Tuesday, 2/9/10 - Simi's India Cuisine

Date: 2/9/10
Restaurant: Simi's India Cuisine
Location: 4535 Fredericksburg, in a strip mall across from the Crossroads mall
Hours: 11am-?
Executive Chef: From the variety of dishes at the buffet, I'd say whoever it is must have 6 arms! (Shiva, I'm lookin at you!)

A minute of backstory: I'm taking International Cuisine this semester. My class normally prepares a menu set (appetizer, salad, entree with sides, bread, and dessert) for up to 32 people every week; so far, we have done an African and a Middle Eastern meal. This week, we took a field trip to an Indian restaurant. The explanation behind it is that the tandoor, the traditional clay oven used for making many chicken dishes as well as the ubiquitous and delicious flat bread naan, is not something we can install into our kitchen labs at school. So if we can't bring the oven to us, bring the class to the oven!

You'll notice there is a much, much greater amount of photos than text in this post. This is because, well, I loved everything I tried. The depth of flavor developed in these curries, masalas, and every other dish was just incredible. Everyone in my class agreed--at least, I'm assuming that's what they were saying, their mouths were pretty full at the time. If you've been a timid woodland creature in the past, push it aside and try Indian food. It's awesome.

Now, please enjoy some gratuitous food porn.















Did you know you could click on the pictures to make them larger? It's really handy that Simi's provided snapshot descriptions for each of their dishes, huh? And I still can't keep everything straight!



Look at that plate. A thing of beauty, that is.

After we had gorged ourselves ridiculously on a $9.15 all-you-can-eat buffet, we were invited to visit the kitchen so we could watch the tandoor oven in action! We looked on in awe as the brave cook grabbed a handful of bread dough, slathered it in ghee (clarified butter), and tossed it onto the side of this hole in the earth. A few seconds later, he wedged it back out and tadah! Naan.







How much did I eat? Naan yo business!

Returnability: very high. This was the 4th time in my life that I've eaten Indian food, and apart from a restaurant in Seoul which we can't frequent due to proximity issues, this was easily the most enjoyable. You've seen the variety; you'll have to take my word for the drool-worthy smells and tastes....unless you go and try it yourself! I'll probably see you back there.