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Showing results for tags 'Indian'.
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With the portions at Curry Mantra seeming to shrink every time Tom S. recommends it (and the dosa long gone from the menu), we tried Jaipur for takeout last night after seeing the (dated) comments above and were pleasantly surprised. Our ordering did not emphasize authenticity, but everything we tried was well-prepared and enjoyable. Anyone else still going here? The Crab Pudina appetizer is an Indian take on a crabcake -- lightly spiced, with potato as the filler, deep-fried, and served with a mint sauce. One order consisted of three, soda-can diameter cakes, each good for several bites and each bite with a mix of crab and potato. A half Tandoori chicken was a satisfyingly ordinary rendition of this standard, with a familiar flavor, crisp skin, and moist and smoky meat throughout. We should have ordered the whole chicken to ensure leftovers. The sauce for the Mango Prawn Curry was delicious, and there was a lot of it -- more than our order of Garlic Naan and the included portions of rice could sop up. The sauce showcased tender, large shrimp -- I'd have to guess 16 count -- although we would have liked to see a couple more, given the volume of sauce. The naan was fresh and good, although (as usual pretty much everywhere) we would opt for more garlic. A row of takeout orders were lined up near the bar, just inside the entrance, so they seemed to be doing a good weeknight takeout business. Couldn't see how busy the dining room was from that vantage point, but did see two parties with South Asian faces coming and going. It's convenient to us, and we liked everything we tried, so we'll be back, maybe even to dine in. -
I have been getting my Indian delivery fix from this place and it's very good. I have never been to the spot and don't really know where in Burtonsville it is, but it's delicious. Deliveries have been prompt and accurate Website Garam masala wings should be a thing everywhere. They should come with raita without asking, which they might but I ask for extra raita every time so I don't know. The naan is as crisp as you could expect from delivery. I bet it's great dining in. I had never heard of Chicken 65 but I guess it's a thing. A delicious spicy breaded chicken nugget thing here. Curries are great, with various choices of rice, chickpeas, salad, etc for various charges or not. Lamb curries have been excellent. Tons of food for the money but also delicious. Samosa and pakora are pretty standard but the standard is good. As important as anything, the gulab jamun is great. I love a small bite or two for dessert without being weighed down in price or calories. Some Indian places can't get this right, but it's good here. Without throwing any other local indian delivery under the bus, this is the one to get by far. They are on grubhub but not eat24, which is great because you aren't accidentally encouraged to give yelp 2 bucks. -
Cute article. Made me tear up a bit. I think most of us Indian-Americans can relate very closely to this. Same for me - only fast food til I went to college. Hated Indian food. And then .. suddenly came home, and it tasted so good. And haven't stopped dining/cooking/eating it ever since.
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I couldn't find a topic on this place. If it exists, my apologies. We went to Cusbah late last week, and were impressed. The food was very good, extremely flavorful (they were not afraid to use heat), and extremely affordable. My goat vindaloo was $11, while my wife's chicken tikka makhni was $9, and it was more than enough food for us. They had some decent drink specials as well (and some appalling sounding mixed drinks, which involved Goldschlager and Jagermeister mixed together). I wouldn't travel to go here, but it's definitely the best Indian food I've had on the Hill (which is, admittedly, a low bar). -
Indian food is one of my favorites, so when a friend invited me to join her for lunch at Diya I was a little surprised: I'd never even heard of it. But I'm always happy to try something new. The first thing that struck me about Diya was the smell - like a hotel ballroom, except in the bar, which smelled like bleach. The second thing was the size. It's huge. But whatever. It's the food that's important, right? The buffet that day had vegetable fritters, yellow dal, saag paneer, channa, aloo gobhi, salad and a few different chutneys, raita, goat curry, tandoori chicken, butter chicken, one or two other savory things that I didn't try, and kheer and gulab jamun for sweets. "All the safe choices for an American audience," I thought snarkily. "Except for goat curry. That's promising." So how did it taste? Bland. Brown. Boring. Muddy. Mediocre. If I'd closed my eyes only texture would have told me what I was eating. Not one dish had the complexity and vibrancy that makes Indian cuisine so enticing. Later I queried several other friends, friends whose judgement I trust, food-loving friends, friends who post on this board. Everyone said it's a really good restaurant. So I suppose I was just a victim of an office worker style lunch buffet. In Diya's defense, I'll state that I haven't yet eaten anything wortwhile at an Indian buffet (including Masala Art, my current favorite), with the exception of the late, lamented Connaught Place, torn down by the City of Fairfax in order to create a parking lot, may it rest in peace (the restaurant, not the parking lot). Has anyone else been to Diya? Care to defend it? Tell me that it was an off day or that I need to go for dinner instead? -
