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| Vegetable vindaloo from Tandoor Grill |
The Tandoor Grill on Johns Hopkins Road is a casual alternative to the run of terrific Indian restaurants like House of India and Royal Taj. This is counter service in the shopping center next to La Palapa Too, and it's a slightly different -- different dishes, different spices, a few inspirations like the garam masala chicken wings.
There is the slightly crazy: the chile naan. Several of my friends have celebrated themselves by eating Indian bread stuffed with tiny, green hot peppers.
But there are other dishes that are just talented and unusual. I took out vegetable vindaloo on my last visit. A rich curry over tender vegetables. Seriously spicy, but really right -- heat that light up my mouth, but encouraged me to eat more. I'm a sucker for healthy food with big flavor. It means that you can eat a lot. I grabbed the vindaloo before meeting for a movie. I ate so much that I didn't even want candy at the show!
I recently discovered the Tandoor Grill and am loving the food there. My first meal here was dinner. We started with Papri Chaat for an appetizer; fresh flavors of garbanzo beans, potatoes, and onion with little crispies in a minty sauce. I loved my main dish, shrimp with a pepper, onion, and almond sauce called kalimirch. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and the flavors of the sauce were like nothing I have had before at an Indian restaurant.
ReplyDeleteSince that dinner I've been a couple of times for lunch. They have a lunch special where you choose three chicken dishes and two vegetable dishes from a small buffet, all served over basmati rice. Not as tasty as the kalimirch, but a substantial lunch at a reasonable price, and it is a great way to try out some new dishes.