Urban India, San Diego, CA 7/10

Urban India

1041 4th Ave

San Diego, CA 92101

 

Overall a nice place in downtown San Diego.

 

Mixed non veg grill - 7/10

The grilled shrimp and the chicken were pretty tasty.7/10

The seekh kabab could have been better (more finely minced and subtler spices) 6/10

Goat curry - had spoken to the Punjabi chef (who is a vegetarian btw) and asked to make an authentic Indian curry. He did a good job, but would have been better if he cooked the onion tomato gravy for a bit longer. 7.5/10

Naan was good and fresh - 8/10

New Jawad, Paris

http://www.jawadrestaurant.com/nj/

Address: 12 Avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, France

Phone:+33 1 47 05 91 37

This used to be one of the better Indian restaurants in Paris , but has gone down in the past year. Would rate it 6.5/10 now, down from a 8.5. 

Lamb chilli - tender lamb in spicy sauce. A bit creamy, which is unexpected. 7/10

Naan - good. 8/10

Lamb seekh Kabab - 4/10. Strong taste of garlic , and didn't seem fresh garlic either. 

Baigan bharta - 4/10. Very creamy. No taste of brinjal, let alone fire roasted eggplant. Could have been anything. 

Kulfi- 9/10. Done well. 

Mango lassi- 5/10

Pineapple lass - 5/10

Aloo paratha - heard it was ok. 

Priya, Detroit, MI

priyarestaurant.com
72 W Maple Rd, Troy, MI 48084
(248) 269-0100

Lamb Karai - 8/10. Well made, spicy semi-dry lamb dish. Tasty, with juicy lamb chunks.

Tandoori combo platter- This was largely a disappointment.

Lamb seekh kabab - 4/10: was coarsely ground and had whole coriander seeds in it, that, when chewing, gave a dominant 'raw coriander seed' flavor for many seconds (not a good taste by itself). Repeat that taste for each bite ... and the experience is not good.

Chicken tikka - 5/10 was dry and not very well marinated either, besides the spices being limited to the top surface of the chicken.

Naan - 7/10 fresh and lightly buttered plain naan.

Sheezan, Paris 5/10

1. Address: 84 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris, France

   Phone:+33 1 45 23 18 77

    

   A 'dhaba' like ambience, Indo Pakistani food, but the food didnt live up to the expectations of a good dhaba.

   
   

   Naan - 6/10

   Chicken kabab - 5/10

   Lamb seekh kabab - 5/10

   
   

   Both the kababs were not moist and didnt have much flavor either.

   
   

Kanapina (food card at Canary Wharf) London, 6/10

https://www.google.com/search?q=kanapina+canary+wharf

Address: Reuters Plaza, London E14 5AJ, United Kingdom

Phone:+44 20 7519 6288

 

Nice fast food card just outside the Canary Wharf tube station.

 

Chicken tikka and Lamb seekh kabab roti rollups or in-salad plates - 6/10

Indian Star Restaurant, near Monaco 6.5/10

http://www.indianstar.fr/
23 Bvd de la République 06240, Beausoleil France Tel: 09 82 48 94 34

One of the few Indian restaurants near Monaco... the food is a bit above average, but "good" for that area.

Tandoori mixed grill - 6/10. several different kebabs and tandoori chicken.
Lamb rogan josh - 6/10
Chicken tikka - 6/10
Lamb madras - 7/10 
Chicken rogan josh - 7/10

Naan - 7/10

Maharaja, Milwaukee 6/10

http://www.maharajarestaurants.com/

Address: 1550 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Phone:(414) 276-2250

 

Average food here. 

 

Mixed grill (except tandoori chicken or shrimp - still havent found good tandoorii chicken anywhere in the USA...) - 6/10

Goat curry - 6/10

Naan 5/10

 

Dishoom, London, 7/10

http://www.dishoom.com/covent-garden/

12 Upper St Martin's Ln

London WC2H 9FB

+44 20 7420 9320

 

Nice restaurant, with a couple of tasty dishes. Very popular and busy (had to wait an hour, but they were nice enough to serve tea to everyone waiting outside in the cold - Feb 2014). Had high expectations going in, but the food was mixed... specially for a Indian restaurant in London (London has some of the best food outside India :).

Lamb chops - 8/10. tender and well spiced.