Diya Bistro opened around new years at the corner of Great Seneca Highway and Quince Orchard Road in the former Famous Dave's location (which moved to the Wegmans shopping center in Germantown). We had high hopes for this place as my wife and I generally like Indian food, and it is within walking distance of our house. They didn't change much from when it was Famous Dave's with the exception of tables, chairs, and maybe a paint job. The antler chandeliers still provided the light. They really push thallis here, which gives you a plate of several items including bread a desert. You can order a vegetarian thalis or meat thalis. It is supposedly all you can eat. We warned them that my wife if very sensitive to spice. Never-the-less, her meal came out very spicy (even for my tastes). We said something and they brought her some dal, which was also spicy. There was one thing on the plate that she was able to eat, which looked like sweet potato. They never checked back to see if the dal was okay for her tastes--it wasn't and she left hungry. Maybe it is our fault that we didn't push things a bit further, but we basically gave up. When they brought us the bill, we asked about the desert. They said it was on our original plate. We paid the bill and left. Never once did they ask us if we wanted a refill. Perhaps, they were still going through opening issues (it was a few weeks after they opened), but spice level for my wife is a deal breaker, and she would not risk going back. I don't even remember if I would consider the food good as I was trying to make sure my wife was satisfied, so perhaps this is not a fair review. We really wanted to love this place, as it is in our neighborhood. -
My sister told me that a coworker had mentioned that there are some Indian-style Chinese restaurants in the area. Anyone know anything? * edit And just out of interest ... Carribean-Chinese.
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Curry and pizza place in Georgetown. I've heard great things. Has anyone gone? I guess curry and pizza is a thing... we have it in suburban Detroit where I grew up. -S -
Madras Palace probably deserves its own thread by now. Time and again we still get a hankering for some south Indian vegetarian cuisine, and MP remains our go-to. Early Sunday evening however, I was surprised that they were pushing a buffet. The dining room was still quiet at not-yet-6 PM, so we ordered off the menu instead. I don't know if they were unprepared to cook, but there seemed to be a startup lag, as the first thing to emerge was perhaps the oiliest plate of papadum I've had in a while. Not yet up to temperature, we thought, and braced for disappointment. Fortunately, things continued to improve. The only remaining glitch was that the vada in my sambar vada was a little undercooked and doughy. But the sambar here continues to be thick and rich and spicy, with only the curious omission of pieces of drumstick. I should ask about that next time. The dosai continue to be perfect every time. My paneer dosa arrived arranged in two pieces; I'd swear that they'd made it as large as a paper dosa before cutting it in half, but it was crisp and nongreasy. Gubeen's customary saag paneer was unusually good this time, perhaps the best we've had in the area in months, without having had all of the fresh spinach flavor cooked out of it. Portions were more generous than we had remembered, as well. My dosa came with another container of sambar, and the coconut chutney. Her saag came with a small dish of flavorful but slightly watery dal, and a few choice bits of pungent mango pickle. I'm a little worried when a kitchen switches into buffet-maintenance mode, but as long as they can knock out a la carte mains with consistency, we'll be back. -
Pursuant to Don's exhortation to post our most recent dining experience, I offer the following commentary on Delhi Dhaba's Bethesda location. We had the buffet lunch there on Saturday. A massive dog-themed street fair had closed the street (Woodmont), and Delhi Dhaba was one of the few restaurants with enough outdoor seating to accommodate four adults, a child, and an infant. The buffet was small and nondescript, but contained nothing offensive: decent butter chicken; okay tandoori chicken; dal; a potato/pepper dish that was pretty good; palak paneer that was a little light on the paneer (had to go fishing with the ladle). There were a couple other things, but I can't remember what they were. Naan was a bit dry. I did enjoy the gulab jamun for dessert. It wasn't as sickly-sweet as that dessert (along with many other Indian desserts) often is. Service was par for the Indian restaurant course: Not what one would call attentive or speedy, but no one punched me in the face. So, not bad. But since I have to get in my car to go there, I'd veer eastward and head to Woodlands to satisfy my buffet itches every time. -
