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Good Indian food in the burbs

philadining

By philadining
in Pennsylvania: Dining

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handmc

handmc

Posted
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The place I referenced in the Chester county thread in Frasier next to the Vishay plant has a dinner buffet. There food can be very hot, if you ask for it that way.

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Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt. - Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"

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One summers evening drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless…Warren

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Diann

Diann

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Just got back from lunch at Aman's -- excellent. The buffet is pretty extensive and included goat curry (one of my favorites today), two kinds of tandoori chicken (different spices), chicken korma, all sorts of vegetable dishes, a fish dish, five desserts, five chutneys, and so on. Their spice mixes seem a bit more sophisticated than what I've had in the past, especially with the mutter (matter?) paneer -- different, but really good. I thought I remembered hearing that the owner was Indian/Chinese, or did Indian/Malaysian cooking, or something like that... anyways, that might explain the differences. Whatever it was, I liked it. (Note: food wasn't hugely spicy, though. Might be the dishes I picked, might be because it's a buffet...just FYI.)

It's so nice to find a quality lunch option around Plymouth Meeting, since it's almost all chains beyond Taqueria Michoacana and Persian Grill. If you're in the area, check it out!

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Anonymouze

Anonymouze

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Anyone know of any good indian food in S/E PA closer to the maryland/delaware area?! Thanks - I'd really appreciate any heads up as I am going there next weekend.

Stacey C-Anonymouze@aol.com

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Furious Flav-or

Furious Flav-or

Posted
Posted
The place I referenced in the Chester county thread in Frasier next to the Vishay plant has a dinner buffet. There food can be very hot, if you ask for it that way.

Dinner? Next to Vishay? You aren't talking about Royal India, are you? So far as I know, it's lunch-only buffet, like 11:30 to 3:30 or so.

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handmc

handmc

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Thanks it is Royal India. They had a dinner menu when I was there about 2 months ago.

**************************************************

Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt. - Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"

--------------------

One summers evening drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless…Warren

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percyn

percyn

Posted
Posted (edited)
Dinner? Next to Vishay? You aren't talking about Royal India, are you? So far as I know, it's lunch-only buffet, like 11:30 to 3:30 or so.

I grabbed take out for dinner from there a few months ago as well. Not sure if they are still serving dinner, but I can check.

Try the "Chili Chicken", an Indo-Chinese favorite....they do make it spicy.

Edited by percyn (log)

eGullet Foodblog #1, Foodblog #2

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SaxChik

SaxChik

Posted
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Dinner? Next to Vishay? You aren't talking about Royal India, are you? So far as I know, it's lunch-only buffet, like 11:30 to 3:30 or so.

I grabbed take out for dinner from there a few months ago as well. Not sure if they are still serving dinner, but I can check.

Try the "Chili Chicken", an Indo-Chinese favorite....they do make it spicy.

i had dinner there a few weeks ago. it was really good. my only complaint was that they used whole cloves and cardamum pods in the dish and i kept biting into them (major spice rush!). so yes, they serve dinner. for a while they only did indo-chinese lunches (non-buffet). HUGE bowls of food, really hot and tasty. now they do mostly indian with a little indo-chinese on their buffet for lunch.

i like that place and always end up buying a lot at the market next door.

"The perfect lover is one who turns into pizza at 4am."

Charles Pierce

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Furious Flav-or

Furious Flav-or

Posted
Posted
Dinner? Next to Vishay? You aren't talking about Royal India, are you? So far as I know, it's lunch-only buffet, like 11:30 to 3:30 or so.

I grabbed take out for dinner from there a few months ago as well. Not sure if they are still serving dinner, but I can check.

Try the "Chili Chicken", an Indo-Chinese favorite....they do make it spicy.

Percy, for a while we just about lived there over the weekends. In fact, we wound up at loose ends, without plans, and no desire to go overboard whipping the spoon for just the two of us, and ate there on Christmas Day.

We've done dinner there at least four times, and probably done the buffet twenty times at least over the course of the past year or so. The chili chicken is good. I love the goat curry. Sundays are great with all the extra touches.

