-6 non-vegetarian entrees. In addition, you’ll also find naan, salad vegetables, papadam, pickles, fruit and 2 dessert items. (Disclaimer: Don’t quote me on the number of dishes…I’m trying to recall this from memory since I certainly didn’t take any detailed notes while I was there. I was busy enjoying the food).
- It should be clear that this is a wide buffet in terms of variety. But the name of the restaurant is very appropriate. The food here is simply quite tasty.
- Authenticity of dishes is stronger for the South Indian dishes, but the Indo-Chinese and some North Indian entrees are also very well made.
- The buffet is priced at around $14 on the weekend for lunch and around $11 on a weekday. I do not know if they have a dinner buffet. But based on the quality of the buffet, I will venture to say that an a la carte dinner spread will be good too.
- Here’s the restaurant website: http://jaxflavors.com/restaurant.html
The address is
9550 Baymeadows Rd
Jacksonville, FL – 32256
Phone: (904) 733-1525 or (904) 733-1523
Bon Appetit
Review of “Rambo – part IV” February 3, 2008
Posted by johnakm in movie.Tags: julie benz, rambo, stallone
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Impressed by “Rambo – first blood” , I was anxious to watch the latest installment of the Rambo series and here is my take on this film(and by the way, I haven’t watched part 2 and part 3 of the series). Former Green Beret , John Rambo (Stallone) , has moved to Thailand and lives his life, away from the western world. He captures snakes (cobras and pythons, to be specific) to trade with the locals, recovers scrap metal, and operates as a boatman to make a living there. Meanwhile, in Burma, the local people there are struggling to survive the brutal tyranny of the Burmese army. A group of christian missionary workers from America try to convince John to take them to Burma (to offer medical supplies to the local Burmese people who are suffering), since he is the only person who knows the way through the rivers from Thailand to Burma. At first John refuses to help them since he prefers to mind his own business and stay away from trouble , but Sarah (one of the missionary workers played by Julie Benz) manages to convince him to take them. So for her sake, he takes them on his boat to Burma. Predictably, the missionary workers get captured by the brutal Burmese army , shortly after they start to offer help to the locals (in terms of medicines and supplies). John is informed by the christian mission that the workers never returned. They tell him that they are planning to hire mercenaries to rescue the missionaries and ask for his help to take them to where he dropped of the missionaries. The rest of the movie shows how John Rambo and the mercenaries rescue the missionary workers.
This film is quite short (about an hour and thirty minutes long) so it doesn’t really get boring at any point. The plot is quite predictable ( the storyline is very simple) and focus is more on the action sequences. Stallone(Rambo) doesn’t talk much , which in my opinion is a good thing. The action in this film, though gory, is really good , very different from that in the Bourne series(I would say its a different genre altogether and both are at the top of their game). There were atleast three of four sequences in the film which had the whole audience (including me) applauding like crazy. You know that all those bad guys are going to end up dead, and you know that John Rambo is going to kill them, but how it happens is what this film is all about. Despite what most of the critics have said, I really enjoyed this film and I would say its a must watch for any Rambo fans !
