Bombay Bistro

Went for an early dinner the other night at Bombay Bistro, a recently opened addition in the Brodie Oaks shopping center, at the northwest corner of South Lamar and Ben White/290 (where SunHarvest and Hobby Lobby are located). They share the building with Pei Wei and have another location way up on Research Blvd. A friend had been for the lunch buffet, and deemed it quite good. Another friend and I looked at the menu online, saw a number of lamb dishes, and headed on over. 

There was only one other diner when we arrived, and we were seated at one of the booths along the side walls; I sat facing the kitchen in the back of the restaurant. There was a steady flow of incoming diners throughout our meal, including a couple tables of people who I would guess were Indian -- always a good sign.

 

We started with the Aloo Cashew Rolls, which are lightly-spiced potatoes, rolled in a cashew crust, and fried. They were good, not greasy, and benefited from a touch of salt; the tamarind chutney that was brought when we sat down with some papadums (lentil cracker bread, the Indian version of salsa and chips) was very nice with the aloo rolls. We also had the curried mussels, which were in the most fantastic broth; these are a specialty of Goa, one of the coastal regions. It was a coconut milk base, and after a little tomato, spices, and the natural brininess from the mussels, it was delicious. We both took the mussel shells and used them as spoons to drink down the broth. The basket of mixed breads helped soak it up too. 

For the main dish, we ordered the Khyberi Ghost, described as "succulent lamb pieces marinated with a special sauce and slow cooked to perfection." It wasn't just perfection, it was heaven! Apart from chunks of lamb and crispy shallots sprinkled on top, I really couldn't tell you what they put in there, but it was amazing. Tender, flavorful lamb, bathing in a complex gravy. As this was from the House Specialties menu, you also had a choice of a side dish, and we chose the lentils, which had great flavor and a nice kick to them. The only slight disappointment to me was the assorted bread basket. The naan was fine, but it also had an onion kulcha (bread stuffed with onions and herbs) and aloo paratha (bread stuffed with potato, peas and herbs). Neither of the stuffed breads were particularly exciting, nothing wrong with them, just not memorable. Next time, I will probably stick to a garlic naan or the lachedar paratha if it's the flaky, somewhat crispy bread (skillet-cooked) that I am thinking of. 

Our service was wonderful; I think it was the manager who seated us and took our order. Other waitstaff brought the items out, and what appeared to be a Latina server never let our water glasses get very empty. I was also excited to see the Khuroos-e-Tursh dish on their menu (chicken stuffed with spinach in a decadent creamy nut-based sauce), which I have never seen anyplace but the Clay Pit, and it's about the only thing I ever eat there because I love the sauce so much (read about it here). So my next trip back to Bombay Bistro, I will have to try their version. This could be a very, very bad thing that they are on my way to and from work!

Tarka

Did you know that India is the largest democracy in the world? Who knew that good eats would come with educational facts? Tarka has arrived.

It is the brainchild of the Clay Pit people, but it's a fastish-food concept. AND, it's in South Austin! It's off Brodie, in the new strip center (yes, aren't they all??) where PetSmart & Babies R Us is. If you know where PetSmart is, it's all the way down to the right, next door to Zen. They officially opened yesterday, and if today's lunch is any indication, If you build it, they will come!

I got there a little before noon, and the place was already half filled. I ordered (at the counter) the Korma with chicken, and asked for medium spiciness. They give you a table marker with a number, and bring the food out to you. So on either side of my #3 marker were fun little facts, like the one about the largest democracy, and on the flip side was the name of the Indian sage who invented the concept of the number zero back in the day. Just little things to amuse you as you wait. Fortunately, my food came fairly fast. The waitress/server politely asked if I was expecting any more food, and when I said no, she said "enjoy" and removed the number marker.

A black melamine tray & bowl held my rice and korma. The basmati rice is flavored with cardamom and cumin seeds. The korma (a flavorful cream sauce with pureed nuts, in this case, cashews, almonds & pistachios) probably wasn't quite the medium spice I had ordered, but was still really tasty. The chicken in it was extremely tender. I got a to go box for my leftover sauce & rice; I'll grill up a piece of chicken to have with these delicious remains!

