Wednesday Eats: "curry crawl Seattle"

[butterflydreaming]

I know it's not sushi.

I created a username on Citysearch so that I could put up a positive review for Flavor of India. The review takes 24 hours to appear. If you could, please pop over to it tomorrow afternoon and mark the "Was this review helpful" with a yes. If you came to dinner last night, please take a few minutes to sign up and leave a positive review for the restaurant, also. Like Wild Fish, this is a good restaurant that has been overlooked. They are both too often empty. It will be difficult to continue the "crawl" onto another restaurant.

Especially because the food is so good. The waiter (the only server that I have seen there) is gracious, soft-spoken and welcoming. He made sure to say, "until next time" when we thanked him as we left. He brought us a free dessert!

vegetable samosas
keema (lamb) samosas
vegetable pakora (deep fried, batter dipped vege clusters)
fish pakora (seasoned codfish, also deep fried)

garlic naan (Indian bread, which is something like pizza dough but lighter bodied)
keema naan (stuffed with crumbled lamb meat)
aloo paratha (a slightly different bread, baked with a stuffing of seasoned potato)

tandoori chicken tikka (tender white meat chicken, cooked in the tandoor)
vegetable biryani (basmati rice with spices & herbs, vegetables, home made cheese, nuts & raisins)
lamb curry
saag aloo
shahi paneer

gulab jamun
rice pudding

mango lassi, chai

We also ordered the eggplant dish (barta) but they were out of it last night. The only thing that didn't wow us was the saag aloo. It was very green. I thought it tasted quite good but was not something that I would make a point of ordering again. The fish pakora were fresh, tender pieces of cod, not very bready; I wouldn't go out of my way for them because they are a more expensive item, without much in the way of fireworks.

We ordered plenty of food, expecting to have some to take home... but we ate *everything*. The biryani was mild, the lamb was spicy, everything else was medium spice. I'm the wimpy mild eater, but I was able to enjoy some of the lamb. (This is not a curry in the more common sense of yellow curry, but a thick, gravy-like sauce.) We could probably order it all a little spicer than medium, next time. The chicken tikka is something that I have only eaten in a few places, but FoI's was one of the best I have had. I like the keema naan at India Bistro in Ballard a *little* better, and India Bistro has a different paneer-in-sauce dish that I like, but between the two restaurants, I would be more inclined to choose Flavor of India.

And the company was pretty good, too. {grins} We missed you, varina8 and spazzychic! Both of you, get well soon so you can come out & play.

Comments

[varina8.livejournal.com]

The food -- and company -- sounds wonderful. I'm so sorry I missed out!

[ironymaiden]

i think they have the best cheese i've had at an indian place thus far. and their lassis are nice and tangy.

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

*whimper*

Sounds veeery tasty!

I'll catchya all next time!

Dip it in the hot sauce... have another bite!

[boldfeather.livejournal.com]

I love fish pakora. I had a friend way back when I was young and foolish whose father owned a little restaurant. J would call me up, I'd go visit with him, he'd feed me fish pakora, and then we'd go clubbing...

[buhrger]

The only thing that didn't wow us was the saag aloo. It was very green. I thought it tasted quite good but was not something that I would make a point of ordering again.
are you saying you were put off by the colour? it's just pureed spinach...

(This is not a curry in the more common sense of yellow curry, but a thick, gravy-like sauce.)
yup - the curry=yellow notion is a result of people using curry powder. in indian cooking, curry powder is durn near nonexistant.

so where will your curry crawl go next?