Chicken tikka - 6/10. could have been cooked a bit more

Lamb Seekh kabab - 7/10. could have been a bit more moist and flavorful

Roomali roti - rare find. 8/10

Kacchi lamb - 7/10

 

New Jawad, Paris 9/10

http://www.jawadrestaurant.com/nj/

Address: 12 Avenue Rapp, 75007 Paris, France

Phone:+33 1 47 05 91 37

 

One of the best Indian restaurants in Paris so far... Indian and Pakistani food

Good ambiance,  good food. Near Arc De Triomphe... about a 15 min walk

Punjabi chicken curry - 9/10 very well done with tasty thick gravy

Lamb biryani - 8/10. aromatic and moist

Lamb sheesh kabab - 8/10

Rogan josh - 8/10. Hard to find the authentic Kashmiri rogan josh anywhere, but this was still well made.

Naan - 8/10

Bombay Brasserie, London 8/10

http://www.bombaybrasserielondon.com/

Address: Courtfield Rd, London SW7 4QH, United Kingdom

Phone:+44 20 7370 4040

 

Very good food as well as ambiance. Large quiet place.

 

Kebab platter - An assortment of tandoori chicken, seekh kebab, jhinga dum nisha and
sarson chicken tikka:

Chicken tikka - 8/10

Tandoori chicken -7/10. was expecting better from here, given the rest of the food was good.

Lamb seekh kabab - 8/10

Jhinga (prawn) - 8/10

Chicken pepper masala - 9/10. very tasty and well made. Good thick gravy, pepper spiced.

Naan - 8/10. oven fresh

Spice Village, London (Southall), 8/10

 http://spicevillageltd.com/southall-branch/

Address: 185-189 The Broadway, Southall UB1 1LX, United Kingdom

Phone:+44 20 8574 4475

A large, busy restaurant. Open kitchen. Seems very popular and the food was good too.

Mixed grill - a good sizzling platter overall (image).
Lamb chops - 8/10 , tasty and tender and well marinated.
Lamb seekh kabab - 8/10
Chicken tikka - 7/10
Lamb tikka - 8/10.

A chef special chicken dish 8/10 (not on menu, but ask for chef special), which was well spiced, similar to but unlike your regular chicken curry/karahi (with bone). Caveat - the high dose of those 1-3 spices may not be to your liking (the taste is a mix between bay leaf and fennel and cumin - or maybe a mix of all 3 - they didnt tell)

Chana masala - 7/10

Naan - fresh 7/10

Lahore Kebab House, Near East Aldgate tube, London : 8/10

http://www.lahore-kebabhouse.com/

Address: 2-10 Umberston St, London E1 1PY, United Kingdom

Phone:+44 20 7481 9737

 

Some of the best lamb chops here, also one of their specialties. You can see it on pretty much every table, and made fresh in volume. Overall a tasty place, but lacks consistency between trips. Its a BYOB place.

 

Lamb chops - 9/10. Not heavily spiced, nor hot (spice), but flavorful and juicy. 

Chicken karahi (boneless) / curry (bone) - 7/10, sometimes not so good, but not consistent. Bone version is better.

Lamb karahi / curry - 7/10, but not consistent either. Bone version is better.

Naan - 5/10

Lamb seekh kabab - 8/10

Mutton tikka - 7/10

Chicken tikka - 7/10

Saag paneer - 6/10

Bhindi okra - 7/10

Methi gosht - 6/10

Masala Art‎, Needham MA

http://masala-art.com/
990 Great Plain Ave, Needham, MA 
(781) 449-4050‎

Will go out on a limb and say that this seems to be the best overall Indian restaurant in the greater Boston area, yet. Infact, will give it that crown until I eat at a better place around here :)

Great appetizers. Good entrees. Good ambience and decor.

Lamb seekh kabab - 8/10
Hariyali chicken tikka - 8/10
Malai shrimp - 8/10
Lamb barra kabab (lamb chops) - 9/10 - well spiced and marinated in general for most of the finger foods above

Lamb biryani - 7/10
Chicken anarkali - 7/10
Rogan josh - 7/10
Goat curry - 7/10 - had higher expectations on this one
Saag paneer - 7/10

Naan was nice - 7/10

India Palace, Chelmsford, MA

India Palace Restaurant
313 Littleton Rd
Chelmsford, MA 01824
(978) 244-1235

(second post on this one)
Goat curry - good. 7.5/10. Not overly rich (a positive), it was tasty and had a good gravy. The pieces were a bit chewy though.