The place is nicely decorated; a light mustard yellow colored walls, with saffron accents. Color pictures of Indian foods, and what looked like some market photos accent the walls. I'd say the place seats 60ish people, with different configurations of tables: some tall cocktail tables for two along the windows, another tall counter with bar chairs, perhaps for the single eater, and then some 2 and 4-top tables. I sat at one of the cocktail tables in the window, and people kept coming in. There's no other Indian food in the immediate area (in fact, the closest Indian place I know of to Brodie is Bombay Grill on Bee Caves) and, Clay Pit's reputation precedes them.

If you have read my previous post on Clay Pit, you know that I am a HUGE fan of their Khroos-e-tursh dish. Well, Tarka is serving one too. I was really really tempted to order it today, but I opted for the korma, which the Khroos sauce is based off of. My hope was to get an idea for their korma and try to find a recipe that I could enhance to be like the Khuroos, because I've never been able to find a recipe for one that sounds somewhat similar to what Clay Pit does. Certainly, on my next trip to Tarka (and I can see this becoming a bad habit!), the Khroos shall be mine!

Side note, because I don't feel like writing a whole post on it, I went to First Chinese BBQ up in the Chinatown complex for lunch yesterday. I had been once about a year and a half ago, but it had recently been recommended by some food folks I know. Their Chinese BBQ pork is outstanding. Run, don't walk!

Clay Pit

I could have sworn I had written about one of my favorite places before, but scanning the history of my own blog, it appears not. Whooops! So the Clay Pit has been around for at least 10 years, making it almost as historic as the building it occupies! It's in a beautiful old stone (limestone?) building, an old trading post & general store that dates back to the 1850s. And apparently haunted, but that's another issue.

My friend and I had a 7 pm reservation for Friday night. We were greeted promptly and immediately escorted to our table. On the walk back to the table I noticed that CP doesn't have any 2-tops. The majority of the diners that were already seated were parties of two, all sitting at tables for four. Kind of nice they don't cram us into smaller tables!

I ordered a glass of Hogue Gewertztraminer and my constant downfall, the Khuroos-e-Tursh; my friend ordered a cocktail, the Tikka Masala, and some veggie samosas and garlic naan to split. A another waiter brought the drinks, and inquired "Hogue Fume Blanc?" I said I had ordered the Gewurtz. He apologized, and disappeared. Our first waitress came back and said something to the effect of "I see you got your drinks" to which I replied he had brought the wrong one. With a touch of annoyance, she said, "Well I TOLD him the Hogue Geturz. He must of misunderstood." She didn't exactly apologize, and that set her tone for the rest of the evening. More on the service in a sec.

She had brought pappadums, a thin, crisp cracker-bread that are toasted in a skillet. There was already a dish on the table with two condiments, tamarind sauce, and a green cilantro-y one. I love the tamarind, and it went really nicely with the samosas, which were fried to perfection, not greasy, and still hot. They had a mashed potato filling with green peas and some spices. Very mild in flavor, but complimented nicely by the tangy tamarind. Our main dishes came soon after. One of my "problems" with CP is that I am totally addicted to the sauce that comes with the Khuroos. It's chicken stuffed with spinach in a luscious creamy almond & cashew sauce, with a bit of spice to it, and I could eat the sauce all day long. So my problem is since I don't eat there very often, I almost always have to get that dish, and therefore I don't know the other menu items well at all. But I have always had great luck with the dish, and have turned many other people onto it. This time, I asked for a little extra sauce to go with it, knowing that I would take it home a cook a piece of chicken up the next night for dinner. (Dinner the next night was lovely! Leftover sauce, basmati rice & naan!) The waitress mentioned that it's the korma sauce, which never occurred to me, and now maybe that will make it slightly easier to find a recipe to make it. I've searched for a khuroos recipe before to no luck, and have come "this close" to writing to Bon Appetit or Gourmet, and asking them to get the recipe. Heaven! My friend's tikka was good too, but sorry, nothing compares to my sauce!

The food was great. No issues. It was our server who was just brusque/brisk most of the evening. Maybe she felt the need to turn the table quickly to increase her personal revenue, but definitely not a real gracious host. I will of course, continue to go back, just maybe not on a Friday night. And looking at the fairly pathetic picture my cell phone takes, I am resolving to carry my camera more!