I Want This Lunch Everyday
Last weekend G&G, be and i were in North Philly looking for a tasty bite to eat. We had tried to get a table at Isla Ibiza during the Girard Nights event but the wait was just too long. Luckily, Tiffin was nearby and still open. I had heard a few mentions of it before (most notably, from the smart tongue of K) and everything was quite positive. be and i love Indian food so it was a go.They were soon to close for the night so our meal was a little rushed. Besides a large table finishing their meal, the four of us were the only ones there so late. The place was bright, full of Ikea tables and the open kitchen wafted out delicious smells. Our waiter (an older white British guy) was knowlegable and funny.
Between us, we ordered: Aloo Gohbi (potatoes and cauliflower), Kaju Mattar Paneer (cheese and peas in a cashew sauce), Baingan Bharta (roasted eggplant) and Aloo Vindaloo (potatoes in a hot & sour sauce), along with freshly made Naan breads. Our food came with fluffy, soft Basmati rice. Everything was so awesome! I can't explain it but to say that it seemed "homemade," super fresh, with clear flavors and good textures. It was so damn good that be craved it for the following week, so much that he ordered dishes for lunch today with 3 of his coworkers - and even took the train a few stops to pick it up!*
I gladly finished his leftover lunch for dinner tonight: Aloo Gobhi with a side of dal (lentils) and rice. I could taste the ginger, mustard seeds and fresh cilantro in the sauce. The cauliflower was soft yet crisp. The potato chunks were flavored all the way through with a great, floury texture. I'm usually not crazy about cauliflower but this dish was just so yummy. I'm totally going back and trying more dishes. It definitely is "Fine Indian at Affordable Prices!"
* Unfortunately, Tiffin doesn't offer delivery nor tiffin box lunches to be's work area in North Philly. Hopefully, they'll expand to include many areas of Philadelphia ... especially Hawthorne where we live!
posted by beXn @ 11:24 PM
2 Comments:
We, too, adore Indian food. In fact, we are going on an Indian food binge these days prompted by my finally locating a copy of Ismail Merchant's out-of-print "Passionate Meals." If you want to try cooking Indian at home, this is a great book for novice Indian food cooks (everything is rather simple and clear). Cheers!
Thanks for the book recommendation! Back in college i learned how to make a few Indian dishes from Flavors of India: Vegetarian Indian Cuisine by Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff and Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, which is still one of my favorite cookbooks of all time. Even before that, my old friend S showed me how to make dal the summer after high school! These days, we've been dabbling in making paneer (fresh cheese), which i'll blog about once i catch up on my posts!
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