Best Indian Food?

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Permalink Reply by Brendan on August 15, 2008 at 5:26pm

When the old India Palace changed owners several years ago, the original owners moved to the west side. That is who runs the India Palace across the street from the former Bombay Grill. Except a portion of that group now runs Taj Palace (Which is not related to Taj Mahal, by the way). West side India Palace and Taj Palace are similar in quality and menu.

Kashmiri naan is awesome.

The first two times I went to Rasoi it was tepid, but on the third try (very recently) it was much better. I guess it took them a while to get into the swing of things,

Know who I miss? Shalimar. It was across the street from India Palace. They told us they were going to India for a wedding and would be back in 2 weeks. Some months later the building was torn down and a Satellite coffee now stands where they once were. Sigh.

India is a huge country with an unfathomable number of culinary traditions. This goes way beyond the how-thick-should-pizza-crust-be question. The heavy use of cream indicates more-northern fare, as does the common presence of kabobs which are common in Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. I get the impression that we're seeing a pretty general interpretation of only a few regions- Kashmir, Punjab and some southern fare thrown in per diner expectations. If there are any NRI's around, they can probably pinpoint it- I'm just in love with most foods from the Asian subcontinent.

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Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on August 15, 2008 at 5:36pm

Rasoi has some tasty Goan food and other west-coast seafood dishes.

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Permalink Reply by dolores on August 15, 2008 at 6:16pm

Kashmiri naan is fantastic!

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Permalink Reply by Paul7 on August 15, 2008 at 5:04pm

My favorite was Bombay Grill when they were open, now it is Taj Palace but haven't tried Rasoi yet.

What I don't get about ABQ Indian food is it's comparative blandness for a city that is supposed to like spicy food. Indian food in Chicago where I'm from was much spicier.

If any Indian food fans here go to Chicago, go to Devon St. Must be several dozen Indian restaurants in about a 10 block stretch.

In several restaurants in London I visited the Indian food was literally inedible it was so hot.

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Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on August 15, 2008 at 5:16pm

@Paul7: I think it's a question of who they're cooking for...most ABQ Indian restaurants have a largely non-Indian clientele, and I think a lot of them figure they need to tone down the spice as a result, green chile notwithstanding. In Chicago or London, I imagine there are a lot more restaurants catering to diners of Indian descent. Rasoi has a reasonably large Indian clientele and can make the food quite spicy if you ask for it.

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Permalink Reply by AbqIndia on August 15, 2008 at 5:56pm

I totally agree with you Phil. Most Indian restaurants in ABQ make the food mild and specially for the buffet to serve the majority of non-Indian clientele who don't like really hot food. Almost all the restaurants in Albuquerque and Santa Fe(I guess any where in the world) can make you dish spicy and hot if you ask, but its only possible if you order something from the menu. Some dishes like Tikka Masala or Kormas which have cream sauce are difficult to make very hot. That is why I order Vindaloo which is one of the hottest dishes.
I like India Kitchen where you can choose a number between 1 to 10 for how hot you want you dish to be. 10 is my number

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Permalink Reply by dr fractal on August 15, 2008 at 5:43pm

i have eaten at the himalayan up in santa fe a few times (right across the street from where i work), and the lunch buffet is average, if larger than normal. the interesting thing is that they always have a couple of nepalese and tibetan dishes available. the decor is also nice, and offers a very buddhist style that contrasts with the hindu theme of the india palace across the street.

a brand new indian place, called namaste, has opened in the last month in rio rancho (gasp). it is located in a tucked away strip mall that has been a grave yard for various asian restaurants over the past few years. i ate the buffet there today and thought that it was pretty good, if smaller than normal. it had about ten different dishes, including a few things that are atypical in buffets. my kids, who are already indian food critics, gave it two big thumbs up. my five-year old said it is better than bombay grill (our former favorite), while my 8-year old said it was not quite as good - he thought the tandoori chicken was better than bombay grill, but the tikka masala sauce needed more butter. great service and typical prices. the hostess said that the chef was formerly with bombay grill as well. come up the hill and try it out, if you dare.

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Permalink Reply by San Mateo on August 16, 2008 at 9:55am

India Kitchen rules. Been going there for 23 years, never disappointed.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Renz-Whitmore on August 16, 2008 at 1:25pm

India Kitchen is definitely my personal favorite.

When I had a different job some years back though, I had several highly placed visitors from Pakistan and India and after several visits to different restaurants, they proclaimed India Palace was the only place worth going to.

I'm not sure if that was before a change in ownership, or if they found that kind of service more appealing, but we had a good-bye banquet there and the food was amazing.

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Permalink Reply by Kiki on August 17, 2008 at 1:24am

I'd also recommend India Palace. I like it better than Taj, and there's a little Indian market-with everything from sauces to henna--connected to it. The only thing I don't like is that IP charges extra for rice--it doesn't come with your entree, which, to me, is the equivalent of charging extra for the bun when you order a cheeseburger. And of course, there's Annapurna. On Wednesdays if you dine in, entrees are 1/2 price.

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Permalink Reply by Kitson Harvey on August 17, 2008 at 4:39pm

I love Annapurna. And I know this is naughty of me, but I especially love their fries.

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Permalink Reply by dolores on August 17, 2008 at 6:25pm

Oh my tell us more about there fries. Maybe this would be a way to tempt my husband to join me in eating there.

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