Category Archives: Indian

Badmaash

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Interior

Samosa

Chili Cheese Naan

Yoghurt puffs

**** (4 stars)

Badmaash is REALLY popular, and therein lies the problem for me. We really enjoyed the food, but it was so packed and loud it was hard to enjoy the experience.

I highly recommend the butter chicken, whether as an entree, or in the samosa appetizers, which were the best item we had.

The place has probably the worst offering of wines I’ve ever encountered, and I’m including coffee shops; not sure what’s up there. Beer is a better bet, but also limited.

Service was friendly and attentive.

Badmaash
108 W 2nd St
Ste 104
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 221-7466
https://www.yelp.com/biz/badmaash-los-angeles-2

Anarbagh

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Appetizer assortment

Interior

*** (3 stars)

This is a nice Indian restaurant that has a fairly extensive menu of standards. We weren’t impressed by the appetizer platter, which was mostly uninspired fried stuff, but the korma and saag were good. Both contained some unusual spices which was a nice twist on the old standards.  Service was friendly.

Anarbagh
138 S Beverly Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 888-4011
https://www.yelp.com/biz/anarbagh-beverly-hills-6

Spice Affair Indian Restaurant

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Ice cream

Mango mousse

Butter chicken

Chick pea and walnut

Cauliflower

Interior

Sign

***** (5 stars)

It’s really nice to find a truly elegant Indian restaurant. Spice Affair backs up its stylish decor with excellent service and creative, flavorful cuisine.

The highlight of our meal was definitely the Butter Chicken, and it’s hard to imagine going here and not having this dish. Garlic Naan bread was great for dipping in the sauce, although it could have had more garlic.

We also really liked both appetizers we shared, a crispy cauliflower dish and patties made of chickpeas and walnuts. The accompanying raita was particularly good.

None of us cared for the salmon entree, which was fishy, and didn’t have a particularly appealing coating. When the server noticed this he offered to exchange it, but when we demurred he brought us several complimentary desserts. That and many other touches really impressed us with the professionalism of this restaurant, and I’m sure we’ll return.

Spice Affair Indian Restaurant
50 N La Cienega Blvd
Ste 120
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(424) 286-1739
https://www.yelp.com/biz/spice-affair-indian-restaurant-beverly-hills

India House Restaurant

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*** (3 stars)

This is a very nicely decorated restaurant with about 150 different dishes on the menu. Unfortunately the staff isn’t very good, and the food is just average.

It’s odd browsing through the menu, because it seems to have little organization with multiple sections devoted the similar categories, and very few of the standbys like korma, saag, and so on.

We tried Papdi Chat as an appetizer, and the flavors were good, but it wasn’t enhanced by the sturdy wafers mixed into it.

Mahi Mahi Fish Tikka was good fish, but the seasoning on the fish skin wasn’t my favorite flavor.

Bhuni Gobi was extremely overcooked cauliflower; it resembled something that had been sitting on a buffet for hours.

The best dish was Channa Palak, chick peas in a garlic, onion and spinach sauce. Garlic naan bread was also okay.

The service staff seems to be mostly Russian, and wasn’t strong on communication. They were out of all the juices, and couldn’t produce a beer list.

There aren’t many Indian restaurants in River North, but even so, I wouldn’t bother to return here.

India House Restaurant
59 W Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 645-9500
http://www.yelp.com/biz/india-house-restaurant-chicago-2

Tabla

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***** (5 stars)

Years ago we liked to go to Tabla for the amazing food and spectacular desserts. Despite what was at the time a very decrepit building, the food was the draw. But then they changed lunch to a buffet and we stopped going.

I’m pleased to report that full lunch service is back, and the food is better than ever. In addition, the formerly dingy space has now been completely remodeled, and is one of Orlando’s most stylish restaurants.

The three course lunch must be one of the best deals in town. It begins with soup or salad, then your choice of many Indian and a few Thai dishes incorporating the protein of your choice, served on a very attractive platter along with rice, naan bread, and either a samosa or spring roll. Finally there is a choice of desserts.

Our favorites were the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Saag Paneer. The banana roll was a nice way to finish up. It’s a lot of food for a very reasonable price.

Service was friendly and fairly quick, so this will definitely go onto our regular lunch circuit. I’d also like to visit for dinner and further explore the menu. Tabla is back and better than ever!

Tabla
5827 Caravan Ct
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 248-9400
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tabla-orlando-4

Chutney’s Indian Restaurant

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**** (4 stars)

Chutney’s is in the space formerly occupied by the excellent Rice Paper and the terrible Lolailo. It’s also almost next door to Graffiti Junction, which used to be Orlando’s finest Indian restaurant, Memories of India, so it has some big shoes to fill.

