Bombay Peacock Grill, Columbia, MD

My friends recently took me to "Bombay Peacock Grill" for a birthday party.

This was my second visit to this Columbia, MD based Indian restaurant. The interiors are beautiful and give the restaurant an upscale feel. Our order comprised of 2 chicken dishes, one lamb dish and three vegetarian dish. The Chicken tikka masala and Butter chicken were very good, the Lamb Jalfrezi was OK, the Malai Kofta and Aloo Gobi were excellent and the Baigan ka bharta was not very good.

The service was not good and our host seemed to be in an eternal pissed-off mood.
Another downer was that the restaurant closes at 9:30 p.m. That was a shocker... which restaurant closes at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night?

The entrees were quite pricey with respect to an Indian restaurant but the food was good it. If you have a special ocassion, this place might be worth it. For everyday Indian food, there are much better options available in the Baltimore area.

Cafe Spice, Towson, MD

A new Indian restaurant is in town (where town specifically means "Bawlmore").
Nearly a month back, I started hearing good things about a new Indian restaurant called "Cafe Spice" (321 York Road, Towson, MD; (410) 583-7770)
Decied to check it out and am here to present my findings after two visits.
The restaurant is run by an adorable, hospitable couple (Rani & Girish Garg) from Bangalore...
The small entrance to the restaurant does not do justice to the spacious interiors.

The food is arguably the best in Baltimore where the best specifically refers to being as close to an authentic Indian food. In case the reader thinks that Ambassador offers the best Indian food in Baltimore, I would suggest that the reader stops reading this post right away. That way the reader can keep living his dream !!

Moving on, I tried the offerings both from the menu for a dinner and the lunch buffet on a separate visit. The buffet is not a spectacular one with respect to the quality of the offerings. The only top notch things in the lunch buffet are the appetizers (pakoras, samosas ..) and the fresh warm heavenly bread descending straight from the kitchen.

In case you are wondering why I labelled this the best Indian food in Baltimore especially when all I have said so far are negative things, take a deep breath and keep reading.

My dinner experience at Cafe Spice was a revelation. Two of the non-vegetarian entrees (lamb curry and chicken tikka masala) were excellent while the fish jalfrezi left much to be desired. The vegetarian entrees namely aloo gobi masala and Malai Kofta were very well-made and delectable. The Naans were very good and arrived warm at the table.
The Mango lassi was quite good although not as good as the one at Bombay Garden (5511 York Road). The Gaajar Ka Halva (Carrot pudding) was just incredible. It was the second best I ever had after the eternal favorite "homemade Gajar Ka halva".

The service was quite slow and the server messed up a lot of times. Regardless, I loved the warm family feel of the restaurant and am proud to recommend this place whole-heartedly.

Go, check it out...

Swadisht Bhojan (i.e. Tasty Food) ...

Dear Readers,

Lend me your ears, your eyes and your ever-twitching, ever-clicking fingers ..

This blog is an attempt to provide honest, first-hand reviews based on my adventures with Indian restaurants. Let's begin by clearing a few things up.

1. wth (what/who/where the hell) is "swadisht"?

The word "swadisht" is an adjective referring to tasty/delectable/mouth-watering food and belongs to the Hindi language. The choice of this particular word is in line with the purpose of this blog: Reviews of Indian restaurants

2. So, which Indian restaurants are we talking about?

For the time being, these reviews will primarily target Indian restaurants in the Baltimore/Washington DC area with ocassional "guest" appearances by Indian restaurants elsewhere.


Hope you find this helpful in your eternal search for swadisht bhojan. And btw (by the way), "bhojan" is another Hindi word meaning food.