Naan - nice, but a bit stretchy.
Another good dish here - chilli paneer (dry).

8/19/08
Murch Vagan (A hot and spicy combination of ground lamb and boneless lamb pieces cooked in an onion sauce seared with red chillies) - 5/10. Its not as good as it sounds, and had a base sweetness to it which made it taste like something lost in fusion. 

Lamb seekh kabab - 5/10. Could have been eating tasteless rubber with coriander. When asked for spicy, they simply dumped red chilli powder on top of the kebabs.

Punjab, Arlington MA

Punjab - punjabarlington.com
485 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington - (781) 643-0943

Update 4/9/09
Tandoori chicken - 6/10. Juicy, with a good coating of masala, but still not enough to get into the meat. It was fresh, on insistence that they make it well.
Chicken curry - 6/10. Rich, above average hot, on demand.

Lamb seekh kabab - good flavor - 7/10
Goat curry - tasty, although the gravy was a bit rich and on the sweeter side (probably because of the long fried 'caramelized-like' onions). 7/10
Fresh naan - 7/10 (when we ordered from the menu)

Order more - the above meal (with 3 naans/rice) wasnt enough for 2 guys.
Nice ambience. They have a buffet too.

Pongal, Billerica MA

Pongal, 786 Boston Rd Billerica, MA 01821
(978) 667-3443

Update 4/25/10

By far the best Indian restaurant this side of town! It also has a good selection of Indo-Chinese food.

Chilli paneer dry - 8/10. Very good, well made, comes very close to the Indian Chinese style, probably without much MSG

Chilli chicken dry - 8/10. ditto. The real deal, not adulterated by green peppers and such, although it has onions (the Indian one is just green chillies and chicken)

Chicken chettinad - 8/10. Very tasty and flavorful. It didn't feel like chicken thrown in some standard gravy, as we also ordered veggie chettinad. The chicken was juicy and prepared well.

Vegetable chettinad - 7/10. Good stuff.

Lamb seekh kabab - 7/10. This one was a bit disappointing, given the other good food and expectations, but not bad nonetheless. Could have been a bit more moist and flavorful.

Overall, this is the place to goto if you are in the Northwest area.

Update 1/1/10

The weekend buffet is good, 7/10 on average.

They have a good mix of veg and non veg. Their tandoori chicken is much better than the average fare elsewhere. Its well marinated.

Goat curry - 7/10

Lamb biryani - 7/10

Naan - 7/10

Chicken tikka - 7/10

One of the best in the area.

This restaurant replaced Masala. The decor is better, but the food is average.
Update 4/9/09Heard from many foodies that the buffet is much better on weekends.

Buffet included:
Tandoori chicken - 5/10
Chicken tikka masala - 5/10 - the chicken pieces were dry and the gravy as usual
Lamb meat balls - 6/10 - nice flavor, but the gravy could have been better - the ingridients and spices werent well mixed in, which left the gravy chunky (much like an amateur cook - how most bachelors cook at home :)
Ginger chicken - 5/10
Bhindi (okra) entree - undercooked okra
Garlic naan - 6/10 (was fresh and served as part of the buffet)
Service was slow.

Kebab-N-Kurry
30 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA
(617) 536-9835

Lamb seekh kabab - 6/10
Nans are nice too.

Punjabi Dhaba Restaurant

Punjabi Dhaba Restaurant
225 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA
(617) 547-8272

12/31/08 update

Chicken tikka masala - average 5/10

Chilli paneer masala - 6/10 (you can ask them to make it spicy, that will add an edge to the cream sauce)
The veggie omlette stinks a bit - 4/10
Lamb seekh kabab - 6/10
A few other items are between 5-6/10
Nan is generally fresh and puffed, not flat - 5/10.
Small hole in the wall, unkempt.

Nan N Curry, Turk St and Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA
Nan N Curry, San Francisco, CA
533 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA (415) 693-0499

Lamb seekh kabab - 8/10
Mutton biryani - 8/10
These 2 were great! Their chicken tikka masala was the most popular dish and was nice too (juicy chicken chunks in creamy sauce, tasty).
Chicken tikka masala - 6/10

There are at least 2 Nan N Curry restaurants in SFO. I had these at the new one at the intersection of Turk St and Van Ness Ave, not the Jackson St one below. But this one may have the same stuff.