Posted on 10/13/2012 6:57:52 PM PDT by MarkL
Nan is a good flat bread. I always like garlic nan. You can use it like a tortilla with whatever other foods I get. Tandoori is probably the least radical departure from America food. Its like a fire roasted chicken but a bit drier. Chicken Marsala is what my wife likes and she isn’t very adventerous. It has a mello tomato creamy lightly spicey taste.
My favorite dish is Lamb Saag (Saag is just a spinach based sauce).
Provided you like spices especially curry you will thoroughly enjoy Indian. I’ve been lucky since I work with many native indians I’ve had home cooked Indian meals and they always recommend the best restaurants.
Chicken Curry and Chicken Biryani are probably my two easy favorites. You can ask for mild if you like, or order a side of yougurt to counter the spices. There are many Indian buffets, you may want to go to one so you can try different dishes out.
Mmmm....
These are always safe:
Garlic Nan bread, vegetable korma, rice biryani, chicken masala.
I tell them I want 3 on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the hottest.
I love Thai and Japanese but I really dislike Indian food especially the currys.
There is an Indian restaurant near me that has had a lunchtime buffet for about 30 years.
It’s a great way to try different dishes.
My son and his wife used to go often and took me,but Indian food is not my thing.
Happy eating.
I like maze on the cob.
This Bengali Sweet House shipped 3lbs of amazing candy to me by mistake, but told me to keep it instead of shipping it back. Absolutely amazing; unlike anything I’ve ever eaten!
Curried chicken, in the Anglo-Saxon-American way is tasty. Nan is a bread like a tortilla. Chutney is like salsa, but both with the curried anything and the chutney, you need a cast iron mouth and backside.
Take it all slow. Try one strange dish at a time with a dish you are familiar with. And stay away from the LIME CHUTNEY SALAD! Unless you have lots of beer!
Start with rogan josh, if they have it. I’ve never met anyone who’s tried it and doesn’t like it. After that try chicken tikka masala, or maybe something in a mild korma.
Wow, I wish you were local, I’d love to get you started. It took us a while to figure it out, but we love it.
Some starter notes.
For Westerners, pick a meat item. A tandoor is a type of high-temp oven, and roasts meat nicely. Usually implies some nice spicing as well. Get some tandoori chicken or lamb.
Now get a couple of veggie dishes. We like the chick pea stuff, like a chana masala, and aloo gobi, which has potatoes and cauliflower.
Get some naan, which is a flatbread cooked on the sides of the tandoor.
We also get some raita, which is a yogurt based side dish/sauce. Good for cutting the heat from the spices on the other dishes.
Hit me with any further questions you might have, I’ll do the best I can.
If anyone reading this has any suggestions for good Indian restaurants in ATL, let me know. For all the Indian population we have, the good, nicer restaurant choices are pretty slim. Had a great meal in Manhattan at the Copper Chimney when we were there around Labor Day for the U.S. Open. I can strongly recommend them!
If you're not used to Indian food and you go for lunch you want to fall asleep after you leave.
I love Indian food, and I also came to it as an adult (with a fairly low tolerance for hot/spicy, which makes my tongue curl up and say “ow!”). I’ve found that the key to eating Indian food comfortably is make sure there is something mild on your plate to “cut” the spiciness if you need to. There is usually a cucumber/yogurt dip which is tasty and a good choice to cool off your tongue, and it’s always a good idea to pick up some nan bread for the same reason. (I especially like garlic nan but really, it’s all good unless they’ve burned it accidentally.) As for dishes, saag paneer is a mild spinach & cheese dish that I enjoy as an alternate with a hotter curry.
Enjoy your adventure!!!
Don’t order anything “vindaloo” if you don’t know what that means.
I’d rather eat crap.
As others have suggested try a buffet and just get whether looks and smells good.
I seriously doubt an Indian restaurant in Kansas City would be serving overly hot food at a buffet.
I love Indian food but don’t get Kingfisher beer - it’s vile.
It’s a buffet - try everything!
No major food market likes their food hotter in terms of chili power (measured in Stovall units) than the Thais. So if you survived first contact there, Indian should be easier.
The waitstaff will probably be happy to help - everybody likes taking part in a virgins first time.
It’s addictive — i love paneer (cheese) anything — like paneer tikka masala or saag paneer (spinach and cheese). Faves are navratan korma or mattar paneer (peas and cheese). Like chili chicken and these veggie things called kofta balls. Be sure to try the usual samosa appetizers. Will look forward to your reaction.
Get a mild chicken curry and some naan bread, it’s all good
Speaking as a person of considerable girth, earned through a healthy appetite for a wide variety of exotic cuisines, I can assure you that:
1 - You will not forget this experience. Ever.
2 - You will most likely not want to repeat this experience. Ever.
3 - You will acquire a whole new appreciation for the dinner scene in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”
4 - You will understand the dietary asceticism of Eastern Mystics.
5 - You will most likely crave a cheeseburger for your dinner tomorrow. (If you’ve settled your stomach by then.)
(Do you like Sushi/Sashimi? I love that stuff. Italian is good too. Or Greek.)
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