Written by Shawn Krajewski
While going to Worcester Institute of Technology for a campus tour, my family and I ate at Fatima's Cafe, on 43 Boylston Street. The food was so fantastic I wrote this article to express my gratitude to the staff for providing me with one of the best meals I have ever had.
Drinks
One of the best things about Fatima's Cafe is that they have custom drinks. Some of their options included a mango lassi, chai, and other regional teas. All of these drinks were excellently crafted and delicious. In fact, I had to stop myself on my second drink because I wasn’t aware I was drinking it at an alarming rate. (And it is not like it was small; the drink was the average 16-ouncer you get at nearly every location.) However, because the drinks were so good, I drank them faster than I realized, forcing me to stop myself and switch to purified water.
Appetizers
I primarily ate samosas as appetizers. Samosas are a common dish originating from the Middle East that made its way all across Asia and Africa. In the form of a stuffed savory pastry, samosas are especially versatile. Fatima offers three types of stuffing for your samosas: beef, spicy lentils, or mixed vegetables. Each one fits a different palette but still achieves the same crispy texture that makes pastries like this so delicious. Of all the options, I enjoyed the beef samosas the best, though the other two were very close to dethroning that spot.
Fatima's Cafe also offers two different types of bread. While they're labeled as appetizers, their bread works better as sides to your main dish. So, while the bread is good on its own, when combined with other foods, it becomes even better.
Main Course
The drinks and appetizers were merely warm-ups for the heart of Fatima's Cafe: the stews. To put it simply, the stews were excellent! They're served on a giant piece of chapati, which you can use to scoop the stews. That being said, the stews have consistencies that are closer to curry. The best part of my meals was eating stew and bread to create a perfectly balanced taste.
Seriously, the stews here weren't just good but perfect—especially the goat. And no, that was not GOAT for “greatest of all time,” even though it very much is; I mean it was goat stew. This dish was one of the best things I have eaten in a long time (only comparable to dishes I've had to pay nearly 5 times as much just to enter the door). The texture of the meat, the gravy it was served in, and the fact that it was braised made it a delicious bite.
I don't want to discredit the other stews, though: the mixed vegetables were stellar, the chicken was fantastic, and the lentils were divine. However, nothing can compare to the pure joy I had dipping the "Flavorful Rice Pilau" into the gravy of the goat stew and shoving that symphony of flavors into my mouth. I was left in a state I can only describe as total bliss.
The People Behind the Magic
I would love to thank Omar and Fatima, both co-owners of the restaurant, for providing me with this stellar meal. They truly are wonderful people, so when you visit, make sure you meet them and say that Shawn says hi.
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