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philadining

philadining

Posted
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Posted (edited)

I got some takeout from Royal India last night. I'd been curious about the Indo-Chinese stuff you don't see too many other places. So I got the Chicken Manchurian, and a Chili Paneer (I'd asked for Chili Lamb but the waiter said he thought it was too old... I wouldn't like it... and suggested the paneer.)

gallery_23992_2968_16076.jpg

(The Chili Paneer is the bright red stuff in the left half of the bowl)

Both were nice and spicy, but I came to the conclusion that I just don't really care for Indo-Chinese. They were clearly well-made, but I just wasn't loving those flavors.

gallery_23992_2968_57591.jpg

I did like the breads. I got an Onion Kulcha and a Peshawari Nan. That nan had a really nice mix of fruits and nuts and coconut inside, and was delicious, just on its own, in fact I ate most of it in the car on the way home... The onion kulcha was good, but they make a better one at Desi Village.

Overall, I like the place, and I'm going back soon for some Indian-Indian food. Plus I managed to stock up on some hard-to-find ingredients at the store in front while I was waiting. The people were super-nice, and hey, they had an awesome compilation of Bollywood dance productions running on the big screen, so I was entertained. It's a shame how much trouble and heartache those lovely young couples have to go through....

(ETA: this morning I reused the meat from the chicken manchurian to make some fried rice with the leftover basmati rice, and the chicken stayed really moist and tender, I might have liked it more the second time around, without the gloopy sauce.)

Edited by philadining (log)

"Philadelphia’s premier soup dumpling blogger" - Foobooz

philadining.com

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mmm_chocolate

mmm_chocolate

Posted
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I would like to chime in, because I feel like the Jaipur in KoP needs some more accolades. My husband and I are lucky enough to live about 5 minutes from Jaipur, and visit frequently (well, I did before I started this diet :wacko: ). For my birthday a year or two ago, we went out to Khajuraho in Ardmore, because we had heard amazing reviews on citysearch. ..

Now I don't want to give the wrong impression, because Khajuraho served us good Indian food. It just wasn't AS good as Jaiper for us. And the decor that reviewers had marveled about was at best underwhelming. Jaipur has a cozy candle lit dining room which is quite nice for a quiet dinner. They put a little thought into the ambience. And you will notice the many Indian families happily eating there when you visit...

I've been to Devi in Exton for their lunch buffet (dosas included with meal!) and loved it. The only complaint I have there is that on my second visit, the food was lukewarm; hopefully just an off-day. Haven't been to Desi Village yet, but hope to get there soon based on these reviews!

Anyway, give Jaipur a try if you are loking for excellent Indian and are in KoP, you will LOVE it. And don't worry, they make their food HOTHOTHOT if you like it that way...

By the way, Jaipur is BYOB.

Edited by mmm_chocolate (log)

"He was a very valiant man who first adventured on eating oysters." - King James I

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VictorFiorillo

VictorFiorillo

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For those in Jersey and the Northern suburbs, for whom Exton might be in the wrong direction, Vasanta Bhavan in Hamilton, NJ is my current favorite for South Indian (other than my South Indian mother in law's house). Here is a NY Times piece on the restaurant...

http://events.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/trave...045fd50&ei=5070

And down the street is Hot Breads, which serves chicken tikka croissants and masala cookies.

Re: Vasanta Bhavan, I went prior to reading the article and ordered the eggplant dish referenced in the piece. I found that it did not taste anything like eggplant. It was completely overpowered by onion. I said something to our waiter, who went back and conferred with the chef. A few minutes later, the owner brought the NY Times review to the table and pointed out to me that the Times loved his eggplant so how couldn't I?

All these places are 30m-1hr from me, so I really can't wait until someone opens a South Indian place close to city center.

Edited by VictorFiorillo (log)
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SaxChik

SaxChik

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i drove through the fairfield shopping center parking lot in exton (with the giant, TGI fridays, and the staples & office depot one store apart) and the new "taste of india" restaurant is finally open! yay!

i plan on stopping in on thursday for dinner and shall report back. it'll be good to have meated indian food within near walking distance from where i live.

"The perfect lover is one who turns into pizza at 4am."

Charles Pierce

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