Soooooo I finally made it out to Ganesh Temple's Cafeteria after wanting to go sometime. I was repurposing after finding Gui Lin Mi Fen to be under renovation or closed (the guy couldn't really explain what was going on). It was for the best though as this place was truly one of the most memorable adventures I've had in a long timmeeee. It's this nice canteen serving nice Dosas and other Indian veggie dishes out of it's cavernous complex. The place is pretty big especially compared to the slumped wooden houses that surround it. They have it all inside: the wedding hall, prayer space, the canteen and MORE!! It was almost otherworldly seeing this massive Hindu temple in the middle of a random part of Flushing. Any who the food is quite nice and while I am a bit weaker in my Indian palate (didn't grow up eating it in the way I did other cuisines like Chinese) I would rate this place very high. Not only do they have a wide variety of dishes, particularly in dosas, that often one doesn't see BUT they have a whole slew of other dishes as well to quench your indian veggie appetite. I went with the Mysore Masala Dosa which was quite delectable and had the perfect amount of spice (I do love spice and could've handled more but this spice complemented the flavors well rather then overpowering them). I also should laud the price to quality ratio. I don't think a single item (admittedly I forget some of the spelling/names so forgive me dear rockers!!) was over 7 buckaroonies which in my book is a steal for the quality of these dosas. Sooooo between the very cool visiting the temple experience and the food I would say make the trek out here!! -
I've driven past Swahili Village on Rt 1 in Beltsville more times than I can count, and finally got around to trying it out. Swahili Village specializes in Kenyan cuisine, which seems to have quite a bit of Indian influence. The menu has a number of familiar Indian dishes, such as samosas, curry, and mango lassi. There are also quite a few goat dishes - goat stew, grilled goat, wet fry goat, as well as beef, chicken, and fish. There is only one vegetarian main dish, which is based on either red beans or lentils in coconut milk. We tried the appetizer platter, which has bhajia (thin ruffle cut potatoes battered and fried), samosas, and mild sausages. The samosas were mostly meat inside (ground beef) and were quite spicy. The sausages were vaguely reminiscent of kielbasa. I had the goat stew, which had chunks of bone-in goat in a lightly seasoned sauce. The goat was tender and nicely cooked, the sauce was quite mild. This came with the choice of two sides, for which I picked plantains (standard fried treatment of plantains) and cabbage with onions, which seemed to have been sauteed as a simple presentation. Some of the fish dishes on the menu looked interesting, and may bear future investigation. I think the traditional method of eating is without utensils, and there were a few tables in the restaurant that chose to eat with their hands. When we arrived at quarter to 7, most of the tables were empty, but it was pretty well packed by 7:30 on a weeknight. Note that they are moving to a new space just a few blocks up on Rhode Island Ave, in the shopping center with Seoulia, sometime this winter.- 5 replies
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Take note Simul: (and others) The owner of Bollywood Masala in way southern MD, California, MD has opened Bollywood Masala in La Plata. I only reference Simul as I suspect you have a wee bit of experience with the cuisine and you've referenced the original Bollywood Masala at least once in the past. La Plata just opened in the last week or so. I'm not qualified to speak to the restaurant or cuisine, but I've spoken to the owner off and on in the past and visited the original and still operating location once a few years ago. (I'm a wuss when it comes to Indian Cusine, but more specifically a wuss as it relates to hot) -
I've not seen IndAroma mentioned here. It is a small Indian restaurant/bakery in a strip mall at the Little River Turnpike-Braddock road intersection. (If you don't see it right away, it is next to the Five Guys hamburger joint.) There is a small Indian grocery store next door. It has a web page where you can find more information about it, including its menu. When you are there, go to the counter and order and pay for what you want. Sit down at one of the tables, and when your order is ready they will bring it to the table. For a recent meal two of us shared a tandoori chicken, a samosa chaat, and a chicken samosa. The samosas were very good, but the tandoori chicken was really excellent. All three dishes were spicy; you can ask for a milder version if you want. If anyone else has eaten I would be very interested in your opinion of the food. To me it ranked with some of the best Indian food I have had in this area.- 7 replies
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"Chatting with Craig LaBan: Indian Takeout, Caterers, and Butchers" by Craig LaBan on philly.com I want to add that I did a James Beard nominee trip a few years ago, and went to one of the long-listed nominees: Bindi, a well-meaning but ultimately sub-par Indian BYOB just southeast of City Hall. Bindi was the only klunker of the entire trip, and we were left slack-jawed wondering how it got long-listed for a Beard Award. Incidentally, the following year, it fell off the nomination list. Still, it was a Beard long-listed Indian restaurant, and I think (don't quote me on this) this was before Rasika had ever been nominated, so it at least made a valiant effort - and it was BYOB! One important thing to know: "Bindi" signifies the red dot worn on the center of the forehead, often by Hindu and Jain females, and this was reflected by a huge red circle on the ceiling of the restaurant. "Bhindi," however, means "Okra," and is pronounced nearly the same, so it would be quite easy to confuse the two. This was the same weekend we went to Amada, Zahav (my first visit which was spectacular), and Tinto (also my first visit which was spectacular), so it was in some pretty tough company, and just didn't stand up well next to its peers, two of which were in their prime.
