Chickpea chana masala and puffy puri bread at Shalimar.
Generally speaking, I’m no fan of restaurant buffets. I didn’t complain much when the Covid-19 pandemic banished the buffet.
But I hear a lot of people complaining about the near-demise of the Indian buffet.
Why the difference? I wonder if it’s about unfamiliarity with Indian cuisine, coupled with just a touch of fear that you’re going to get something unfaniliar and possibly as hot as the hinges of Hades.
Indian food is exciting and interesting, but Indian menus can feel scary. They usually offer hundreds of choices, in categories that aren’t entirely clear to the uninitiated. What’s a dal? A biryani? A chaat? A naan?
It takes a while to learn all this, but an attractive Indian buffet full of fascinating things makes it easy to try a lot of small bites.
We’re here to help! Today let’s talk about a virtual buffet of Indian dishes I’ve enjoyed at popular local eateries. Try ‘em! I think you’ll like ‘em!
You could start your meal with a bowl of steaming tomato soup at Clay Oven Indian Restaurant. This warming potion was bright red, relatively thin and brothy, studded with bits of onion. Moderately spicy with a palate-tingling sour note, its tasty combination of hot and sour flavors really woke up my taste buds.
Clay Oven Indian Restaurant, 12567 Shelbyville Road, 254-4363. https://clayovenlouisville.com
Kathmandu Kitchen is Nepalese, but I’ll call that Indian-adjacent because it’s right next door to India, and its cuisine shares a delicious kinship. I recommend daal jhanneko, a Nepalese cousin of the Northern Indian lentil dish dal tadka. This thick, savory lentil soup comes with yellow or black lentils simmered to a thick, savory porridge, then kicked up with a complex, piquant tadka spice mix of cumin seeds, onion, tomato, cilantro, ginger, and garlic … plus three tiny but dangerous looking chile peppers to create that desirable hot-stuff endorphin rush.
Kathmandu Kitchen, 3825 Bardstown Road, 202-1481. https://kathmandukitchenandbar.com
I’m delighted that Indian chaat dishes are widespread these days. Somewhat akin to tapas or dim sum, chaat comes in bewildering variety. They’re affordable, and well suited as appetizers or small plates. Shreeji Indian Vegetarian Street Food offers about two dozen chaats. They’re just as varied as you might expect, but most of them check off the familiar chaat boxes of crisp, spicy, tart, fruity, and sweet. Dabeli chaat offered a characteristic mix of flavors and textures. It starts with balls of dabeli – a sweet and spicy potato mix – combined with garlic and sweet chutneys and tangy-sweet tamarind to make a spicy, fruity, and filling potato snack. For still more crunch, it’s topped with peanuts, chopped cilantro, beet strips, and crisp sev (tiny turmeric-laced dried noodles).
Shreeji Indian Vegetarian Street Food, 1987 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy., 890-4000. https://shreejiindianrestaurant.com
Think Indian, think of curry, and also of dal, a comforting, spicy lentil stew. Creamy coconut daal curry at Hyderabad House combines both! It consisted of tender yellow lentils bathed in a simmering bright-yellow curry-scented soup studded with a few bright cubes of tomato. Its mild lentil flavor blended with coconut and turmeric scents with haunting back notes of mysterious, delicious Indian flavors. Ordered mild, it presented a gentle heat imparted by a single small charred chile pepper.
Hyderabad House Louisville, 12412 Shelbyville Road, 405-8788. https://hhlouisville.com
Eggholic, as the name implies, is a growing Chicago-based chain that features delicious egg dishes in the style of the Gujurat region of Northwestern India, where eggs are a serious business. We asked for the spicy option for toofani curry, and it was hot enough to light me up. At least three hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters came in a shallow bowl, covered with a thick, textured reddish-brown soup that the menu describes as “a spicy gravy,” garnished with chopped cilantro. This dish was so fiery that it was hard to discern individual flavors, but the combination was seductive, and definitely got the endorphins working.
Eggholic, 1947 S. Hurstbourne Parkway, 690-2116. https://theeggholic.com
Both lamb and goat meat frequently appear on Indian menus. Goat kheema biryani at Tandoori Fusion made a good introduction to goat meat, and it was a huge portion. Biryani, a rice dish that’s a cousin to pilaf, was made with long-grain basmati rice flavored with an aromatic mix of Indian spices and fat that unctuously coated every grain and each bit of crisply fried minced goat meat. Spicing was incendiary … and delicious. It was topped with a sliced hard-boiled egg, a thick round of red onion, two lime wedges, and chopped cilantro.
Tandoori Fusion, 4600 Chamberlain Lane, 255-2590. https://thetandoorifusion.com
Chana masala ($10.95), one of my favorite Indian entrees, is an iconic chickpea-based dish from Northern India. Shalimar’s version was a bowl of long-simmered, soft chickpeas in a thick sauce infused with garlic and ginger flavors and Indian spices. The medium-hot option wasn’t as spicy as I might have liked, but it was warm enough to keep me happy. Chana masala traditionally comes with puri (puffy pillows of deep-fried wheatbread), but here I had to order it a la carte.
Shalimar Restaurant, 1850 S. Hurstbourne Parkway, 493-8899. https://louisvilleshalimar.com
Speaking of goat, Bombay Grill’s goat dish in the style of Chettinad from Southern India was memorable. You need to know this: Goat is usually gamey and strong, full of gristle and tiny bones. It won raves in this dish nevertheless. Long-simmered, falling off the bone, it was intensely flavored with a blend of spices so complex that it was almost impossible to name them out. Spicing toward the lower end of a 1 to 6 scale, it was pleasantly warm with little burn.
Bombay Grill, 216 N. Hurstbourne Parkway, 425-8892. https://bombaygrillky.com
Don’t overlook Indian flatbreads alongside your meal. Tikka House has an excellent, well-made selection, including crisp, thin papad wafers made from lentil flour; puffy, tender white-flour naan; whole-wheat roti, and thin, ghee-slathered whole-wheat chapati.
Tikka House, 3930 Chenoweth Square, 749-4535. https://tikkahouselouisville.com
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You'll also find this article in LEO Weekly's Food & Drink section this week:
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