It was a large two-family dinner and we each got something different, so we really covered the menu. Started off with Papdi Chaat and Punjabi Aloo Samosas. The Papdi Chaat is just a bit like a pasta salad, only with a garbanzo bean base rather than pasta. That's a stretch but as close to an American dish as I could come. There are chickpeas, potatoes, peas, and several other vegetables in a sauce, and it is served cold like a salad with some special crackers to dip with. But ours was closer to room temperature. Tasted OK but we did not finish it. The samosas were potato-filled and nice and crisp on the outside. The tamarind sauce went well with them. I've had these with a tangy green sauce before and liked that a bit better.
For mains we had the Tara cheeseburger, chicken fries (a loaded fry plate), Tara fried chicken, Palak Paneer, chicken tikka masala, chicken biryani, Karahi, mixed vegetables, and butter chicken.
The burger on the cheeseburger was way overcooked, but the sauce was very interesting and saved the burger overall. The chicken fries ordered with it did not work so well. The steak fries were pretty brown--I like them that way but not all do. The sauce was not too appealing and we ended up picking around it.
The Tara fried chicken was a real highlight. Nice crispy outside, and the dark meat was quite tender inside. Great flavor, you should definitely try it. If they do the wings the same way those would be good too.
The palak paneer tasted good but was on the mild side. By default they make their dishes this way but they said they would make them spicy if asked. We asked for most of the dishes to be spicy, including this one. Some were, some weren't.
The chicken tikka masala was fine, a decent example. The white meat chunks were kind of large and dense, did not seem like they had been marinated. The butter chicken was the same story.
The chicken biryani was quite spicy and tasty, a good example of biryani and worth trying. Very generous portion.
We got the chicken Karahi. It is a spicy and very umami-heavy dish, I enjoyed it and have not had anything else like it.
The mixed vegetable dish was probably our favorite overall. A nice mix of potatoes, cauliflower and other vegetables in a delicious sauce. It had great depth of flavor and we cleaned it up. A must try.
For dessert we had the Gulab Jamun. These are cake balls in a heavy syrup. They usually have cardamom in them but these do not. This meant that they tasted like syrupy pancakes. The texture was perfect and we liked them a lot, though I personally missed the cardamom.
The interior is bright white with pretty minimal decor. The menu is on a screen and you order at the counter. The presentation of the dishes was very beautiful--each came in a nice chafing dish with sterno underneath. Not sure about the sterno--as you take food out the sterno overheats what remains, so we blew it out right away. Better for passing also, which we did a lot of. The bathrooms were clean and ready. The restaurant has been open for about a month and they are still finding their feet. We wish them well!
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