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Is there really no thread on Royal Taj restaurant here yet? I know HowChow has written about it in his blog, but I couldn't find a thread here. I was just introduced to Royal Taj recently when I headed there with a few friends for a weeknight dinner. The design itself is surprisingly upscale for an Indian restaurant, but the real draws are the excellent food and the incredible service. We started with complimentary chutneys served with something crispy to eat them on (papadum I think?). They were your typical chutneys - an onion & tomato one that had a nice bit of heat, the cilantro sauce, and the tamarind sauce - all delicious. After that, we shared the alu gobi, chicken tikka masala, and chicken korma, as well as their traditional naan and a naan that I can't recall the name for with coconut and an anise flavor (the only thing I didn't care for in our meal, but I am not partial to anise). I thought the food was exceptional, some of the best Indian food I have had across the board. But the kicker was really the service, incredibly attentive and they actually brought us a few items complimentary - the traditional naan and then, after we had passed on dessert, someone overheard me mention to the friend who had joined us who was new to Indian cuisine that she really should try gulab jamun and moments later, 4 dishes, each with 1 gulab jamun ball appeared at our table. I am definitely eager to go back and am even hoping to slip away for a long lunch some day when I am working from home to try their lunch buffet. Would love to hear what others' experiences have been here. -
I just got done eating a plain bowl of white rice dressed in nothing but a stuffed red chili pickle my friend brought me back from India. The simplicity made me realize just how awesome these things are. Complex, robust, and powerful. I never eat Indian without them anymore. A lot of the jarred versions I purchase in markets here are a little lame. Very salty, and over powering. So a lot of the time I make them at home. I'm wondering. What Indian places around town have really stellar pickles. Stuffed chili, green chili, lemon, lime, bombay duck. Has anyone been to a place where the pickles really shine? If not we need to find one.
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Located in downtown Rockville on West Montgomery Ave. (there is also another branch in Fairfax, VA) this is a small unpretentious place. It has been in Washintonian Magazine's list of best restaurants and best bargain restaurants since it opened and rightfully so. Dinner was in a word excellent. We started with two appetizers for the table. The first, Mussels a la Bistro, Prince Edward Island Mussels steamed in its own juices with garlic, shallots, tomatoes, spices, curry leaves and white wine, was to die for. The sauce was so good we couldng wait to get the bread basket to sop it up. The mussels were large, plump, and full of flavor. The second was the Bombay Mini Delights, tiny steamed mini lentil and rice cakes topped with assorted chutneys. Yum. For our entrees I ordered the Whole Maryland Rockfish, a whole fish marinated with yogurt, ginger, garlic, and spices, cooked in the Tandoori oven. My wife had the Tandoori Salmon, marinated in a blend of spices, yogurt, and charcoal grilled in the Tandoori oven. My son ordered the Chicken Tikka Makhani, boneless pieces of chicken cooked in Tandor and finished in a flavorful tomato based gravy. He loved it. We ordered a bread basket (it was huge) to sop up all the juices and to have with the order of Dal Makhani. Two Kingfishers and a Coke rounded out the meal. Total cost for the three of us with tax before tip, $77. Service was excellent, almost courtly. The kitchen is in view and the tables not crowded together. Small (as expected) wine list of no interest. Bottom line, if you like Indian food, this is a great place to eat. -
Does Heritage Dupont deliver? I know I have spoken out against that location in favor of Heritage Glover Park location, but now that I have moved out of the GP delivery zone, I'm desperate. I generally agree with Waitman who said that Tonight, though, I ordered from Mehak and while it wasn't bad, I couldn't help but compare it unfavorably to Heritage GP. The delivery menu is, I find, somewhat limited. No small order sizes of daal of any kind, a pretty basic range of appetizers (and no seekh kebab!). The samosas I resorted to arrived in their own paper bag which was quickly covered with large greasy patches. They tasted pretty good in spite of being rather oily. Whereas I really wanted paneer, I wanted to test Mehak's kitchen with chicken tikka masala, that classic Indian British dish. Specifically, if I ordered white mean only, would it arrive that way? It did. I finished my dish, but out of hunger not enthusiasm. The gravy was dark orange, headed toward brown, and tasted of a smokey curry blend that I did not care for. Chunks of white meat chicken dotted the sauce along with slices of onion and bell pepper. There was a lot of sauce, but a paltry amount of chicken (with Heritage's dinner portions, I can easily have two full meals). Garlic naan was doughy and stuffed with raw garlic instead of roasted--it tasted good, but STRONG. Will I order again? Yeah, in a pinch I might. The alternative at this point is to change my commute to make a stop in GP on the way home. -
Open since Sept/Oct. Zagat listing for Rangoli.
