Authentically different Indian
Indira has been serving up Indian cuisine for nearly two decades; critic Buzzy Gordon sets out to discover why it has beaten Tel Aviv longevity odds.
When looking recently for a place to eat near Tzavta in Tel Aviv, a friend recommended Indira, an Indian restaurant that has been a neighbor of Tzavta’s for close to 20 years.
I set out to discover why the restaurant has beaten the Tel Aviv longevity odds.
It was a warm evening, but I soon discovered Indira no longer serves cocktails (although it has a reasonable wine list). I ordered a salty lassi, which for some reason came with lots of fresh mint. It had overtones of buttermilk, and tasted different from any lassi I had drunk in India. This was a theme that was to repeat itself throughout the evening.
We started with a platter of assorted fried appetizers (called Mix Starters on the English menu): vegetable samosas, pakoras featuring different vegetables, onion rings, an Indian take on falafel, and chicken wings.
The latter were the standout here, nicely seasoned and juicy. The primary virtue of the battered vegetarian options were as vehicles for two excellent dipping sauces: a sweet and sour tamarind syrup, and a tangy coconut milk chutney.
The menu is replete with tandoori and biryani selections, and there is a whole section for vegetarian and vegan dishes, plus a category for breads. Chicken is the predominant non-vegetarian ingredient in the more classical Indian dishes.
We ordered one dish familiar to most fans of Indian food - dal makhani - and, at the owner’s suggestion, the Chicken Indira Special. According to the menu, the dal are black lentils imported from India - and indeed, the dish looked a bit darker than I’d seen in the past.
The dish is cooked overnight, imparting a hint of smokiness. It was also slightly spicy - although not to the extent that the symbol on the menu suggests. All in all, the dal was quite satisfying, even without the accompanying rice.
The Indira Special consisted of charcoal grilled boneless white meat, in a thick white sauce studded with cashew nuts. The sauce was quite similar to korma, albeit a tad sweeter. Here the rice came in handy, as it afforded another opportunity to sop up the pleasant sauce.
The owner brought us an additional vegetarian dish to try: Malai kofta, two small mounds of mashed sweet potato (primarily), garnished with shavings of paneer, in a colorful sauce containing dried fruit and cashew nuts. While the sweet potato mixture was nondescript, the sauce was rather complex, with layers of flavor that sneak up and grow on you.
I found myself mopping the sauce up with our order of naan; the Indian bread was thinner and crisper than I am used to - and unimpressive on its own - but it was perfect for soaking up the increasingly addictive sauce.
Dessert was another unfamiliar surprise: the Indira Special (for two) is a distinctive pastry stuffed with fresh fruit and cashew nuts, with a scoop of homemade sorbet. It was reminiscent of baklava, although significantly more moist, thanks to the fruit and frozen confection. The result is positively delicious.
