BYPASS or BUY - Chef Bombay

Hailing from Alberta, Canada, the Bombay Chef line was created back in the early 2000's by a couple wo knew that they could make these products better than what was currently available. It all started with samosas and once those caught on, the company grew and expanded to what they are today. The Bombay Chef line includes a variety of familiar Indian apps and meals including their famous samosas, pakora bites, and palak paneer.

To be honest, I've wanted to try their line for a while now, but the price for a box hovered around $7.99 and without knowing if I'd like them or not, that price was too steep for me. I found them recently for almost half the price on special so I snatched up 3 of their vegetarian offerings.

THE VERDICT

SAMOSAS

Naturally, I started with their signature product; the samosas. Out of the box, they looked nice and tight, very well made and the browned up beautifully in the oven. I absolutely loved the texture of the dough as well as the flavour of the filling. They were light, flavourful, and definitely delicious. What I will say though is that I was missing heat. Not that a samosa HAS to have heat, but for me, the inclusion of heat is almost what I'd expect. So, delicious for sure, but in my opinion, they were missing that punch of heat I'd otherwise expect.

Vegetable Pakoras

Any time I go out for Indian food, I end up with some kind of pakora. There's jus no denying how delicious a clump of perfectly seasoned, fried vegetables are. These pakoras were pretty bang on to what I'd hope for in terms of texture and flavour. They were pillowy & fluffy but had a nice crisp on the outside from the oven. They were really flavourful, which is what I'd expect, and as I said, the texture and flavour were pretty bang on. These were a winner!

Mini Chole Naanpenadas

I was super excited to try these because I hadn't seen anything like them before. Filled with a combination of yogurt, mozz, chickpeas, and tomatoes, they were an Indian inspired riff on empanadas. I loved the dough / crust, the filling was light and tasty, and they had a good spice. I guess heat is synonymous with Indian food to me as I've only ever really had things medium or hot so I'm always looking for it. These were A M A Z I N G and easily my fave of the 3.

BYPASS or BUY?

BUY! - The price is high in my opinion, but the products tasted like they were made with love. Quality ingredients, lots of flavour, and also, let's support our Canadian companies folks! I'd recommend the samosas as they're the signature product, but try their entire line of vegetarian / vegan offerings. I'm looking forward to trying the palak paneer next!

Peep their website for information about their company, how they started, and their product line!

​www.chefbombay.com/

HAPPY VEG