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I was driving in unfamiliar territory today, and decided I'd go random ethnic. It's too bad I did, because there's apparently this website called donrockwell.com that has favorably reviewed a restaurant called Hyderabadi Biryani Corner which I literally walked right by, looked at the menu, and then continued two doors down to Chutneys Vegetarian. It was biryani versus dosa, and I was in the mood for healthy and vegetarian, so I went to Chutneys. Let me come right out and say that this place is a *dive*, and if you have any problems with perceived hygiene in restaurants, this is not the place for you (I suspect some of our members have been here before, and will confirm my claim). However, it had a standard, if small, menu of Southern Indian specialties, including numerous types of dosa. It's been months since I've been to Woodlands, and the thought of a wheat-based dosa really appealed to me. I had just gotten some cardio, so a Mango Lassi ($1.99) went down like amrit (oops, wrong part of the country). And I got my standard dosa which I invariably get at Woodlands, the Rava Onion Masala Dosa ($7.49). The good news: the cook is a girl on a flat-top grill, and she made the dosa about as well as she could have made it - the crèpe itself was perfect, it was huge, and it looked just right from the outside. The bad news: the three chutneys it came with got a fingertip-dip only, and the sambar tasted like it came straight out of a can. There's more bad news: the inside of the dosa was *laden* with green chilis - too many, and I'm just not used to this many Scoville heat units; the turmeric potatoes, however, were fine, and there were lots of them - it was a huge dosa, both inside and out. For whatever reason, the bill was only $9 (the minimum amount for Visa is $10, but they let me use it anyway so I left a generous tip). You know, if you're in Herndon, and you're dying for Southern Indian, I'm not going to tell you to drive to Fairfax for Woodlands, but I will finish by saying that I kept a close eye throughout my meal for any unwelcome "visitors" (there were none), but my goodness this place is dirty - I would not have ordered anything meat-based. I tagged this thread "Hindu Catering" because the menu literally says, "We cater for Hindu religious and social events." -
Stopped by Street Kitchen, a new fast-casual concept for lunch at Tysons Corner Center (located near Panera and Panda Express on 2nd level). At first glace, this place looked like your typical short-order deli/sandwich but upon looking at the menu, I could see how flavor packed these dosas/naan wraps would be. I ordered the masala steak frankie, which was the most intense steak wrap that i have ever tasted. The naan bread was freshly fried, piping hot and crispy, and the meat was similarly packed with intensely marinated flavor that I cannot really describe (my vocabulary in describing indian cuisine is sadly lacking). Nothing here seems to be blandly flavored, and the wraps come with a side of chutney as well, in case you need additional flavor bombs. There was about a 5-10min wait for our food, but only because our food was cooked to order, so I do not mind. With that said, I can imagine the wait being longer if there were a line. If you want to try an exciting indian fast-casual concept that doesn't seem like glorified buffet fare, I highly recommend dropping by here.- 2 replies
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In the wasteland that is the shopping center at the corner of Lee Highway and George Mason, there is a small Indian restaurant that is owned by a very friendly couple. Their menu is huge for a vegetarian-only place, featuring several of my favorites (Dal Makhni, Cholle Puri, Masala Dosai, etc.) All portions are generous and there is not a dish on the menu that is over $10, which is great if you like trying a few things and not paying dearly for it like at Heritage or Rasika. With that said, this is obviously not at the quality of the high-end places in the area, but should not be ignored as a delivery option or if you are in the mood for a lunch buffet, which is available for $6.99 every day of the week except Monday, when I believe they are closed. Website -
Just had a lousy lunch at one of the many Indian food trucks in the area (Punjab Curry House). I've eaten at about half a dozen others, a few which were good, most which weren't, but I can't remember which were which. Anybody want to help jog my memories?
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According to the Prince of Petworth, a new Indian Restaurant has just opened in Petworth. I am somewhat skeptical about anything with the word "fusion" in it, but it appears to have a great pedigree - click.
