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Malgudi (was Heritage Asia) - South Indian by the Owners of Heritage India in Glover Park and East Dupont


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There is a new sign at the Glover Park location that says, "Heritage Asia Thai Bistro," as well as a Thai menu on their website. (The Indian restaurant is still there, as far as I can tell.) I was just driving by so didn't stop to check it out but was planning to walk by this weekend out of curiosity. Does anyone know what this is about, and has anyone tried the new menu?

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the last time i was there, maybe a month ago, the mandus, a special appetizer, were the best thing we ordered. they were indian, and really delicious, but not what i was accustomed to seeing on the menu -- more like something i would have expected to find at the small chinese restaurant downstairs that i have never visited even though i continue to hear good things about their dumplings.

anyway, it's hard to imagine serving thai and indian in the same dining room, so i am guessing that maybe the thai food is in the bar area downstairs, which never seemed to do any business and where the furniture was for sale. if that's the case, i'm going to have a hard time choosing thai over the reliably good indian cooking that is upstairs. if the two cuisines are being served in the same restaurant, maybe i'll just duck into the chinese restaurant.

Here's the Heritage [pan-]Asia menu.

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Here's the Heritage [pan-]Asia menu.

don't know if this is an ambitious menu, but it is certainly long, based in thailand but with short side trips to other asian countries. next time, i will skip vietnam and its quietly flavored shrimp garden rolls. on to thailand, the chicken coconut soup is all about the dark meat, which is what stands out in a fairly standard presentation. salmon in a panang sauce is ok, a little dry, and stir fried beef with chilli and garlic is even better than ok, though not much heat comes through.

as of now, the kitchen appears to be afraid of heat offending the diners, so you should emphatically ask for it. an early impression, and it's based on only a fraction of what's being offered, is that the thai cooking here is run-of-the-mill for the area, where thai restaurants settle in fast, the good ones opening with a bang and then trailing off into a hit-or-miss mediocrity that is saved nevertheless by lemon grass, galangal, coconut and other exotic flavors that usually always make a favorable impression.

one other thing, i associate this cuisine with sharing, but at this point the restaurant does not. two entrees are served on small platters too big to sit on the table along with two plates, making sharing an awkward business. i'm sure this can easily be remedied, although the diners around us seemed perfectly happy to be digging into individual entrees, which are on the generous side.

ironically, they don't seem to be afraid of the heat upstairs where good indian cooking is standing by, although it never hurts to nudge them in that direction. two back-to-back dinners found the upstairs and downstairs playing in two different leagues. the service, cited a while back as a problem in the indian dining room, is exemplary these days. it almost seems as if the servers have even been trained. in the opening days, the service downstairs is friendly, but not assured.

i hadn't been to busara for some time before it closed, but it started off on a strong note, emphasizing modern presentations. the opening here is not as impressive, but who knows where it is headed. right now, this is an effort to drum up some business in an expensive space that was underutilized for years. maybe a consultant told heritage to dumb down asian cooking. i would have told them to try and coax taw vigsittaboot, or someone of his caliber, to their stoves. they are playing it way too safe.

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My wife came across Sietsema's First Bite from March and we decided to try Malgudi out on Thursday night. Neither of us have particular expertise with Indian food, but we were very pleased. My wife's dosa was enormous and flavorful; better still was the Meen Moilee (fish in a yellow curry), which one can pair with several different rice options for a modest additional charge. I chose the tamarind rice, and it was well-spiced and flavorful, a far cry from the normal bowl of white basmati rice. I suspect this will become our go-to Indian take-out place.

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"What should we have for our last DC dinner?"

"Something we won't be able to get in Kosovo, I guess. Ethiopian?"

"We had that on Monday. Texmex?"

"We can get that for lunch tomorrow, it's easier. South Indian?"

