Had’s Brookfield Indian Buffet

Had’s offers a midday buffet (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) on weekends as well as weekdays in a casual, almost coffee shop-like atmosphere.

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Not every restaurant featuring a buffet among its offerings has a picture of patrons in line for it as the homepage picture of its website.

Had’s Indian Cuisine (2345 B. 124th St., Brookfield) has such a shot of customers in line at an array of heated trays. Trusting that those folks in single file formation experienced the same quality and care as I did on a recent visit, they should have been well pleased.

Had's offers a midday buffet (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) on weekends as well as weekdays in a casual, almost coffee shop-like atmosphere with comfortably padded chairs and booth seating. It would be a mistake for Indian food lovers to bypass Had’s due to its strip mall location. It's plenty cozy.

As for that buffet, it’s as diverse as Had’s ambience is comfortable. Reddened tandoori chicken alongside curries, a vermicelli dish and other entrees equally vivid in color filled the heated trays. Apart from the traditionally pungent subcontinental pickle, nothing in Had's spread was aggressively hot, but it was flavorful in a range that could reasonably called medium spicy. The bone-in goat curry was especially memorable with its hint of sweetness.

We could have benefitted from instructions on how to eat the pani poori. What my friend and I mistook for merely crispy, hollow bread balls, like spherical papadums, are, in fact, intended to be punctured and filled with onion-chickpea chutney. However one wants to munch on them, they’re a fun appetizer worth revisiting. Speaking further of bread, the complimentary naan brought to our table was a pillowy delight.

Unfortunately, my friend missed the dessert section of Had’s buffet, hidden as it was behind the section dedicated to soup, salads and other apps, including a papdi chat whose delectable mingling of potato, lentil crisps, chickpeas, yogurt and tamarind sauce could be mistaken for confectionary. The actual dessert selection featured familiar fare including carrot halwa (agreeably like pudding in its consistency), miniature gulab jamun (think sweetly doused doughnut holes) and kheer, India's milky variation of variation of rice pudding. Alongside mango and strawberry ice creams, Had’s miniature buffet of sweets made a for a pleasant way to top off the savory selections preceding it.

Canned and fountain-dispensed sodas, iced tea and lemonade may be had, with free refills of the latter. But water and complementary hot chai more than suffice to quench our thirsts.

A buffet so ample and flavorful makes it worth the trek from Milwaukee. Now I'm wanting to order from its evening menu…