Silver Spoon

Restaurant Review
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Silver Spoon’s Got the Golden Touch

Got $6.99? Get lunch! Get your grub on in Gaithersburg at the Silver Spoon's lunch buffet. This reasonable price gets you anything from tandoori chicken, butter chicken, goat or lamb curry, chick pea curry, kabobs, soup and two kinds of whatever vegetable the chef, Mr.Kahn, decides to whip up that day, and as much rice and naan as your plate can carry and your stomach can handle.

Owner Khalid Mahmood varies the selection, so one day you might find among the offerings Barbary rice, a Persian rice dish with raisins courtesy of Persian chef and manager Bharam Ali. Or the versatile Mr. Khan might make a batch of Chinese orange chicken.

As the weather turns more brisk, you'll want a stomach-warming meal, a savory bowl of something, kinda stew-ish, sort of chunky-hunky man-food. If that's the case, Silver Spoon's chicken jalfrezi is what you want to sink your spoon into. Or your fork. It has pieces of white meat chicken, carrot, green and red peppers, onions and string beans all cut big and hearty, then simmered in a spicy tomato base fragrant with garam masala, and finished with delightfully refreshing little sticks of fresh ginger sprinkled on top. All red, green, orange and golden brown, this is truly a dish made for a crisp fall day.

And at a reasonable $9.99 it won't make your wallet's economics take a downturn.

If mellow is on your mind, and your pocket can handle $8.99 or $10.99, the fish kabob is absolutely succulent. Salmon, grilled to a nice firmness and still tender and moist, is accompanied by rice, a colorful salsa of diced tomato, peppers, onions and cucumbers, and a yogurt-mint sauce for drizzling. Saag gosht is another smooth operator, with bits of well-prepared lamb mixed in with spinach and mild spices. But be forewarned; there is a usually a large jalapeno pepper playing peekaboo in all that green, and unless your tongue is fireproof, that smoothness will get taken up a notch.

Silver Spoon enjoys a steady stream of loyal customers, among individuals as well as the local hotels, schools and hospitals it supplies with Mr. Khan's creations. And as a thank you from Br. Khalid, mention this review when you stop by before you order the buffet, and it's only $3.99 throughout the month of November. (You have to mention it to get it.) How's that for an economic bail-out?

Silver Spoon 18530 Woodfield Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20879 301-990-6868 Open 365 days a year, 10:30 am to 10 pm