And so Malgudi it was. Bit of a risk, going to a new restaurant for pseudo-significant dinner, but in the end a good decision. We were with my parents, who also appreciated the choice as they haven't had south Indian in quite a long time. My mom raved about the sambar and the rava masala dosa, which she said was some of the best she's had. Dad finished his lamb poratta (sp?) in record time, which I guess is a good sign, and he thoroughly enjoyed Malgudi's variation on dahi vada, his favorite Indian snack.

Marisa had the keema dosa, an odd combo for us as back when we were in Mumbai non-vegetarian dosas were anathema. She enjoyed it, though my one taste just felt.. strange. Not used to tasting meat with dosa and sambar I guess. On the other hand, my chicken gongura with tamarind rice was unique: more sour than most curries I've had outside of India, if a bit mild in the spice department. Definitely not sour like vinegary vindaloo, but sour all the same. My rasam was awesome. The best I've had in the area, frankly.

We've been through the "last dinner in DC" routine multiple times now and the overall goal remains having a meal that will make us miss this city, which we call home (-ish, in my wife's case, as her allegiance to DC is far more tentative than mine). In this sense, Malgudi did well.

We'll miss you, DC! But not you, donrockwell.com. Stay tuned for posts from the Balkans, as soon as we get our internet figured out...

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"What should we have for our last DC dinner?"

"Something we won't be able to get in Kosovo, I guess. Ethiopian?"

"We had that on Monday. Texmex?"

"We can get that for lunch tomorrow, it's easier. South Indian?"

And so Malgudi it was. Bit of a risk, going to a new restaurant for pseudo-significant dinner, but in the end a good decision. We were with my parents, who also appreciated the choice as they haven't had south Indian in quite a long time. My mom raved about the sambar and the rava masala dosa, which she said was some of the best she's had. Dad finished his lamb poratta (sp?) in record time, which I guess is a good sign, and he thoroughly enjoyed Malgudi's variation on dahi vada, his favorite Indian snack.

Marisa had the keema dosa, an odd combo for us as back when we were in Mumbai non-vegetarian dosas were anathema. She enjoyed it, though my one taste just felt.. strange. Not used to tasting meat with dosa and sambar I guess. On the other hand, my chicken gongura with tamarind rice was unique: more sour than most curries I've had outside of India, if a bit mild in the spice department. Definitely not sour like vinegary vindaloo, but sour all the same. My rasam was awesome. The best I've had in the area, frankly.

We've been through the "last dinner in DC" routine multiple times now and the overall goal remains having a meal that will make us miss this city, which we call home (-ish, in my wife's case, as her allegiance to DC is far more tentative than mine). In this sense, Malgudi did well.

We'll miss you, DC! But not you, donrockwell.com. Stay tuned for posts from the Balkans, as soon as we get our internet figured out...

I just want to remind all our readers that Kanishka was the very first person ever to write a piece about donrockwell.com, citing a mention by Tom Sietsema back when Kanishka worked for dcist.

I have not forgotten this, and never will.

http://dcist.com/2005/04/donrocks_strike.php

Please keep posting, Kanishka - you'll essentially have your very own blog, and I will ensure that it's safeguarded for eternity (I am going so far as to ensure the continuance of donrockwell.com via a provision in my will).

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Rocked into Malgudi Friday night for a fairly modest ware-sampling at the end of which my friend looked at me and said: "this place needs more customers, what's that food web thing you do? Write something about Malgudi."

Since I always what I'm told....

And based on statistically modest sample of their dishes, she was right, even if  only for the enthusiasm of the wait staff, all whom seemed not merely servers but proselytes for what I assumed was their native  cooking, and each whom smiled with  perhaps slightly sadistic glee when we explained that we'd asked about the heat not because we were afraid of it, but because a low pressure-induced sinus pain demanded a fiery meal as a possible cure.  Towards the end of the meal, the owner came around, as well, for a chat, an affable woman suffused with enthusiasm, good cheer and, possibly, cardamom.