So far things look promising. We visited at lunch, and, unfortunately like most Indian restaurants in the area, only the buffet is available at lunch time. While there are plenty of choices available on the buffet, it’s impossible for the food quality to match what could be served up fresh and in even more variety from the kitchen.

We were impressed with the variety of chutney available (not too surprising, I guess, given the restaurant’s name) and the endless supply of naan bread that was delivered to our table.

They were still working out some issues with getting checks promptly to tables, but the service was friendly.

Still, to assess whether this is really the next go-to Indian restaurant in Southwest Orlando (something we could really use, given the weaknesses of the others in the area) will require a visit in the evening.

Chutney’s Indian Restaurant
7637 Turkey Lake Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 730-9624
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chutneys-indian-restaurant-orlando

Vermilion

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***** (5 stars)

Vermillion offers very interesting food in a trendy, upscale atmosphere with a nice soundtrack.

They bill their food as a fusion of Indian and Latin, but it seemed to lean much more to Indian, although none of the items were traditional Indian, each had a unique and interesting spin.

We tried an extensive assortment of tapas, appetizers, and one entree, and enjoyed all of them. There is also an interesting wine list with about half the selections available by the glass.

Service was friendly and attentive.

Vermilion
10 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 527-4060
http://www.yelp.com/biz/vermilion-chicago-2

Mynt

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Exterior

Exterior

Downstairs

Upstairs Sunday Brunch

Upstairs Sunday Brunch

**** (4 stars)

This tiny space off of Hannibal square is owned by the people behind Saffron on Sand Lake Road, but it has better food and service.

We started with papadums and garlic naan bread. The papadums were more delicate than most, served with two chutneys, mint and tamarind. The garlic naan was particularly good, very thin and a bit crisp in the center, with lots of garlic.

Next we shared the tandoori platter, a combination of chicken, lamb, shrimp and sausage. All were very good although not remarkable.

We finished with an order of butter chicken, which was extremely flavorful, a bit more complex and slightly less rich than some versions.

Service was very attentive. There seemed to be more servers than patrons, although I guess Saturday lunch is slow. Although we didn’t take advantage of it, there is a superb lunch deal, with a full meal for just about $10.

We also went back for brunch, which was upstairs, and a spectacular spread of very fresh food, with terrific variety. Brunch is a deal, priced at $13.95 including a drink or glass of sparkling wine.

Many of the dishes on the menu are not names I’m familiar with from the other Indian restaurants I’ve been too, so I’m looking forward to returning and trying some new things.

Mynt
533 W New England Ave
Ste 100
Winter Park, FL 32789
(321) 441-9872
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mynt-winter-park

American Gymkhana

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**** (4 stars)

If you’re looking for an incredible Indian fusion experience that combines traditional dishes with complex influences from other cuisines in beautiful presentations, proceed directly to American Gymkhana and don’t even bother to read the rest of this review. You won’t be disappointed.

If you’re the owner of this restaurant, please read on.

Your chef and her cuisine are wonderful. But if you want to succeed, you need to fix some things soon. The restaurant has been open two months, which is plenty of time for there to be someone working in service who knows what they’re doing.

Sadly, this is not the case. The food is so good that people will try again, but at some point we’ll give up unless basic levels of service can be achieved. It’s as if the whole staff has never been in a table service restaurant (not counting Denny’s) before.

On our Saturday brunch visit there were at least 15 servers huddled near the entrance, and exactly two patrons. Yet we were interrogated for five minutes at the front desk by three people before finally being shown to a table. Why do you need our names and phone numbers to serve us food?

We asked our server several questions about the food and beverages (let’s face it, the brunch menu isn’t exactly self explanatory, and contradicts itself regarding what the meal includes). The answer to every question was “well, I don’t know what’s in that, but we do everything very special here so it has lots of wonderful ingredients.”

Before you blame the server for this response, let me note that I overheard this same conversation at two other tables with two other servers and the response was essentially identical. If you ever get a patron with a food allergy, they’re dead.

There were a dozen other minor issues with the service provided by everyone who visited our table: inability to clearly explain what came or did not come with various dishes on the menu, wrong drinks served with no one noticing, no one offering dessert before the check–nothing show-stopping or that prevented us from enjoying the truly wonderful food. But there is no excuse for it.

You own a Michelin listed restaurant in New York, and I know this isn’t what the service is like there. Someone needs to move to Orlando and take charge. It would be a shame for one star service to kill a restaurant with 5 star food.

American Gymkhana
7559 W Sandlake Rd
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 985-2900
http://www.yelp.com/biz/american-gymkhana-orlando