Curry is synonymous with Indian cuisine. Other Asian cuisines may have their own distinct versions of curry, but I believe that it probably originated from India. Curry is fine as long as it’s not too heavy on the palate. My philosophy is that whatever flavoring you add to your food should enhance and not overpower it. I am a little lenient when it comes to curry because it’s supposed to be heavier in flavor. Even so, I still think Indian curry is quite overwhelming.
That is why we opted to try it café style at Chaat Café. Cafés usually offer light, lunch style dishes, so I was curious to see how it could be applied to the heavily flavored Indian cuisine. The exterior and interior of the restaurant had a clean design. As we stepped into the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to smell…nothing. Well, nothing in the sense that the air wasn’t saturated with the smell of curry and other heavily spiced foods which are usually the first things I smell when I walk into an Indian restaurant. The air inside Chaat was fair with only a trace of aroma coming from the open kitchen.
We walked up to the counter to place our order. We haven’t dined at enough Indian restaurants to know what various dishes are like. Luckily the girl behind the counter was very informative when we asked about some of the dishes. With her help, we eventually decided on the Samosa as an appetizer, a chicken curry special of the day, and a chicken tandoori wrap.
Right off the bat we were hit with the curry flavors of the Samosa appetizer. The crispy fried pastry shells were stuffed with roasted cumin and potatoes, served with cholay and chutney. The very hot filling inside the shells were fluffy with a mild flavor, and the cholay and chutney sauce gives it a nice spicy accent. The presence of curry in this appetizer wasn’t too overpowering.
The chicken vandaloo was the curry special that day. It came with a saucer of chicken in a very thick and heavy looking curry sauce, naan bread, rice, and lightly pickled vegetables. The flavor of the curry was very strong, not so much the spiciness as the overall heavy flavor of the curry. Obviously it was made for dipping using the flat naan bread because it’s too strong to eat by itself. I also liked to drench the rice with the curry sauce and eat them together. The crispy vegetable salad provided a fresh break from the heavy flavors.
The chicken tandoori wrap rounded out our meal. Tandoori chicken, veggies, and herbs were wrapped in a naan bread like a burrito. It came with two sauces for dipping, one sweet and one mildly cool like the feeling you get when you eat something minty. The naan wrap didn’t taste right without the sweet sauce…kind of like eating barbeque chicken that wasn’t sweet. The other sauce I could do without since it didn’t do much to enhance the flavor, at least for me.
Of the three dishes, I liked the tandoori wrap the most mainly because it was light in flavor compared to the curry and appetizer. As I’ve said, I’m not a fan of heavy flavors because I think that if the ingredients are fresh, then you don’t need to overkill the seasoning to make it taste good. Although the curry items were still pretty strong in my opinion, Chaat at least offered a few lighter alternatives, and that’s all I can ask for.
Chaat Cafe
www.chaatcafes.com
18101 Preston Rd
Dallas, TX 75252
972-713-0003Atmosphere: 7
Food: 5
Service: 7
Cleaniness: 7
Value: 5
Overall: 6.1
Tags: Chaat Cafe, Indian cuisine, tandoori, curry