pltwannab

Thanks for the link, disappointed with the ones in Louisville , especially when it comes to South Indian.

Had some good Indian food in Lon.

BNA_flyer

An Indian friend in college, when asked if she knew any good Indian restaurants, flatly denied that there could be any good Indian restaurants, at least by the standards of what her mom could make at home. (Not that I ever got a chance to sample her mom's home cooking, as "home" was 300 or so miles away in Mississippi and I never got an invite. )

Fredd

Vancouver has a number of good Indian restaurants. Vij's is one:

http://www.vijs.ca/index_in.htm

PhlyingRPh

You were at Shalimar (off Geary at Jones and O'Farrell). IMO, the food at Shalimar is amongst the best South Asian food anywhere in the world.

It's rare that I come home from SF without ordering a couple of dozen Chicken Kofta's frozen and placed in my own tuperware from this very branch of Shalimar. Sometimes the TSA gets lippy about it but they always let it through.

There may be deals going down, tricks being turned and tourists being shaken down on the street outside but it's all worth it for the food here (similar to the Brick Lane thing really)

Shalimar has branches in Sunnyvale and Fremont. THey are always packed to capacity and it's not uncommon to have to wait a good half-hour for a table at either of these locations. The guy's nephew has a place called Curry House in Walnut Creek. The recipe's used at all these restaurants are identical to those used by the cooks at the original Shalimar in SF.

Jamoldo

Is this place in Tenderloin, right behind the Hilton SF and Towers? Although its been 8 years since I have been, I remember walking with my parents in that area and the shadiness of it (the Korean and Chinese "massage parlors") the strip clubs, shady looking dudes. But in it all, there was this hole in the wall-ish Indo-Pak place that was very good indeed.

PhlyingRPh

That's the one.

I should point out that people don't go to Shalimar for the service. People don't go there for it's adherance to American standards of perceived cleanliness either. Nor do people go there for the safe neighborhood. Nah. People go there because the food is extremely good. It is authentic Pakistani cuisine that doesn't pull any punches. it's Full-On ghee (clarified butter) in all the curries, lot's of salt, chillies and the freshest masala/flavour in everything. If you don't have a coronary after eating here you must be Superman. Oh yeah, people don't go there to earn points on their credit card either, because all they take is cash.

Jamoldo

I don't think my parents and I are made of anything special (being of Indian origin, our genes are pretty bad when it comes to that stuff). I think we went a little later on a weekday night so there were only a few others, and the food was very good though I would stop short of saying it was fantastic (though my standards now might be quite different).

Besides that, everything else you talk about at Shalimar is standard in lots of similar places around the US and Canada. I guess since I'm of Indian origin, I'm privy to more of those places than others. Although I have to say, a lot of the qualities you put forth, I think can apply to many different types of cuisines in cities/towns worldwide, certainly so in India (since we're talking about Indian food here).

Shalimar was a brilliant find though for something later on a weekday night and near the hotel, and I know we went at least twice during our visit. Then again my entire 5 days in San Fran were culinary heaven. I still remember a number of the meals I had there.

PhlyingRPh

The beauty of Indian food is that the environment it is served in has little bearing on it's quality. OTOH, it's rare to find a place where everything about the food just resonates with you. I've probably tried a good 15% of all the Indian restaurants in 20 years of living and traveling in America and have to say that there are only about 10 places I can think of where the food really spoke to me. Shalimar in SF is one of them. Others that come to mind are Tamarind in NY, Sabri Nihari on Devon in Chicago, Village in Indianapolis, India Palace in Memphis, Savoy in Houston, Tandoor in Seattle and BarbecueTonite in Dallas.

Jamoldo

That's a lot of places. I can only really speak for places in the Baltimore/DC area (I have not even hit all of those or close) and some others... Problem I find is a lot of places are quite inconsistent, changing management, cooks etc...

Orion

I recently had an excellent meal at www.samosafactory.com in Las Vegas. My first visit and I am hooked. I look forward to going back and exploring more of the menu. The staff is gracious, welcoming and very knowledgeable.

3timesalady

My mommy's kitchen is the absolute best place to go in the US

Thanks to my mother, Indian restaurants are usually a disappointment, but there are a few that I like a lot -- Klay Oven and Hema's in Chicago; Priya in Farmington Hills, MI; Chola in NYC... actually there were some other good spots in Curry Hill... actually there were a lot of nice places in NYC in general, but Tabla was not one of them in my mind (I mean, it was good, but not $200/ person good).

Occupationalhazard

Concur w/r/t Monsoon.

Also Chola and Mint

O/H

Georgia Peach

Himalayas in Chamblee Plaza on Peachtree Ind., just inside 285. It's go good we drive 30 miles to eat there.

N830MH

Hi All,

We went to eat lunch at Indian restaurant right next to my uncle's office. We order with chicken & onions sauces and rice, too. When we take it home along with me. I loves to eat at Indian foods and we haven't ate there at Indian foods for a long time. This time we sharing to eat the foods and it was so delicious! Perhaps...We can do it again for next week if we can go out a nice Indian dinners again. So obviously, you can try it yourself.

Regards

PS. Oh, by the way, as for my uncle that he loves to eat at Indians foods and He ate there all of the times.

nerd

So much food is yummy. Indian included. Try them more!