Two More Samosas, Please
My mother would laugh if she knew I occasionally wrote restaurant reviews. I am, after all, the pickiest eater she knows. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t ventured outside my “plain food served plainly” box on occasion. And when I do, I’m usually found at an Indian restaurant.
Naturally, my husband and I have eaten Indian food while in London, but we have also indulged in our taste for samosas, garlic nan, and meat cooked in a tandoori oven in such places as Prague and Santa Fe. As far as I’m concerned, eating in an Indian restaurant provides one with at least three of the four food groups — bread, rice, and meat. I haven’t seen the fourth food group (chocolate) on an Indian menu yet, but three out of four is not bad.
India House
2501 Cerrillos Rd
Santa Fe, NM 87505
When my husband and I went to Santa Fe, we thought we’d be eating a lot of Southwestern style food. But we picked up a brochure for India House on the freebie table at our hotel and decided to give it a try. We weren’t sorry.
Normally, I don’t eat much in the way of vegetarian dishes, but I like samosas (a fried appetizer of potatoes, peas, and spices in a pocket of dough). The ones at India House were excellent — by far the best I’d ever had. The main dishes were just as good. I had the lamb tandoori and my husband had the lamb jalfrazi. Both were exceptional, as was the garlic nan.
Our waiter was very attentive and the decor was pleasant. Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Definitely a five-star experience.
Ruchi Indian Kitchen
12513 Olive Blvd
Saint Louis, MO 63141
We’ve tried a couple of different Indian restaurants around town, and while we liked them, they weren’t anything I’d write a review over. But then we noticed a new place out on Olive called Ruchi’s. Well, why not try it? It’s not like any other Indian restaurant in town had our devotion.
Right from the beginning, this place captured us. The samosas, while perhaps not quite as good as the ones at India House, were still excellent. Once again, we tried the lamb tandoori and lamb jalfrazi, though since then we have expanded our orders to include chicken, coconut lamb, and goat curry. Everything has been excellent, although the second time I had the coconut lamb, it was not as good as the time before. Not sure why. The garlic nan is a bit soggy, but the regular nan is excellent.
Ruchi’s offers a buffet at lunchtime, which has a lot of vegetarian dishes. The menu is extensive, so if you like to order different things, you could go back night after night and never have the same thing twice.
We’ve never seen a lot of people in Ruchi Indian Kitchen, so we hope it stays in business long enough for us to eat there many more times. While it doesn’t quite rate the five stars of India House, it gets four-and-a-half.
Enjoy!
Copyright . Published 1 January 2008 in What’s New.
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