Category Archives: Indian

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Indian, Northeast Metro, Outer East End

Tandoori Fusion offers artistic Indian creations

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Thoughts inspired by a recent meal at Louisville’s Tandoori Fusion restaurant: Fusion cuisine has been around for centuries, going back as far as Chinese restaurateurs coming up with chop suey to please western consumers in 1850s California, and maybe even to Marco Polo and his noodles.

But the concept didn’t get a name until the 1980s, when chefs like Roy Yamaguchi and Wolfgang Puck began to intentionally combine flavors from different cultures. Before long, just about everyone was chowing down on Pacific Rim cuisine and Thai pizza, and calling it “fusion.” Continue reading Tandoori Fusion offers artistic Indian creations →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Commentary, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

Hyderabad House brings the biryani

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Biryani: India’s mouth-watering rice dish, a meal in itself, stands tall against other national rice-based competitors such as Spain’s paella, Italy’s risotto, Nigeria’s jollof rice, Indonesia’s nasi goreng, Louisiana’s jambalaya, or Persia’s pilaf.

What is biryani, anyway? It’s a hearty rice dish layered with lamb, chicken, fish, or vegetables, scented with saffron and aromatic Indian spices, sauced with a thick gravy, and roasted in a covered pot until the flavors join in a resounding gustatory chorus. Continue reading Hyderabad House brings the biryani →

$ Budget (under $30), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

Eggholic lights up egg dishes with Indian flavors

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Eggs are popular. Most people love them for breakfast, lunch, and even breakfast-for-dinner. So it’s no surprise that egg-centric eateries draw crowds in Louisville. Wild Eggs landed some 15 years ago; Con Huevos brought its Mexican flavors to our world of eggs in 2015.

Now Eggholic has come to town to tantalize us with delicious egg dishes in the style of the Gujurat region of Northwestern India. Continue reading Eggholic lights up egg dishes with Indian flavors →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

Shalimar stands the test of time

I fell in love with Indian food a mighty long time ago, when the curry houses that surrounded London’t Victoria Station offered me a delicious – and cheap – refuge while the very young me was seeing London on £5 a day.

But it took a lot longer before Indian food came to Louisville, a gap that Indian-food-loving friends and I had to fill, sort of, with occasional trips to the region’s only Indian eatery in Cincinnati.

That drought finally ended during the ‘90s, when Shalimar opened in the Hurstbourne Parkway quarters that it still occupies. As one of the first Indian restaurants in Louisville, it has earned a loyal following with consistent presentation of authentic Northern Indian cuisine. Continue reading Shalimar stands the test of time →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Indian, Northeast Metro, Outer East End, World Food

Sonal masters Indian vegetarian cuisine

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Louisville has three all-vegetarian Indian restaurants, and to tell you the truth, the question isn’t why there are so many, but why it took them so long to arrive.

We have about 15 Indian restaurants now, and I’m happy to pull up to a table at every single one.

But all-vegetarian Indian? That’s new. Shreeji Indian Vegetarian Street Food opened in November 2018. Honest Indian Restaurant opened just about a year later, at the end of 2019. And somewhere in that same brief window of time – “three years ago,” the guy behind the counter told me – Sonals Kitchen Homemade Authentic Indian Vegetarian Restaurant popped up in a former Moby Dick shop on Chamberlain just north of Westport Road. Continue reading Sonal masters Indian vegetarian cuisine →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

Nerd out on Indian regional delights at Bombay Grill

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Maybe I’m a nerd. Okay, probably I am. But I love discovering the geography behind what I eat. I can travel around the world in my imagination, sailing from continent to continent on a dinner plate. Or better yet, I can learn about my international neighbors by savoring what they eat.

Consider our delicious lunch for three at Bombay Grill. We didn’t just enjoy excellent food. We enjoyed the fare of India’s Chettinad, Andhra, and Chennai regions and more. To my mind, learning about the world food while I enjoy it adds real dimension to my meal. Continue reading Nerd out on Indian regional delights at Bombay Grill →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Commentary, Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

Clay Oven’s star shines in our Indian galaxy

By Robin Garr
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

Let us take a moment to mark the virtual extinction of the all-you-can-eat buffet. Rendered terrifying by the pandemic and images of contagious hands dipping into communal pans, the restaurant buffet has all but disappeared from our lives.

I for one won’t mourn it much, with a solitary exception: I miss Indian restaurant buffets, and you should, too. My reasoning on this is simple: A lot of people are still discovering Indian food, and the buffet makes it easy. Even if you don’t know the difference between aloo and bhindi (all right, potato and okra), you can learn a lot by grazing the buffet. Try a little taste of this, a dab of that, and before long you’ve gotten to know the cuisine. Continue reading Clay Oven’s star shines in our Indian galaxy →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Indian, St. Matthews, Westport Village, and environs

Tasty Tikka House takeout requires some assembly

You might not think that Indian food is anything like pizza. Right? But in these strange times when takeout and delivery dominate the pandemic dining scene, dishes from a quality Indian eatery like Tikka House have one important thing in common with pizza: They taste good hot or cold, and they take well to reheating.

So when I was in the mood for a delicious Indian lunch that would travel well this week, Tikka House filled the bill. Continue reading Tasty Tikka House takeout requires some assembly →

$ Budget (under $30), Hurstbourne, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Indian

New Indian grocery leads us back to Shreeji

Back in the ‘90s, I lived for a while on New York City’s Lower East Side. It was quite an experience for a Louisville boy, and one of the best things about it was my proximity to Indian Restaurant Row.

That’s what we called the block of Second Street between First and Second avenues, anyway, and the name fit: Every single storefront on the south side of the block housed an Indian restaurant, and they were all good. Their menus were all similar, prompting the rumor that they all shared the same kitchen. Doubtful, I know, but it seemed right.

Now, Louisville is not New York City, but it crossed my mind the other day that we’re kind of, sort of developing our own Indian Restaurant Row. It’s not as dense as New York’s, and there’s no question of a shared kitchen. But hey! Six Indian culinary establishments – four restaurants and two groceries – in a three-mile stretch of Hurstbourne Parkway isn’t bad in a city where we once had to drive to Cincinnati to get Indian food. Continue reading New Indian grocery leads us back to Shreeji →

$$ Modest ($30-$50), Indian, Northeast Metro

Taj Palace makes it easy to pick up delicious Indian food

There’s no way to put this but bluntly: I don’t think some Louisville restaurants are is taking the Covid-19 pandemic as seriously as they should.

Why the worry? You probably saw the news item about eleven Louisville businesses that got inspection blasts from Metro Public Health and Wellness over the Fourth of July weekend for failing to follow Covid-19 safety guidelines.

This matters: When I’m deciding where to dine during this pandemic, I want to have some confidence that the restaurant’s management doesn’t slack off on health and safety.

But how can we find out? The Internet! Continue reading Taj Palace makes it easy to pick up delicious Indian food →