If you have not tried good Indian food, you are missing out. Yes, it's an adventurous endeavor, and not for the feint of heart, but if you're sick of the same old stuff day in and day out.. .at least give it a try. Now, I had never had Indian food until about 9 years ago when I moved to the Washington, DC area and I was as apprehensive as anyone could be to give it a try. Fortunately for me, my good friends and coworkers brought me to one of the best places in all of the DC area, Haandi.
That first trip got me hooked. The flavors, the spices, so full of life and so yummy in my mouth, it's now one of my favorite cuisines. Since that time I've tried a dozen other Indian restaurants, some were OK, and others down right horrible.. so if you ever ate at one of those places and hate it, I could totally understand.
Haandi offers a daily buffet for lunch, and it's exactly the same amazing quality they offer at diner, only you get to try a dozen things, don't have to buy your naan (baked bread), mango chutney, dessert all separate, and it's only around 12 dollars. If you want to give it a try, definitely go for the buffet.. The only downfall is that when you fall in love with the food, you're going to end up in a food comma for the rest of the day and night.
Start with what I consider the best item, and easiest to fall for, Murgh Makhani. Same places call this Butter Chicken, and it's a tame dish, but full of creamy, nicely spiced, but not spicy hot, goodness that I pretty much tell people if you don't like this dish, you are good to give up on Indian fare altogether. You can see it in the picture on the left side, with it's characteristic bright orange color. Generally it contains such ingredients as chicken, butter, tomato, garlic, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander... nothing to be afraid of here folks!
If you're into that, give some other dishes a try. Curried chickpeas, Lamb, spinach or other curries mixed with chicken, veggies, farmers cheese, or potatoes usually. Tandoori cooked chicken is another huge favorite, yogurt and spice marinated chicken baked in a special clay oven. The chicken has a bright red or orange color from the turmeric of chili powder, but it is not a spicy hot item as you might fear.
So put on your adventure cap and head out to Bethesda and give Haandi a try! If it's your first time, let me know what you thought!
4904 Fairmont Avenue,
Bethesda, MD
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