(I claim no particular expertise in South Indian food -- no actual knowledge, actually, , prior to this visit, though my friend spent two years in London and that counts for something.)

Our meal was brief, filling, and hot.

We started with a   Masala Dosa, a fried rice/lentil batter crepe the size of a medium pepperoni folded over on itself and stuffed with spiced potatoes.  It tastes nothing like a proper french fry, but possesses that same crispy inevitability as you swear you can't finish it but do.

Kothu Poratta was a bit of a let-down, and bland mix of bread and lamb topped with raita that seemed filling, wholesome and uncompelling (and under-spiced).

The closer, a "Pepper Fry" curry brought the dinner back up to snuff and even above snuff, whatever lies above the altitude at which snuff thrives.  The thick curry paste -- made with peppercorns, onions, ginger, garlic and curry leaves --  almost but didn't quite overwhelm the prawns and retained a fine, layered nuance despite the heat.  I noticed some commentary on the heat at Little Serow -- this stuff  made Serow seem almost tourist-level in its spicing.  It cured the sinus headache and -- with the other flavors -- had us scraping the bowl for more paste to spoon onto the quite tasty tamarind rice as we abandoned conversation in favor of wiping our noses, swilling Taj Mahal beer and arm-wrestling for the last prawn.

As I admit, I can't say that I've much experience with this food. I can say that if you like Indian food and have not been here you need to go -- for the change of pace and to keep these guys in business long enough for me to get back.

And, if you and you actually know what you're talking about,  I look forward to your posts.

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Malgudi's food was really excellent last night, on my first visit.  The least interesting things were the Mysore Masala Dosa (crepe with potato etc.) and the Paneer Uttapam (thicker pancake-like thing with paneer etc.).  But they were good.  (They probably would have been much better if their accompaniments had arrived when they did.  See note below about service).  Better were appetizers (try the fried cauliflower) and the curries.  Rice is extra (as at Heritage India) but comes in multiple varieties (e.g., tamarind, lemon) and is well worth it.

If last night is an indication (and if Y*lp reviews are, too), you will do better here if you go when you have plenty of time, have friends to talk to, and are feeling good about life.  It took a long time, for no discernible reason.  Long time to get started, long time for wine, and long time for entrees.  (About 2 hours total, or maybe a little more, and we decided against dessert so we could move on.)  Staff were extremely friendly when present.  The situation seemed especially strange to me, as we were among the very first diners on the weekend following the restaurant's appearance on the Sietsema Top 40 in the Post Magazine.  I would have assumed that management would know that they had made the list, and would make sure that everything was firing on all cylinders in preparation for a possible surge in business.  Apparently not.  But still, excellent food.

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Everything I've read and seen when driving by is that Malgudi is in Glover Park - however, when I drove by 17th and P street recently, I noticed a similar Heritage India upstairs and Malgudi below. Is this the same restaurant? Has anyone been to the P street one and is it similarly good?  I've never been to either but had been planning on going and the P street is much easier to get to by metro (few blocks east of Dupont).

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Everything I've read and seen when driving by is that Malgudi is in Glover Park - however, when I drove by 17th and P street recently, I noticed a similar Heritage India upstairs and Malgudi below. Is this the same restaurant? Has anyone been to the P street one and is it similarly good?  I've never been to either but had been planning on going and the P street is much easier to get to by metro (few blocks east of Dupont).

What, Skewers and Café Luna are gone? When did that happen? They were both there for a long time (already well established when I moved away from the neighborhood at the end of 1992).

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Here is a story on the second Malgudi location.

I had no idea that Heritage India and Skewers/Luna shared ownership. The linked article doesn't mention Skewers; had that been replaced with a Heritage India some time earlier? I don't get over to my old neighborhood often enough, it seems.

ETA: I have to say that back when I lived a couple of blocks from there, I didn't think either Skewers or Café Luna was worth traversing those blocks for.

