My restaurant dine-in meal in Raleigh was a good one as I was finally trying Garland after its James Beard nod. The restaurant was eerily quiet in anticipation of what was to come, and unfortunately was one of the first to shut its doors in the city.

My girlfriend and I managed to share a bevy of dishes before it shut though, starting with the Pakora Chaat. We managed about a quarter of it- there was so much! The crunchy saltiness the veggies of it was nice as were some of the sauces below, though the mint one was not my favorite.

Next up was their most popular dish, Cauliflower 65, a tumeric heavy dish with yogurt sauce and curry leaves. I jumped on the bandwagon as this was my favorite of the night.

We also shared two mains- the lamb shank osso-bucco which was cooked nicely and fell right off of the bone.

We also had the pork rice bowl which was a fun take on a bimibap-like creation. I loved all of the veggies and the crunchy pork cracklins.

Needless to say, we had quite a lot of leftovers! I look forward to returning when Garland reopens post COVID-19.