To kick off the long holiday weekend Kim and I ventured out for dinner on Friday evening.  She was craving something spicy, so we consulted the latest 5280 magazine’s Top of the Town and decided to head to the editors’ choice for Indian Restaurants, which is creatively named India’s Restaurant.  Fortunately, as we would soon realize, the food is much better than the name and the location of this restaurant.  It is situated in a suburban strip mall and shares an entrance with a discount movie theater.  That doesn’t exactly scream authentic, but we soon were treated to some of the best Indian food I have ever had.

We started with the Shahi Bhajia, Crisp deep-fried vegetable fritters.  The variety of vegetables were all good, but I especially liked the broccoli.  And for dinner Kim went with the  Ticca Saag, Boneless tandoori chicken diced and cooked in a spinach and cream sauce.  I chose the Malai Koftam, Indian vegetable and cheese balls in a delicately spiced curry.  We both ordered the meals to be prepared to the medium spice level.  Even this came with a warning the server that it would be, “hot like jalapeno.”  We shared both dishes and I can admit that the Ticca Saag was definitely spicy and there was no way we could have eaten it prepared hot, but the Malai Koftam was not as spicy, though that could be intentional.

Both dishes were excellent and I would order each again, but with so many choices on the menu I’m sure we would try something else the next time.  We also ordered a side of garlic nan with our meals, which was also very good.  My only complaint would be that each entrée was only served with a small dish of rice.  I prefer much more rice to help balance the heat if needed.  I’m sure we could have asked for more rice, but instead we prepared some of our own at home to go with the leftovers for today’s lunches.  It was just as good reheated as it was when we first had it a few days ago.