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I had no idea that Heritage India and Skewers/Luna shared ownership. The linked article doesn't mention Skewers; had that been replaced with a Heritage India some time earlier? I don't get over to my old neighborhood often enough, it seems.

ETA: I have to say that back when I lived a couple of blocks from there, I didn't think either Skewers or Café Luna was worth traversing those blocks for.

yeah both Skewers and Luna were pretty terrible. we would go to Luna a lot for happy hours because of the cheap drinks and stone's throw proximity to work (people rarely wanted to venture much further, like Hank's or Commisary or something). Heritage took over the Skewers space earlier this year I want to say, but kept Luna going still as pseudo-Italian, though it started to have some Indian apps on the menu. it had gone so downhill that we pretty much decided to no longer go there. it changed to Malgudi really recently, and I only found out by the changing of the signs. haven't given it a shot yet, however. hopefully it's better than what it replaced.

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Does anyone know if the Malgudi on P St is the same quality as the one in Glover Park?  I'm asking because the GP location is included in Sietsema's Fall Dining Guide, but the P St location is a whole lot closer to home.

I have never been to the Glover Park location, so can't speak to the comparison, but we really enjoyed the food at the P Street location on our first visit Friday night.

This is not a vegetarian restaurant, but a good deal of South Indian cooking is, and we opted for mainly vegetarian dishes.  Cauliflower 65 was crispy, battered, spicy, red, deep fried cauliflower.  I don't know how else to describe it.  Good.  Loved the Mysore Bonda, which were little fried dumplings made from rice flower and coconut.  Our entrees included the ubiquitous South Asian restaurant staple Rava Masala Dosa and the more interesting (not saying that the dosa wasn't good) chicken kothu paratha, which is essentially paratha chopped up roughly with spiced chicken and egg.  This would make a great breakfast (it's essentially South Indian hash).

Service was super friendly, but slooooow.  Front and back of the house both appeared to be significantly understaffed the night we were there.  But I can't wait to go back.

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I have never been to the Glover Park location, so can't speak to the comparison, but we really enjoyed the food at the P Street location on our first visit Friday night.

This is not a vegetarian restaurant, but a good deal of South Indian cooking is, and we opted for mainly vegetarian dishes.  Cauliflower 65 was crispy, battered, spicy, red, deep fried cauliflower.  I don't know how else to describe it.  Good.  Loved the Mysore Bonda, which were little fried dumplings made from rice flower and coconut.  Our entrees included the ubiquitous South Asian restaurant staple Rava Masala Dosa and the more interesting (not saying that the dosa wasn't good) chicken kothu paratha, which is essentially paratha chopped up roughly with spiced chicken and egg.  This would make a great breakfast (it's essentially South Indian hash).

Service was super friendly, but slooooow.  Front and back of the house both appeared to be significantly understaffed the night we were there.  But I can't wait to go back.

Thanks, Rhone1998.  Your report is really helpful and it sounds like it is definitely worth our paying a visit.

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A second visit wasn't as successful as the first.  Same service issues as before, but this time they didn't feel offset by great stuff coming out of the kitchen.  Our dosa fillings, previously well spiced, were bland and underseasoned tonight.  Chicken pepper fry, which we tried for the first time, was to my taste overwhelmingly (black) peppery and bitter from overroasted spices.  The appetizers were all good, as before.

I don't know if the food issues are related to them being overwhelmed, but I think the strategy for next time may be to eat there at a time when it's not so crowded.

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I just got delivery from here and, holy god, I am stuffed. Cauliflower 65 was terrific as discussed above; definitely for people who love the textural variety that different preparations of cauliflower can offer. The Dahi Vada (lentil donuts w/ sweetened yogurt sauce) were also great; moist and flavorful. Maybe need some more salt, but that's about it.

Oh, I do think their service issues extend to delivery, because they ignored the instructions I gave on the Grubhub order and didn't really bother to apologize when they finally brought my delivery.

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